Latest United Peace Relief Journal for Ukiah Newspaper
02/25/2006 18:16
Lynn
Meadows, who started United Peace Relief to support
hurricane
recovery efforts, recently returned from her third trip to the Gulf
States since Katrina. This is a continuation of the diary she kept
during her last visit in November and December. This entry also
includes some reflections by her husband, volunteer contractor Bob
Dress.
February 25 I just returned to Mendocino County from the Gulf region last night. We went in with a team of six from United Peace Relief and Christine Murto from AIDSail. As always, it was an incredible experience. With our new organization, United Peace Relief, we have our hands full trying to help the people in the Gulf region who were affected by hurricane Katrina. Together, our five-person board of directors and our crew of volunteers are working hard to make a big difference with a small new nonprofit. Using funds raised over the past several months, we've been able to support several projects. Our camp at Slidell, Louisiana has been turned over to Bayou Liberty Relief. Our newest effort is in Pass Christian, Mississippi. This is a town that was virtually destroyed in the aftermath of Katrina. The community is now a tent city. When we arrived, we stayed at the camp established by Americorps. We had pretty nice accommodations, including heat and air conditioning, in one of the tents. Our new friend Seth Everts is committed to organizing volunteers via Americorps in Pass Christian until August. Working with the Morrell Foundation, my husband Bob helped us create tool lending libraries in the hardest hit areas. Bob writes, "Our tent, something out of MASH, sleeps five of us. Mike Stachurski sleeps in his vehicle. This tent is one of seventy, plus big ones for administration, meals, shower trailers, daycare, and, of course, the free medical clinic. Yesterday, Mike and I started building a shed for a special-needs guy who spent the storm on the backside of his rooftop with his brother-in-law who hoisted him onto the roof. He said they had to stay low, otherwise they would have been blown off the roof. His house separated during the storm - off the foundation and away from the other part of the house. He is seventy years old. Today we will help out an 84 year-old lady who lost the back wall of her house. Luckily, she has a brick house and most of it survived. Of course, they still had to gut it because of the mold and water damage. Each day the roads are filled with huge dump trucks loaded with garbage. They are slowly getting the place cleaned up. I saw a car squished under a house because the house had come off its foundation. And a boat way up in a tree. The spookiest thing is the clothes and litter up in the trees." Volunteers interested in reconstruction in Mississippi can stay in Americorps' tent city. Also, the Morrell Foundation is committed to reconstruction for the next three years, and can house 400 volunteers at a time for twenty dollars per day. Just before our arrival in Pass Christian, Seth and the Americorps team put together a clinic in one of the tents. We were able to walk right in and open the doors. I was amazed at how busy we were from the first day. It shows you how huge the need is. Medical personnel are desperately needed. The need is so great that I am putting out a national plea for medical volunteers to come to Pass Christian and keep our clinic open. The state of emergency has been extended and it is easy to get an emergency license to practice in Mississippi. If anyone reading this is a nurse, EMT, MD, PA or NP, please contact unitedpeacerelief.org if you want to volunteer to work in our clinic. If you have friends in the medical field, let them know that we have a very good clinic situation that they can walk right into. Besides these on-the-ground efforts, UPR needs to address the long-term challenge of the next hurricane season, which is just around the corner. Our number one priority is to get our mobile unit on the road. We have saved some money toward purchase of a motor home because, so far, no unit has been donated. We are estimating the cost at between $5,000 and $10,000. We want our unit to be self-sufficient and to include a mobile soup kitchen, medical component, satellite internet, solar power, and water purifier. Our plan is to house the unit in the Gulf region, but move it out of harm's way when hurricanes threaten. Let's keep working and sharing hope with the people of the Gulf.
recovery efforts, recently returned from her third trip to the Gulf
States since Katrina. This is a continuation of the diary she kept
during her last visit in November and December. This entry also
includes some reflections by her husband, volunteer contractor Bob
Dress.
February 25 I just returned to Mendocino County from the Gulf region last night. We went in with a team of six from United Peace Relief and Christine Murto from AIDSail. As always, it was an incredible experience. With our new organization, United Peace Relief, we have our hands full trying to help the people in the Gulf region who were affected by hurricane Katrina. Together, our five-person board of directors and our crew of volunteers are working hard to make a big difference with a small new nonprofit. Using funds raised over the past several months, we've been able to support several projects. Our camp at Slidell, Louisiana has been turned over to Bayou Liberty Relief. Our newest effort is in Pass Christian, Mississippi. This is a town that was virtually destroyed in the aftermath of Katrina. The community is now a tent city. When we arrived, we stayed at the camp established by Americorps. We had pretty nice accommodations, including heat and air conditioning, in one of the tents. Our new friend Seth Everts is committed to organizing volunteers via Americorps in Pass Christian until August. Working with the Morrell Foundation, my husband Bob helped us create tool lending libraries in the hardest hit areas. Bob writes, "Our tent, something out of MASH, sleeps five of us. Mike Stachurski sleeps in his vehicle. This tent is one of seventy, plus big ones for administration, meals, shower trailers, daycare, and, of course, the free medical clinic. Yesterday, Mike and I started building a shed for a special-needs guy who spent the storm on the backside of his rooftop with his brother-in-law who hoisted him onto the roof. He said they had to stay low, otherwise they would have been blown off the roof. His house separated during the storm - off the foundation and away from the other part of the house. He is seventy years old. Today we will help out an 84 year-old lady who lost the back wall of her house. Luckily, she has a brick house and most of it survived. Of course, they still had to gut it because of the mold and water damage. Each day the roads are filled with huge dump trucks loaded with garbage. They are slowly getting the place cleaned up. I saw a car squished under a house because the house had come off its foundation. And a boat way up in a tree. The spookiest thing is the clothes and litter up in the trees." Volunteers interested in reconstruction in Mississippi can stay in Americorps' tent city. Also, the Morrell Foundation is committed to reconstruction for the next three years, and can house 400 volunteers at a time for twenty dollars per day. Just before our arrival in Pass Christian, Seth and the Americorps team put together a clinic in one of the tents. We were able to walk right in and open the doors. I was amazed at how busy we were from the first day. It shows you how huge the need is. Medical personnel are desperately needed. The need is so great that I am putting out a national plea for medical volunteers to come to Pass Christian and keep our clinic open. The state of emergency has been extended and it is easy to get an emergency license to practice in Mississippi. If anyone reading this is a nurse, EMT, MD, PA or NP, please contact unitedpeacerelief.org if you want to volunteer to work in our clinic. If you have friends in the medical field, let them know that we have a very good clinic situation that they can walk right into. Besides these on-the-ground efforts, UPR needs to address the long-term challenge of the next hurricane season, which is just around the corner. Our number one priority is to get our mobile unit on the road. We have saved some money toward purchase of a motor home because, so far, no unit has been donated. We are estimating the cost at between $5,000 and $10,000. We want our unit to be self-sufficient and to include a mobile soup kitchen, medical component, satellite internet, solar power, and water purifier. Our plan is to house the unit in the Gulf region, but move it out of harm's way when hurricanes threaten. Let's keep working and sharing hope with the people of the Gulf.