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.

Not So Bad After All

In a blog posted last week (10/11/07), I described some of the frustrations and red tape surrounding a visit to a Salvation Army warehouse in New Orleans. There were some bigger items sitting there, including refrigerators and dishwashers, that I would have liked to have gotten my hands on for residents, but the warehouse foreman explained to me that those were items donated via the United Way and that because of certain protocols they couldn’t be distributed to residents of St. Bernard Parish. He suggested I call the local United Way to see if anything could be done. I have to admit, at the time it didn’t sound hopeful.

But I’m going to consider this a lesson in why and how we should always explore all possibilities, and at least try. It took a few phone calls this week, but this morning I finally got through to someone at the local chapter of the United Way who knew what was going on. The woman I spoke with, Nicole, is with the United Way of Greater New Orleans, and she was extremely courteous, interested and helpful. After letting me explain what our program does, she alerted me to two committees, one based in St. Bernard Parish, and one which covers all of the greater New Orleans area. The committees are comprised of representatives from a number of agencies and non-profits, big and small, and they meet monthly to discuss needs in the area, how to network amongst each other and who and where the most assistance is needed. Additionally, she explained that the United Way has a large amount of donated items locally, above and beyond what I saw at the Salvation Army warehouse, and that by joining these committees and going through the proper channels, I’d very likely be able to get a lot of the goods.

Jackpot! So, not only does it look like I have another great window to compiling goods to get to the families I’m working with, but also that I’ll be getting great exposure and face time to other organizations via these committees. I already spoke with the head of the Long Term Recovery Organization and we’re going to sit down next week so that our non-profit (SBRC) can officially be signed up to be part of the group (The Greater New Orleans Disaster Recovery Organization, also referred to as DRIP, is the other organization).

I was pretty quick to scoff at the red tape and procedure and protocol involved with getting stuff at that warehouse last week. But, a couple of phone calls provided a good lesson, a great window of opportunity, and, perhaps most of all, another reminder that there are lots of good people down here who really want to help.

On an equally good note, I thought I’d post a photo of two members of the latest household that we’re going to try and help. Fred and Lillian Johnson, married for 27 years (her second marriage), lost their home and all their possessions in Katrina. Mr. Johnson also suffered a serious injury while cleaning up their property, slipping on a board and cracking a disk in his neck. He recently had surgery to have it replaced, and a bout with prostate cancer is next. As he aptly put it when I met with them, “Katrina ruined us”.

Still, there’s no self-pity with Fred and Lillian. Frustration, yes. They have received no word on when they’ll get their Road Home money as repayment for losing their home. But self-pity, no. They just want to do what’s best for the entire family, as they have a daughter, granddaughter and two great-grand kids living with them. They now have a modular home (their original home came off the foundation during the storm and was deemed irreparable), with a FEMA Trailer in the front yard and a garage that they’ve turned into a mini-apartment in back. Their granddaughter and her two children live in there.

Mr. Johnson told me today all he really wants for himself is a folding table to eat at while he sits in his rolling chair. I told him I think we can handle that. Of course, I hope we can do a bit more for them as well.

Home Delivery

Today was an exciting day. Lots happened, but one thing in particular made it extra special. I made the first 'official' delivery as the St. Bernard Recovery Corporation, taking a mattress and box spring that was part of the truckload of things my SBRC partner (Erin Donovan) and I drove down from the Northeast two weeks ago to the home of Michael and Linda Pelletier.

I met Michael and Linda just last Friday after a social worker from Louisiana Spirit contacted us, to see if we had a bed we could provide. They've been sleeping on FEMA mattresses, on the floor, for two years now. They told me how many nights one of them will move to the couch or the other room because it's just so uncomfortable. The couple lost everything in Katrina, and are now living in a modular home that was donated by Rev. Billy Graham. It's pretty nice, they keep it very clean, and they complained about very little. They truly seemed grateful when I met them on Friday for all that they had, including the home (which is light years better than a FEMA Trailer). One of the very few things they did complain about, though, was their sleeping situation.

I think we're going to help make it better, though.

“We really appreciate it,” said Michael Pelletier. “Linda’s been laying on a FEMA mattress. It’s been uncomfortable for her. We’ve been sleeping on the floor for two years. If you can’t sleep well, it stresses you out even more.”

I talked to them later in the day, just to check in and see how they were doing, and they were raving about the new bed.

“It’s a very nice mattress,” added Michael. “I laid on it before, and I didn’t want to get up”.

Said Linda:“I told Mike, don’t wake me up tomorrow."

This little blurb, by the way, is all part of my new mindset. It's been an adjustment going from a volunteer who was working for other organizations and just going about his business, to one who has started a non-profit. I was never really comfortable talking about myself or what I was doing. I was definitely all about talking about St. Bernard Parish, and helping to raise awareness about what's going on here, but I struggled or felt guilty if I had to talk about myself and what I was doing.

That's all had to change now, though. If I want St. Bernard Recovery Corp. to be successful, I need to talk it up, and talk up what we're doing. The people that I want to help aren't going to get that assistance if I don't think about PR. It hasn't been easy, but I'm getting there. We're going to submit a press release and pics from this morning to some local papers, and start putting together a media kit of what we're doing so that when we go to potential donors and companies, and apply for grants, we can show what we've done, and have that added credibility.

I won't be blogging about every delivery or accomplishment, but this is good practice to get in that frame of mind. So bear with me as I drop out stories like this here and there. And besides, it's probably a good thing anyway. Michael and Linda are great people, and it's good that some people get to see into their lives a bit.