"Yes, Scott". "You know, Scott".

“Yes, Scott. You know, Scott. You know what I mean, Scott. I’m telling you, Scott.”

I wish I could play a tape recording of the conversations I have with some of the residents I work with. For something that probably shouldn’t seem so unusual or in the least bit odd, I can’t seem to shake the fact that I’m intrigued by how many of them always use my name in conversation. Scott seems to be included at the end of just about every sentence. “Yes, Scott”. You know what I mean, Scott”. I don’t recall hearing my name so often in other places, or from other people, be it co-workers, or friends, or even family back home.

I’ve actually noticed this for awhile, and probably have waited to see if it’s unique to a select few residents, or was just a short term trend. But it’s not. In calling a couple of the residents I work with today, I got all of the above ‘Scott punctuated’ comments, and then some. I’m to the point now where I sit on my end of the phone smiling about it.

This probably makes no sense reading it. That’s why I wish I could play a recorded conversation. They’re priceless.

Speaking of conversations, one of the residents I spoke with today, Paula Balbon, was pretty upset. I just called to check in, say hello, see how things were going (I last saw her at the Distribution I had last Saturday), and Paula informed me how her husband Mike (a great guy, they’re both great people really; extremely happy and personable; see pic, top right) has been called off for a 7-month stint in California with the National Guard. Mike, 43, is a career military man who was in the army for years and has been in the Guard now for the last several. They didn’t see this coming, and now boom, he’s gone, seven months, and very unlikely to have a leave.

That’s what he signed up for, so they have to expect things like this to happen, but it is sort of sad in that Paula and Mike were just about ready to move back into their home in Chalmette back here in St. Bernard. When I met them a few weeks ago, it was at the house. They’ve worked hard to fix it back up, and it looks great. It’s all ready to go as far as the rehab, and they just needed furniture and household stuff to fill it with. We (SBRC) are going to help them with that. Last week, they picked up a bed and some chairs from our distribution.

Now, Paula is left to fend for herself until next June. The timing on this one sure stinks.

I’ll tell you what, a friend asked me tonight, what keeps me going, how I cope with the mayhem and some of the stuff I must see and be exposed to here. The answer to that is simple, these people keep me going. All the crap they’ve had to deal with, including being separated from a significant other, for whatever reason (can’t tell you how many couples I’ve met where one is living in one place during the week due to a job and the other is somewhere else), and they just keep persevering. Paula had a trace of sadness in her voice, no doubt, but in between the “You know, Scott”, and “I’m telling you, Scott”, she had her strength. She’ll do what she needs to do. I just hope to help her some more. The motivation to do that – that’s how I cope.

Distro #1 A Success

This past Saturday, November 10, the St. Bernard Recovery Corporation held its first widespread distribution to help out some of the families in St. Bernard Parish. After gathering a couple of UHaul trucks worth of stuff, as well as combinations of other things picked up both locally and from afar, almost all of it donated, we were able to distribute an array of things to over 30 families. At least 100 people showed up, probably closer to 130 or so, including children.

Furniture, household goods, beds, linens, towels, sheets, blankets, clothes, shoes, toys and much more were all moved from storage to people who need them. The biggest hit were the beds. I was able to pick up about 30 beds from the Holiday Inn of downtown New Orleans, and with the financial struggles many people have as they move back into a home or apartment, they were very much in need. It worked out great, as I was able to get at least one bed to every family that SBRC has been working with to date. And I'll likely be getting more. We were also able to raffle off a 30" color TV.

The residents were grateful, and oh so patient as we worked our way through a very unscientific process to get them what they needed. In the end, it was a lot of work but very worth it. As one of the residents told me as we wound things down, "there will be a good number of people sleeping better that night than they did the night before". That's all I need to hear.

Exciting Few Days....

Most of the time when I write, be it for the blog or in the journal I keep, it's at night. I'm up late, and it's a good time for me to reflect back on stuff that occurred that day or in the prior days. When I wake up in the morning, I'm usually full of angst and anxiety about all the stuff I have to get done that day. Heck, even on a weekend day that I might have nothing to do I wake up with a lump in my throat, worried about what I'm going to get done that day. Not healthy, I know.

But today is a bit different. It's in the AM, I've been up for a bit but am still home, and I'm doing some writing now. I was just making some notes in my Journal, and thought I'd jump on here quick and post something. I don't even know how many people even look at this anymore. I'm sure a few family members, maybe an old co-worker or two. And that's fine. I totally understand. People are so busy, and I know what happens, for instance, when I get an email from a family member or friend -- what might be a big deal in their life, might be nice for me to hear but it's really not that huge a deal for me. Hence, I'm not going to spend a lot of time reading about it. And again, it's alright in my book if no one reads this blog. The main reasons I do this is because a.) it's therapeutic for me to write, and b.) I can save all of my blog postings, along with my journal, and I'll have a really nice record of my time in New Orleans. And if other people happen to be reading it, great. (Although, as an aside, I did start this blog for another reason, and that was to raise awareness about New Orleans and St. Bernard Parish. One of my biggest goals here, along with helping people, has been to keep what is going on here in the minds of other people all around the country, to talk up the reality that is the Gulf Coast devastation. Fortunately, I think I've done a pretty good job of that, and now with our non-profit up and running, and its web site -- www.thesbrc.org -- I believe that is continuing).

So why was I so excited to write in the morning today? Because it's just another great week. I feel like I have lots to look forward to over the next few days, and week, starting yesterday. It's been hectic, with my phone ringing off the hook from residents after my cell phone number ran in the local paper. But, while a bit stressful, it's absolutely a positive, as I've met some more amazing people. Take a look at the picture up at the top right. That's the Basco family: Jamie, husband Ernie, and their three children, ages, 6, 4 and 1. They're all in the same trailer, with Ernie's younger brother (that's 6 people in one FEMA Trailer) that's parked right in front of their home that's in the process of being rehabbed. Ernie does contracting work for a living and is doing all the work inside with the help of his brother. I walked through the house yesterday. The walls are done and now they're just painting. After they do the floors, they'll be read to move in, which they hope happens by the end of November. SBRC is going to help them get some stuff for the home.

I can't say enough how motivating and inspirational it is every time I meet a family like this to get out and bust my own butt to make SBRC a success, to garner and raise support, so that families like the Basco's can survive and thrive and have "normal living conditions". Right now, they do not, and it's not right. And they're trying. They didn't gripe one bit or say one negative thing, about the storm, about the government, about anything. Ernie just said it's been hard paying the mortgage on a house they don't yet live in, but he's happy they have the trailer roof over their heads. Good stuff, and these are exactly the sort of people I want to help.

Later today I'm meeting 23 Sr. Managers from AIG Insurance at the Ritz-Carlton downtown, and I'll be taking them into St. Bernard, to three different houses, to do some volunteer work. There's nothing I love more than marrying up people who haven't been here before with residents, and the realities of what is going on here. And not to invoke sympathy, but to inspire awareness and a desire to help. When people come here and see what's going on, how honest, decent, hard-working fellow citizens have to live, 9 times out of 10 it drives people to want to do more, to help, to spread the word, and so forth. Who knows, maybe AIG will make a donation to SBRC after today. Maybe they'll go back to New York and talk up the situation here with other people. Maybe some of them will just lay in bed a few nights over the next several months thinking about what they saw on November 7. Either way, it's all good, because none of that was happening before they came down.

Lastly, the fruits of some very recent labor will pay off on Saturday, when we hold SBRC's first major Distribution of goods. I've rounded up some people to help set up tomorrow (Thursday) for the event, at which we'll have all the furniture and goods that we gathered from New Hampshire, New York, Florida as well as a few other places. My roommate is going to come and help out and do some face-painting for the kids. One of the residents I'm helping is going to bring refreshments to hand out. We're going to raffle off one of the big TV's that my aunt's family donated to us. It should be a great day for the 25 or so families that I've invited. And it'll be a great day for me and the folks helping Erin and I get all of this stuff together, as we see people being able to pick up and take a few things that might make life a little easier, a little more normal.

I love times like this, and I'd probably love to keep writing about it, but I've probably done more than enough of that already (I'd be amazed if anyone other than myself even made it to this point). But I have to get going. I have plenty of stuff to do, and plenty of motivation to do it.