For those of you who don’t know how the trip came about, it’s an interesting story. I was online last Thursday trying to find something that I could do in Los Angeles this weekend to help out Katrina victims and wasn’t finding much. I got up from my computer and gave my friend Jim Chase (a high school classmate of mine) a call to see if he still needed a ride to the airport on Friday night (he was going back to Minneapolis). One of the first things he said was “How would you like to go to Louisiana this weekend?” It turns out that he had changed his plans and was flying to Austin to meet up with his uncle (Clive), cousin (Anthony) and cousin’s girlfriend (Bhumika) to drive two vans full of supplies over to some shelters where evacuees were staying. Needless to say I accepted his offer and a couple of days later was on a plane to Houston to meet them.

I landed in Houston on Saturday night where Jim and the rest of the group picked me up. As we headed East on I-10 one of the first things we saw was a convoy of school buses complete with police escorts heading West (most likely to the Astrodome). I still get chills when I think about that and about all of the people on those buses and how much their lives had changed in the last week. It was a moment that I won’t ever forget.

We stayed in Graves, Texas (just across the border from Louisiana) on Saturday night. Sunday morning we headed into Lafayette and got to the Lafayette Red Cross distribution center around 11 AM or so. When we arrived their available supplies were running a bit low. Our two vans full of food, blankets, mattresses, etc. were very helpful. One of the volunteers told us that the supply room had been nearly full just 24 hours before. And while it was pretty stocked later that day we heard that it ran low again later in the day. That’s how fast the shelters in the area were going through supplies.

At the distribution center they were also helping families who were arriving to find food and shelter. Jim and I listened to one guy (probably not much older than us) tell us his story of the last week. He was one of the people who had waited out the storm on one of the bridges in New Orleans. I think he said that he was on the bridge for two or three days. It was pretty powerful to hear him tell us that he still hadn’t located half of his family and how everything he owned was now gone.

Jim and I spent most of that afternoon helping some people from a church in a small town called Erath (20 minutes outside of Lafayette) shop for supplies (Clive, Anthony and Bhumika did something similar for another shelter). The leaders in the church were housing around 60 people in their church and adjacent buildings. While they had a good stockpile of supplies that had been donated there were some things that they were low on like baby formula, diapers, air mattresses, etc. We took them to Sam’s Club and Wal-Mart and had them load up the carts. It was nice to be able to buy stuff for them right there because who knows how long it would have taken them to get that stuff through the Red Cross. The Red Cross is doing a great job but it’s so hard to meet the needs of all of the community churches and shelters that are housing the evacuees.

After a few hours of shopping we went to Erath to deliver the supplies. They showed us the sanctuary for the church where some of the people were staying (they were planning to remove the pews this week to make more room for people!). Then they brought us over to some of the other buildings where others were staying. We entered one building that was housing a single extended family. It couldn’t have been much more than 500 square feet and there were 22 people sleeping there.

When we got back to the church I had the privilege of attending their church service which was a mix of the regular attendees and recent refugees. It was a very moving experience. I sat behind an elderly evacuee who had cancer and had lost of all her hair from chemo treatments. Another evacuee stood up and sang during the service. She had one of the most amazing voices I had ever heard. Several of the evacuees told their stories throughout the service.

After the service we were treated to a really good meal including the traditional Deep South staple of red beans and rice. Many of the families in the communities had signed up to cook meals and were bringing them to the church to feed the evacuees and those who were helping out. They were very thankful to us for helping out and buying supplies for them but I felt that they were the real heroes in all of this. After all, they were the ones opening their homes and church, helping for days on end and showing so much love to people who were total strangers just a few days before.

We drove back to Graves on Sunday night. On Monday morning Clive, Anthony and Bhumika headed back to Austin (Anthony and Bhumika attend the University of Texas and had class the next day). Jim and I headed back into Lafayette to volunteer at the Cajundome, a sports stadium that is normally the home of the University of Louisiana but now was housing thousands of refugees. After hearing stories from the Superdome we weren’t really quite sure what to expect.

The scene at the Cajundome, while busy, was a far cry from the chaos and violence that reigned at the Superdome. There were a large number of military and police on hand to make sure things were relatively orderly. We did a number of jobs throughout the day including sorting and folding clothes, fulfilling orders for clothes and supplies (I received a crash course in toddler clothing sizes!) and running out to buy more needed supplies (I would have loved to have seen the look on the cashier’s face when Jim brought several dozen bras to the counter for purchase :)). Later in the afternoon we helped out in the medical department, serving as “runners” for the doctors and nurses who were volunteering there.

I won’t soon forget the Cajundome either. While the number of refugees staying there had decreased from its peak, there seemed to be people everywhere. Just imagine your favorite sports stadium with people and beds everywhere, in the concourses, hallways, backrooms, etc. The people there were being well taken care of but you could tell that the last week had taken its toll on them. The volunteers were amazing. There were a lot of doctors and nurses there and I heard one weary nurse telling another how she had to go “back to work” the next day. Indeed, most of the volunteers were working long hours at the dome in addition to doing their regular jobs. It was very inspiring to see how dedicated they were.

We left the Cajundome around 7 PM last night to head back to Houston. It’s hard to leave a situation in which there is so much more to be done. And the sadness and loss experienced by the victims is something that will stick with me for a long time. But at the same time I was incredibly inspired by all of the people who were doing whatever they could to help out. There is so much more to be done as the majority of the people who were hit hardest by this have the least resources to get themselves back on their feet. But it will happen and that’s a tremendous credit to all of the people who’ve been working so hard and will continue to work so hard. And it’s a tremendous credit to all of you who gave money as none of it would be possible without that. So I want to say a huge thank you for your generosity on behalf of our group and all of the people who will benefit from your donations.

I will send out links to pictures as soon as we have a chance to get them online (might take a few days). If you haven’t donated yet or want to donate more, please visit the Red Cross at www.redcross.org or the Salvation Army at http://www.salvationarmyusa.org/USNSAHome.htm. And if you’re interested in volunteering, please contact the Red Cross or go to Craig’s List (www.craigslist.org) and look for the “volunteers” link in your local city as there are a lot of local opportunities to help as well. There is still so much to be done and the time when volunteers will be needed most is when the news coverage of Katrina starts to die down. So if you can help please do so.

Thanks one more time to all of you for your support here. This country has never seen anything like this before. And as bad as it’s been for a lot of people I did leave Louisiana full of hope because of the people who were helping out and the remarkable resilience of those who had lost almost everything in the storm. Please keep all of the people of the Gulf Coast in your thoughts and prayers in coming weeks and months.

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