Allofus123
Here ducky, ducky, ducky!
- Joined
- Aug 25, 2001
- Messages
- 3,869
In advance I'd like to once again thank everyone that was involved in helping this family. Everyone from the organizers of the auction, the generous bidders, the many people who sent gift cards, those that sent cash, and those that sent useful stuff directly to this family. Each and everyone of you need to know that you made a difference in this families life.
This trip almost didn't happen because of a lack of anywhere to stay in the area. This area is in shambles and all hotels from Texas to Mobile are booked solid with relief workers. I was fortunate to have another brother from CF allow my wife and I to stay with them Saturday night. Tim (2d4d on CF) had sustained a bit of damage himself and the first 4 pictures in the link below is just of the clean up piled in front of his home. I think the pictures will give you some idea of what they have been dealing with. I thought it strange that Tim would tell me how fortunate they were even though his home sustained a hole in the roof from a fallen tree. What I saw the next day explained it all.
Sunday morning we went to the aunt's house that Alex and Billie are currently staying with in Slidell. I'm not exactly sure how many people are staying there but I assure you its more than a dozen people. I met more aunts, uncles, cousins, and next door neighbors than I can remember. There were a lot of people in and out of the house. It was controlled chaos with everything revolving around the fact that they were all "family". I gave Alex and Billie the gift cards that have come in over the last few weeks. Billie sat down organizing all the names and addresses. Next I gave Alex the shotgun that was donated to him. I think it was the first time I saw Alex somewhat drift back to his life before the storm. Alex has been a hunter all his life and I'm certain for a moment there while he handled the gun he had a thought or two of happier times.
We were going to go down to their former house in St Bernard but before we went I told them I had one more thing for them. I gave them the story about this cigar BB and how the auction came about and just rambled on about how so many generous people came together wanting to help their family. I gave them the check and the shock took over. First it was wide eyes, than shaking there heads, then the tears.... there wasn't a dry eye in the house. It was beautiful.
After eveyone gathered their composure we set off to go down to their former home. I'm not going to go into all of the details.... the pictures will speak for themselves. Keep in mind that all of these pictures are taken almost 6 weeks after the storm. There are a few pictures of some of Rita's damage that we passed on the way over. I can tell you that seeing this devestaion in person changes you. The pictures, while bad, can not give you the view of standing there in person. Totally unbelievable.
Check presentation - Katrina damage 10/9/05
This trip almost didn't happen because of a lack of anywhere to stay in the area. This area is in shambles and all hotels from Texas to Mobile are booked solid with relief workers. I was fortunate to have another brother from CF allow my wife and I to stay with them Saturday night. Tim (2d4d on CF) had sustained a bit of damage himself and the first 4 pictures in the link below is just of the clean up piled in front of his home. I think the pictures will give you some idea of what they have been dealing with. I thought it strange that Tim would tell me how fortunate they were even though his home sustained a hole in the roof from a fallen tree. What I saw the next day explained it all.
Sunday morning we went to the aunt's house that Alex and Billie are currently staying with in Slidell. I'm not exactly sure how many people are staying there but I assure you its more than a dozen people. I met more aunts, uncles, cousins, and next door neighbors than I can remember. There were a lot of people in and out of the house. It was controlled chaos with everything revolving around the fact that they were all "family". I gave Alex and Billie the gift cards that have come in over the last few weeks. Billie sat down organizing all the names and addresses. Next I gave Alex the shotgun that was donated to him. I think it was the first time I saw Alex somewhat drift back to his life before the storm. Alex has been a hunter all his life and I'm certain for a moment there while he handled the gun he had a thought or two of happier times.
We were going to go down to their former house in St Bernard but before we went I told them I had one more thing for them. I gave them the story about this cigar BB and how the auction came about and just rambled on about how so many generous people came together wanting to help their family. I gave them the check and the shock took over. First it was wide eyes, than shaking there heads, then the tears.... there wasn't a dry eye in the house. It was beautiful.
After eveyone gathered their composure we set off to go down to their former home. I'm not going to go into all of the details.... the pictures will speak for themselves. Keep in mind that all of these pictures are taken almost 6 weeks after the storm. There are a few pictures of some of Rita's damage that we passed on the way over. I can tell you that seeing this devestaion in person changes you. The pictures, while bad, can not give you the view of standing there in person. Totally unbelievable.
Check presentation - Katrina damage 10/9/05
