Joseph Eichler

We took the bus from San Francisco to Anaheim yesterday. My super good friend of 10 years and D.C. Comics artist, Brad Walker, is out here visiting his parents who just happen to live in a home designed by Joseph Eichler. So this is where we will be staying for a few days until we finally cross the border into Mexico.

Benny Gold, at home in San Francisco.

Goodbye S.F.

San Francisco was a great time, with great people. I leave for the Los Angeles area in the morning.

On the street in San Francisco.

Reno, Nevada

Off to the cruise ship they go. Gautier, Mississippi.

Everyone was soo excited about going to the cruise ship. The Carnival cruise ship Holiday was to become their homes for the time being. While we Red Cross volunteers were happy to see them go somewhere better, we were sad that we would not see them again.

Nice

Biloxi, Mississippi

Pascagoula, Mississippi

Ocean Springs, Mississippi

Mississippi Mud in Moss Point

Gator

Hello everyone

I have been quite busy the past few days and this is the first time I have been able to get to a computer. I'm sitting in the Gautier public library on my last day of work with The Red Cross. Tomorrow we go to headquarters in Biloxi to "process out" as they say and I think we will have some time to look around in Biloxi as well. I have been driving a truck all around coastal Mississippi delivering supplies to various Red Cross shelters. In order to get these supplies me and my boss, who is a cool former marine, have to wheel and deal with all of the various groups who have been accepting donations. The Southern Baptists, local church groups, and The Church of the Nazarene are just a few of the generous folks who have been sharing their supplies with us. Everything from baby food, water, canned goods, cleaning supplies, clothes, spices, dust masks, and oversized wheel chairs have been traded back and forth. I'm not talking about small quantities either, I'm talking about pallets of goods. It has been incredible to see these groups come together to feed and shelter so many. I have seen some really amazing examples of human behavior these two weeks. Not to rain on anyone's parade, but I have also seen some pretty bad human behavior as well but this is to be expected. FEMA finally showed up en masse and seems to be pretty together now. They have been taking people out of the shelters and putting them up on a cruise ship docked in Mobile. They have also been giving folks the option of a new trailer to live in. Not everyone has been taken care of, there is still a good deal of suffering going on down here, but at least they are finally making a dent. This was such a huge disaster to deal with, hopefully next time they will be a little more prepared.

I am really going to miss all of the people I have been working with. I will also miss the clients, I hope they all recover as quickly as possible.

So I have not been able to edit the images I have made over the past two weeks. I have seen some very terrible destruction which I will never foget. As soon as we can get to a place where I can edit for a few hours, and then upload images, I will share what I have seen both good and bad.

Today

Someone from the local community came and took all of my dirty laundry to their home, washed it, and then brought it back to me. One of the shelter residents bought salad for everyone. The local paramedics came by the shelter and gave anyone who wanted it a free tetanus shot. The National Guard dudes gave some of the kids staying here a ride in their tough looking Hummer. Not the suburban warrior type, but the diesel, no doors, no seat belts camo kind and the kids loved it. One of the residents told me that she loved all of us, and she thanks god for us everyday. I have never had an experience like this before in my life. There are a few snags here and there, but for the most part this has blown my mind on an hourly basis. Tomorrow we have to move all of the residents out of here to another location. School starts soon and the kids need their high school back. So off we go, all 89 of us. We have 10 more days here and then we are off to San Francisco, the last detour before Mexico.

I have not watched the news, or seen a newspaper in a long time. Is Katrina even in the news anymore?

Where are you FEMA? These people need help and they are all waiting for you.

Hurley, Mississippi y'all

Im working in a shelter down here in Mississippi. I have about 3 seconds of internet so I need to make this quick. All is well with me. The people here are amazing, but most of them have lost EVERYTHING. Every little thing they had is now gone, washed away. Megan and I are together here, working with a staff of other Red Cross volunteers. If you can, donate money to the Red Cross. We are heading out of here on September 21st, until then internet access will be very limited. I hope all of you are swell.

Atlanta airport, 7:00am.

The Red Cross

We are leaving at 4:15am for the airport. We are going to Montgomery, Alabama to then be assigned to any one of 10 different states where the Red Cross is operating. We have committed to 14 days, and who knows, maybe a few extra. I hope to be able to get online and make some updates. Watch this space.

Be sure to check out Megan's new website, it is waaay better than mine.

Kudzu, Katrina, and Camaros.

Sorry for the lack of updates. We had been sitting around waiting to see what was going to happen with the hurricane since New Orleans was one of our next stops. Then it hit and all hell broke loose. So now we are waiting to be assigned and shipped out by the Red Cross as disaster relief volunteers. We have no idea where we will be sent, or even if we will be sent together but we will be deployed in the next few days. The Red Cross is currently operating 284 shelters in 9 states sheltering 94,000 people, and this is growing every day. There may be about a 2 week period coming up where I will be unable to update this blog. Ill let you know where we are headed before we leave. After we help out a bit, we will be on our way to Mexico and points south.

So for now have a look at the North Carolina state flowers, Kudzu and Camaros.

Totally bitchin.