** WNR SPECIAL **

---As I see the Gulf Coast nightmarish tragedy continue to unfold---dead bodies everywhere, reports of anarchy, children and adults hungry and without any resources, people engaged in physical battles and shooting each other, no water to drink ---the adage comes to mind of, "Man's Inhumanity To Man." I cannot, for the life of me, determine why these conditions persist on the sixth day after the storm, in a nation such as ours, but they do.

So I'm doing what little I can do and I am asking for input from all of you, just in case I've overlooked the obvious. I am collecting unneeded-but-serviceable clothing and am going to deliver it to the Red Cross. I've donated funds and given blood. However, these small efforts, in the face of such a monumental disaster, seem woefully inadequate. What else can we do? Tell me what some of you are doing (and I just KNOW you ARE doing), and maybe I can carry this further. Thanks, and let's all pull together to help these people in our Gulf Coast states.

Some Responses:
From: Gary Barnes
Date: 09/03/05 21:24:23
To: Bonnie
Subject: Re: WNR SPECIAL!---

Bonnie,

There is a church in the area who was talking about sending 3 delegates to Mississippi to contact either FEMA or the Red Cross about adopting 7 families to bring to Ohio for a month. They contacted their church family for 7 volunteers to take in these families. If approved, they have their 7 families. This could also be done by cities, organizations, businesses etc. Once in the area, businesses would be contacted about giving these people part time jobs so they won't feel that they are just receiving charity. They can feel like they are earning their way. At this point, the entire city could help out and make them feel welcome and wanted. Then food and clothing could be collected and distributed to these families so it wouldn't cost the host families as much. Talk to you later !!

Gary

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---The following info, which was just sent to me by Bruce, is exactly the type of thing I was after. I've also just gotten a note from 1958's HARRIETTE E. DOGGETT, in which she has said her siblings from her father's side, both in that Gulf Coast area, are a-ok. They're among the lucky ones. We have many innovations out there, as I knew we would. NANCY J. ERTEL, 1961, writes that she has set up a prayer website and 1957's BERTHA J. HOERNER says she's going to bombard the Bicycle Playing Card Co., to give the victims a calmer pastime. I just returned from taking bags of usable clothing to be given to them, too. I'll bet we're ALL doing lots of stuff.

From: Bruce Chenoweth
9/3/05

FEMA has contacted my company, desperately seeking to purchase the following.

Diesel powered electric generators, 250 KW or larger.
Diesel powered pumps, 10,000 GPH or larger.
They can use new or used.

If anyone knows where any of these large pieces of equipment are located that are for sale, Please contact me at bchenoweth@woh.rr.com. FEMA allows a 5% resale fee of which my company will donate to a Katrina Relief Fund (Red Cross and Salvation Army to which we have already contributed) upon receipt.

Semper fi,

Bruce
- posted by Mikey @ 12:25 PM