RELIEF TRIP TO BATON ROUGE
YOU GAVE
1 TRUCK/WATER- BETHANY PRAYER CENTER
1 TRUCK/FOOD- SECOND HARVEST FOOD BANK
1 TRUCK/WATER- SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY
1 TRUCK/WATER- LA. STATE PATROL HEADQUARTERS
2 TRUCKS/WATER- JEFFERSON MEMORIAL CHURCH
2 TRUCKS/WATER - STAGING AREA @ W.BATON ROUGE PARISH
$85,800 TO AMERICAN RED CROSS, DELIVERED TO BATON ROUGE CHAPTER BY ARMED OFFICER FROM PARISH SHERIFF’S DEPARTMENT
This note:
Nothing ever goes as planned when you try to mount a relief effort inside a disaster zone. Our planned destinations were changed en-route when I got an urgent cell phone call that a feeding center was running out of food and water. We immediately diverted a couple of trucks to Jefferson Memorial so they would at least have water, and told the folks there that a truck of Con-Agra food would go straight to Second Harvest, and they could work out distribution there.
One destination that said they would take all we could bring, was not equipped with people or space to take more than a truck load. A desparate law officer asked for a car load, saying his police officers were dehydrated, and no way to get water after they left for the days work. Problem solved; the law officers got water they needed, and additional labor resources at the other site were spared.
The university turned out a hundred kids to sweat and unload water for evacuees the school had taken in.
But the most remarkable event of the trip was when my driver, Mike and another driver, Dennis were eating late at the Waffle House. I stayed in the cab to take a nap. The guys met a police chief who was despirate for water- with a thousand people stranded on busses with absolutely nothing. The parish sheriff woke up the jailhouse, got the kitchen staff cooking, and got two trustee crews unloading our water.
It was warehoused at W. Baton Rouge Parish, but taken into New Orleanswith search and rescue workers, and also readied for an anticipated thousand MORE busloads of people who will arrive there first after being taken from New Orleans.
I hope you enjoy the photos. I wish there were pictures from all the sites, but I thought it was just too much to ask of those dog-tired drivers. They slept in the sleeper cabs while they were unloaded.
I will have the full story for you later in print and on radio. But I wanted to make at least this much of the story known to you as soon as I returned.
Everywhere we were, people were thanking God for your generosity.
Dave Foulk
THIS TRUCK STOP HAD NO POWER. WOMEN WERE COOKING CHICKEN, HOT DOGS AND BURGERS ON THE GRILL OUTSIDE. BUSINESS WAS BRISK!
THERE WERE HIJACKINGS OF RELIEF TRUCKS. WE WERE TOLD TO GET RID OF THOSE STICKERS NOW THAT WE WERE IN BATON ROUGE.
THE WATER DROPPED AT THE PRISON WAS USED FOR EVACUEES AND FEEDING STATIONS, AND ALSO WENT INTO NEW ORLEANS WITH THE WARDEN..AS HE DELIVERED SACK LUNCHES THREE TIMES A DAY TO LAW ENFORCEMENT AND RESCUE WORKERS
THESE MEN WORKED HARD AS THEY COULD FROM MIDNIGHT UNTIL JUST BEFORE 5AM. MANY OF THEM THANKED US FOR BRINGING WATER.
THIS MAN ASKED A LOT OF QUESTIONS ABOUT NEW ORLEANS. HIS FAMILY LIVED IN A HARD-HIT AREA, AND THERE WAS NO WAY HE COULD HEAR FROM THEM.
THE WARDEN HAD SOME BOTTLES UNWRAPPED AND PLACED IN MILK CONTAINERS FOR EASY LOADING INTO PICKUPS AND CARS
