Aid Update

There was a sigh of relief in the area as FEMA finally brought in enough food, ice and water. They stationed a huge relief effort in Pascagoula, Mississippi, which was an area hit very hard by the storm. The food, water, and ice finally did not run out, and there is enough for today. Even Senator Trent Lott had a home totally destroyed in Pascagoula. It was 150 years old. Think of that. We get lots of storms here, yet his house stood for 150 years. Now, it is not even a frame. It is just ... gone.

Are you wondering if your help will even help? When you hear of the nation giving so much, of movie stars giving millions, of so many donations being sent, do you wonder if there is already enough?

The answer, for this storm, is "no." This is one of those storms where you just can't give enough. There cannot be enough money, or enough donations, or enough volunteers.

I can tell you from personal experience through other hurricanes, that FEMA is not quick to give aid. There is a lot of red tape involved with them. It is easy to sign up, but it is difficult to be approved for aid. We had to mail in various documents, proving that our insurance company didn't cover everything, proving income. Then, a FEMA person had to schedule an appointment to come to our home....it is just a long process. And very inconsistent. You cannot know if you'll receive any money, or what amount. Don't expect FEMA to provide these homeless people with all that they need. We need to help them.

The Red Cross has shelters set up in the area, filled to capacity. The Red Cross is doing a wonderful job, as always. Shelter and food is ultimately FEMA's job, but the Red Cross is doing it until FEMA comes through. This is the biggest relief effort the Red Cross has ever undertaken. We need to help them.

The Southern Baptists are stepping in, as always. They provide hot meals primarily (Jeb Bush said in a recent press conference that "the Southern Baptists always have the best food"), and have even partnered with the Red Cross to provide food at Red Cross shelters. They also bring showers and laundry services into an affected area, along with donations and medical personnel. And they provide yard work for the elderly or sick. When we had a flat tire in Florida after Hurricane Ivan, we were blessed enough to have it go flat while near a Southern Baptist church. A volunteer from Oklahoma drove my husband around town to find a tire shop. It took 4 hours (everyone gets a flat after a hurricane), but that generous man was patient all the time. Meanwhile, the volunteers at the site made sure my children and I were fed while waiting.

The Church of Christ are a generous bunch. They have opened an area shelter in Summerdale, Alabama. They also bring in many loads of donations and are very organized at passing them out.

Local churches are stepping in, like the First Baptist Church of Robertsdale and the Church of Christ in Summerdale to be shelters for the homeless, converting Sunday School rooms into bedrooms. Central Christian Church is providing a place for showers and exercise for the 300 homeless who are living in the Robertsdale Coliseum.

What are the needs?

We need volunteers to offer time at the local shelters, babysitting children so the parents can get a break, reading to the kids, befriending the parents.

We need donations of the items I've already listed. One problem is that people have to drive to distribution sites to receive aid. Many cannot do that, and it is worse with this storm because we are in such a gas crisis down here. There is a need for people to go into the neighborhoods to hand out needed items. If you cannot come, then mail items to us and we will get them to the neighborhoods and small rural towns that usually don't receive aid.

You can help. We can help.

Lori Seaborg
Alabama Gulf Coast

A note: If you want to volunteer your time, you may want to join Cindy Rushton and her family in Laurel, Mississippi. They are going to work with their local church to help in that hard-hit area of Mississippi, about 90 miles from the Coast.