Pressed for time...

I haven’t had much time to write lately. At least it feels that way. Whereas I used to easily write three and four times a week, now I feel like I’m fortunate to sit down and do it once or twice a week. But it’s for very good reason. Things have really ramped up with SBRC. The piece that ran in the St. Bernard News last week and included my phone number made for a hectic few days. The paper came out last Wednesday, and even today I must have gotten five new calls from folks looking for help. I’ve done my best to keep up with who is calling and make return calls, but I’m still behind.

I do truly believe that the News running my phone number happened for a reason, though. As stressful as it was at times not being able to keep up with the phone, it’s definitely been worth it as I’ve met some wonderful people who have called me just in the past week, people I really want to help.

…This past Saturday morning was as good a Saturday as I’ve had down here in a long time (which is saying a lot considering that it is football season). I worked with 21 volunteers, 17 of whom were students from Colorado St. University, in getting them set up to volunteer for a few hours at three different homes in St. Bernard Parish. I did so much of that kind of thing while living and working at Camp Hope, but it had been a while. Saturday reminded me why I love doing that so much.

There is nothing like getting volunteers linked up with residents, with real life examples of what is going on here. They get to see first hand the conditions and hear up close and personal the stories that move just about all of us who come here. And for the residents, it remains as a therapeutic and gratifying encounter in which they can see just how much people from other part of the country really care. I’m upset with myself for not having my camera with me that morning, but one of the students is supposed to send me pictures. I hope to get them soon as I’d love to post them. The volunteers and residents had a great time Saturday morning, and in the process, some real work got done. Everyone comes out a winner when this happens.

Road Trip #2

Road Trip #2 for St. Bernard Recovery Corp. is in the books. This one was significantly shorter than the first, which is good considering I was solo for this one. I went to Jacksonville for some family time, but while there I rented a UHaul and loaded up all the stuff my dad has been collecting the past two months. My mom also gave me quite a few things from her closets as well as two really nice chairs. This was a much smaller load than the Northeast run, which had a lot of furniture, but it was still well worth the time and expense. It’s going to add a lot to our November 10 distribution. By the way, we’re going to need the additional goods.

Around 1 p.m. today, on I-10 in Alabama, my phone rang with New Orleans area number I didn’t recognize. It was a woman in St. Bernard Parish, telling me she saw my ad in the St. Bernard News about the beds and furniture we had to give away. “What ad?”, I thought. We didn’t run an ad. It turns out the St. Bernard News decided to take the press release Erin and I sent them about the bed we delivered to a couple here in the Parish a few weeks back (we did this in the hopes that a picture and caption would run and we’d have a news clipping to show potential donors that we’re serious about what we’re doing and getting things done) and ran it as a full-fledged news article, on the front page! And, they printed my cell phone number at the end, saying to call me for more info.

I did get a kick out of this, and a big smile. All I could think was that this had to happen for a reason. We’ll get some pub, we’ll raise awareness about SBRC, and I’ll probably meet a few more terrific people and families to help out. Of course, my phone rang off the hook the rest of the day. I have to be careful. The last thing I want to do is get people’s hopes up and let people down. But back to that theme of this happening for a reason, I think this is going to fire me up even more when it comes to fundraising.

Priceless

I got a hug today. It doesn’t sound like a big deal, but they’re pretty priceless here. Not priceless in the sense that they’re rare. They’re not rare – I’ve been hugged by more guys since I’ve been down here than I had been in my entire life. I mean priceless from the standpoint of how meaningful they are.

My brother sent me a $25 American Express gift certificate not very long ago, telling me to give it to someone who I felt really could use it. Those things are as good as cash, and can be used just about anywhere. I’ve been talking regularly to one of the residents I’m working with, Ann Robin. Ann’s going through a hard time. She works at Andrew Jackson Elementary, as an assistant pre-Kindergarten teacher, and doesn’t make a lot of money. She’s living in a FEMA Trailer with her 16-year-old son. It’s cramped, I’ve been in there.

Ann’s also stressed because she has an appointment with a Road Home rep on Friday (10/26). Road Home is the federal reimbursement program that provides money back to pre-Katrina homeowners whose houses were destroyed or damaged. She was in a trailer before (not a FEMA Trailer, but a full-sized one). She lost the trailer home, and everything in it, during Katrina. She might get $10,000 from Road Home, if that. Knowing that’s she hurting for a few bucks and stressed over her meeting on Friday, I called her up at the school and told her I’d come by and give her a little something. She was so cute, when she came out to talk to me, she was talking a mile a minute – I cannot say enough times how therapeutic and helpful it is to the residents when you just listen to them and let them vent! – sharing her latest info and just looking up at me, saying she hopes things work out.

I gave her the Amex certificate, told her it was from my brother, and that I know it’s not much but that maybe she can go get some groceries with it. Of course, she thanked me countless times (the residents here are appreciative beyond description, in such a sincere and genuine way). Then she gave me and another volunteer who was with me a hug, just thanking us for caring, for being here, for calling her to check up on her. The little things, from a phone call to a hug….no paycheck will ever match them.

ANOTHER FAMILY: Sticking with my theme of wanting to introduce families that Erin and I will be working with through our non-profit (St. Bernard Recovery Corp.), I want to introduce Johnnie Sylve and her 11-year-old daughter Gabrielle. They live in a FEMA Trailer, outside their house, which is now gutted. Johnnie is a single mom who works full time at the Murphy’s Oil refinery just a few miles up the road from their property. She recently bought another house, which was also destroyed and sits gutted, for her and her daughter to move into. Her older son, married and in his early 30s, is going to take the former house.

Johnnie is very inspirational. She’s adamant about not accepting handouts, she’s adamant about working and saving whatever money she can, and she’s adamant about providing the best that she can for her daughter. I am going to help Johnnie try to get help from the United Way for assistance with contractors and materials to rebuild her house, and then I hope to provide them with some furniture and other household goods.

Finally, I’m off to Jacksonville, Fl, this weekend to get another truck load of donated items (with maybe a 3-hour detour to go to a certain football game between a certain school in Florida and a certain school in Georgia, but who's keeping track of that stuff). This load won’t be as big as the one we brought down from up north a few weeks back, but it’s still a good amount and very worthwhile to add to what we already have. My dad did a great job spreading the word, using his contacts and establishing new ones to gather this stuff up. On November 10, SBRC will be having a distribution of all this stuff to the families we’re working with.