I have been busy collecting funds and supplies for my venture down south.  I didn't have time to go down like I wanted to because I had already committed to working at an orthopedic clinic.  I simply didn't have enough days to drive down, do something, and drive back.  I didn't go down to Dallas because churches here were going down with buses and bringing them back to camps.  We've actually had problems with people NOT wanting to come because we are too far north.  ?????  So, then I decided I was going to help in the search and rescue effort.  I had clearance to go into New Orleans (organizational contacts) but again, I simply didn't have the time to do my thing there.  So now I am going to help with cleanup, and I will still deliver supplies and help as many people as I can around the Slidell, LA. area since one of my athlete's is from there, and her family was devastated by Hurricane Katrina.  She told me, and I agreed, that right now there is a big push to help, but people are afraid that when all the hoopla dies down that there will be less help.  These people will need lots of help for a long time.  There is still no power.  We cannot get in right now because we do not have local identification, but soon we make the trek down there.

I can't thank all of you enough for encouraging me and for donating to my cause.  I realize that people are always asking for money and this and that, so it's extra special to me that you entrusted me to use your funds  and stuff the best way I saw fit.  That means a lot to me, and I won't ever forget it.  Thank you so much.

I'm still going...

My friend's family is in dire need in Slidell, LA.  This is where the eye of the hurricane passed over, and it's total devastation there...

Okay, I finally found an organization that matches potential housing with evacuees.  It's the Potter's House, and the number is 214-623-4081.  People like myself have gone down to shelters in hopes of finding people to bring "home," but it has proved to be both difficult and disappointing.  The volunteers won't let you in the shelters, and many of the evacuees are quite content to stay at the shelters for now as they are offered some stability.  In addition, there seems to be a racial issue where blacks and Hispanics aren't willing to go anywhere with whites.  This, of course, doesn't apply to ALL, but it is the general consensus among survivors.  SO, having said that, I humbly admit that perhaps it is best to go through an agency like the one mentioned above. 

My head aches.  I feel worn out, and I have done nothing yet.  I have spent countless hours on the internet trying to research just how I can find people to house them.  Shelters won't let people like me in because the Red Cross doesn't want to assume the liability of helping to place strangers with strangers.  Well, the LEAST they could do is inform these homeless people that other people are outside who are willing to take them into a home!!  I wonder how these homeless people would feel knowing that loving homes are being turned away from them.  It's tragic.

I have decided that I might have to go directly into the devastation of Mississippi.  Gulfport and Biloxi both hold special places in my heart.  I have spent nights there on my way to visit family in Florida.  I will bring much needed supplies, and I will bring back whoever wants to come.

I'm emotionally drained from all of this and from some recent occurences at the hospital.  This past week a sailor was driving drunk and hit a 31-year old woman head on leaving her brain dead.  She has donated all of her bodily organs, so they'll be harvesting those shortly.  I did a chest xray on her and told her that I was sorry.

Last week 2 young boys, ages 4 and 7, came into the ER in full arrest.  They had been playing in the trunk of a car and locked themselves in there.  The temperature reached 130 degrees.  They both died the other day.

The week before that a guy who used to work in the ER died when a semi ran a stop sign.  He was 26 and brain dead.  He was also a donor, and his organs were harvested.

Also that week a middle-aged woman died of a massive brain bleed.  She was a donor, and her organs were harvested.

I'm not asking anyone to feel sorry for me.  It's the profession I chose.  It's just really getting to me lately.  That and all of this Hurricane Katrina stuff. 

Friends, I am going down to Dallas, Houston, San Antonio--wherever--to deliver much needed supplies.  People have tried to donate specific items here i.e. expensive formula, but the Red Cross said that they cannot guarantee that it will reach the right hands.  Well, I'm here to assure you that I will PERSONALLY be bringing supplies, and I will also PERSONALLY be loading people into my car or van (if I rent one) and bringing them back to Norman, OK. where various friends of mine will be housing them.  I can longer just sit here and do nothing, so I'm mounting my own personal venture.  I'm asking for donations because I cannot possibly afford all of these people.  You can trust me.  You KNOW that's where the money will go.  Anything you can give will be greatly appreciated.

Many people have offered their homes to these people, but these people have no way of getting there.  Go get them. 

You, too, can do what I'm doing.  Open your homes.  Do something.  Please.

Thank you.

 

2933 Canyon Oaks Dr.

Norman, OK.  73071