Tom’s final Texas blog #7

Assignment: Hurricane Ike response, Workforce Planning and Acquisition manager, Texas, USA
Volunteer: Tom Windebank
Hometown: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Hello blog, It’s me again.

Today’s my last full day on the relief operation. Tomorrow I hand over my responsibilities to Mary Ann, my very competent and energetic assistant from Mississippi. Then I’ll be out processing with Bill Ferris, my buddy from the Burlington, Ontario branch. We’re going to try to visit the art gallery in downtown Houston before we fly home. I’ve decided against taking an ERV back to its California chapter as part of the response to wild fires out there – I’m told the ERV I’d get is a really nasty vehicle and I’d end up stranded somewhere in the New Mexico desert!

Over the last few days I’ve been helping the lodging group get a handle on where some of our volunteers are staying, who they are and how many there are. Bill has been lending his people to the effort as teams of staff services folk have staked out hotels across the DR. Meanwhile Bill and I have worked with the various players - shelter managers, hotel managers, FEMA etc. Part of the chaos of a large moving operation can mean losing track of staff and then, as fast as possible, finding out where they’ve landed.

I’ve also been asked to get our volunteers out of some of the shelters, including Camp Tarmac, the FEMA camp at Galveston airport. Bill and I drive over with an armful of signs warning our volunteers that tonight is their last night at the camp.

Approaching the camp we’re challenged by men in black – part of FEMA’s “Response Force One”. I’m glad our cooks are being so well protected. Alice, Camp Tarmac’s manager, is very helpful in getting the Red Cross crews out of the shelter and moved to the Moody Gardens hotel – more than a hotel really – it’s a Las Vegas-style resort with a water park, aquarium, zoo and tropical forest, all contained in a series of giant glass Giza-like pyramids. Of course, the amusement part of the resort is badly damaged, only the incredible hotel is intact. Driving away from Camp Tarmac across Galveston airport, we see dozens of smashed light aircraft.

Talking to a local Galveston resident, he tells us that his neighbourhood has been severely damaged by Ike. The great wall of water pushed over Galveston Island left homes drowning in up to 22 feet of water says the man. His home is one of the few with power restored. At night he looks out over a sea of darkened houses where a few of his neighbours are trying to restart their lives.

The operation is shrinking by the day – for the first time we have less than 1,000 Red Cross volunteers on the job and staffing requests have slowed to a trickle. Three kitchens continue to pump out 13,500 meals a day; 31 ERVs and 9 fixed feeding stations distribute the food; 815 clients remain in shelters which are scheduled to close over the next 10 days and the operation is getting focused on finding alternative living arrangements for these people.

I’ve seen, heard and learnt a huge amount on this deployment. I’ve met hundreds of clients and Red Cross volunteers from across North America, some of whom have become my friends, many others I’ll remember for their amazing stories and hard work.

The Canadian Red Cross contingent has been warmly welcomed, given important roles in the operation and made to feel very much part of the family. I’m sad to leave the operation and its wonderful volunteers, but also very proud to have played a small part in helping the American Red Cross and the Great State of Texas start on the road to recovery from Hurricane Ike.

So I’m signing off blog. See you at the next deployment.

Tom

Coming down

Assignment: Hurricane Ike response, Shelter Management, Houston HQ, Texas, USA
Volunteer: Derrick Harvey
Hometown: Comox, British Columbia, Canada

As with all intense experiences in life, coming down after the fact is often more stressing and emotional than the actual event itself. I have now been home for about 3 days and a lot of that was spent dreaming of sugarplums etc, etc. The last day of my deployment was spent saying goodbye and going through out-processing.

Returning my cell phone was bittersweet. It has been the lifeline between my shelter managers and me over the past 3 weeks. Some days, I really thought that it would melt into a little puddle of plastic by the end of the business day... there were days when my last call of the day could be confused with the first call of the next day.

Fleet decided that the car I was assigned could be returned to the Avis desk at the airport and so my long trip to Houston International Airport was somewhat simplified. My last goodbyes were said, lots of long and meaningful hugs were shared with my colleagues who had become part of daily life in this Texas town of close to 6 million. I have found friends that will stay with me forever and we have experienced an opportunity to give something back to our fellow inhabitants that cannot be measured.

My last night in Houston was quick coming, with sleep overcoming me around 7pm that night. My roommate, Jose from Tampa, a logistics truck driver, decided that he should go to the airport at 1 am and so I was awake as he packed his bags and said goodbye. We only met a few hours before, but because we shared this Disaster Response, we both understood the nervousness of our leaving and going home and the lack of a good nights sleep was not a big deal.

Jose was desperate to get home to his family and his favourite granddaughter. I understood this completely... it was exactly how I was feeling as well. So we shared a coffee at 1.30 am and I walked him out to his taxi and we hugged and said goodbye. A mutual understanding of how our roles over the past 21 days had played out for us personally.

I miss the intensity, the close knit team that I was part of, the challenges thrown at me 24/7, the need to think on my feet AND outside the box and the daily application of the mission and principles of the Red Cross. Needless to say, the unique relationship with my fellow Canadians and their contributions made us all feel especially proud.

It is said that the culture shock one experiences when returning from a different locale is often harder to cope with than that which hits you when going. Coming home this time has made me realize that this is what I need to do, what I want to do and how I want to spend my available time. Working with those other like-minded individuals, who also feel the pull of Disaster Response. Working for those people who through no fault of their own, have a need of the services provided by the Red Cross.

Hurricane Ike is now a memory for most of us, but for those people who are still in the shelters in Houston and Galveston, it is as real as if it happened yesterday. Their memories will be different from mine and will have a profound effect on the life that they strive to get back to. For me, I can go to sleep tonight knowing that there are other Red Cross volunteers who have stepped into the role I was playing and that of other people who have gone home. I will not soon forget my experiences in responding to DR 238-09 Hurricane Ike.

Cheers
Derrick Harvey
Canadian Red Cross

Tom's Texas blog #6

Assignment: Hurricane Ike response, Workforce Planning and Acquisition manager, Texas, USA
Volunteer: Tom Windebank
Hometown: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Hi blog, I've been busy, so I have some catching up to do....

With so much happening down here - financial crises, last night's presidential candidate's debate and the election in general - the response to Hurricane Ike has fallen off the front pages and it's getting more difficult to find people to fill all the vacant positions - in particular nurses and ERV drivers. I've gotten a day off....so laundry comes first and then I'm going down to Galveston to see the Red Cross operation on the island.

Interstate 45 takes me south across the flat swampy brush of coastal Texas, oil refinery complexes seem to stretch from one horizon to another. Approaching Galveston the damage to houses and other structures is significant - a lot of tarped buildings, some structures reduced to a skeleton of beams, piles of debris by the side of the road and lines of smashed pleasure craft crazily wedged against the highway barrier. In town very little is working - huge numbers of houses have a rotting pile of debris sitting outside, damaged drywall, furniture and bedding - still no power - most businesses closed and many streets closed for hydro and clean-up crews to do their work. The town seems barely alive.

The mass shelter on 81st consists of four huge white FEMA tents accommodating almost 1,000 clients. There's tight security and a line of ERVs ready to serve lunch. The Red Cross staff are cheerful and helpful, as usual. They give me directions to the impressive bulk distribution center and kitchen at Galveston Airport. When I get there I see rows of trailers are being emptied by Salvation Army fork lift drivers - a row of Southern Baptist Convention kitchens is producing thousands of meals every day ready to be loaded onto a fleet of Red Cross ERVs. It's an impressive operation.

Driving along the seawall, lazy pelicans glide over the still water....a line of oil rigs and a convoy of tankers far out at sea.

It's another day....at the morning briefing the director tells us that the end of the DR may be in sight - we have a closing date for the Galveston shelter, Oct 26, but up to 10,000 homes remain uninhabitable with no power and the mass feeding operation on Galveston will continue. Houston is almost completely back on its feet with the very last hydro repairs being made.

I'm asked to assess the conditions at our few remaining staff shelters (most of us are now in hotels) and determine which ones should be closed first. At Baytown the shelter is a sprawling Methodist church filled with ERV crews and Southern Baptist Convention cooks - donkey pumps slowly rise and fall in nearby back yards. The few volunteers I meet seem cheerful, but the shelter itself seems a little uncomfortable for people in their fourth week of deployment. I'm told that the kitchen there is expected to close in a few days as power is restored and the need for feeding declines.

Onto the Louisiana state line across an ocean of low scrub and more oil refineries to the FEMA base camp - it's a bit like entering a space ship. An impressive, air conditioned, instant little town sitting in a field surrounded by three layers of armed security. Inside, a summer camp feel permeates and everyone looks very happy to be there.

Then back to Houston on the crowded I10. It's as big as the 401 but lined for miles with neon signs, restaurants, night clubs and blazing billboards - enormous corporate towers glowing in the night air - makes me think of the movie Bladerunner. The last shelter and mass kitchen I visit is closing as I get there - the Houston operation is rapidly closing down.

Goodnight blog

Tom's Texas blog #5

Assignment: Hurricane Ike response, Workforce Planning and Acquisition manager, Texas, USA
Volunteer: Tom Windebank
Hometown: Toronto, Ontario, Canada


Howdy blog... we're into the new HQ half way between our two big shelters in Galveston and Houston.

The operation is still in full swing with more than 43,000 meals being served daily in the coastal areas from 16 fixed feeding centres and 65 mobile feeding vehicles (ERVs). Approximately 1,400 people remain in 6 client shelters (most in the two big ones). At the morning briefing we learn that houses in Beaumont and Baytown are being demolished due to hurricane damage and that the feeding effort may continue for 30 days plus because so many houses still have no power and are barely liveable.

I'm now the Workforce Planning and Acquisition manager - this means handling all the disaster staffing needs through local volunteer resources, the DHSR national disaster staffing recruitment system, or through partner agreements - a lot with youth and faith groups. It's more interesting than it sounds and I have a very hectic day as I get more than 230 staffing requests from frustrated administrators who've been without a workforce planner for the time I was running the volunteer intake center.

I'm enjoying being back inside the guts of the operation with the rest of the staffing services team and the broader team of HQ staff - Mass Care, Client Services, Client Health (the American Red Cross provides direct health care for clients and staff), Material Support and Services (what we call logistics), RTT - the techies - and all the support groups like public affairs (just hooked them up with the local semi-pro hockey team, the Houston Arrows, who're offering to do a promotional event for us).

Last night the staff relations team grabbed me and took me down to the Pasadena Livestock Show and Rodeo. Approaching the stock yard we drove through acres of massive king-cab pick-up trucks and trailers. The crowd was all wearing Stetsons, cowboy boots and blue jeans - lots of big men, women with sequined pink or white hats, little girls dressed as Southern Belles - more than a few Wild Bill Hickock and Dolly Parton look-a-likes. It began to dawn on me that Texans take their rodeos seriously. I was wearing an orange T-shirt, baggy shorts and sandals.

As the rodeo (which was almost as interesting as the people around me) ended, the cowboy band struck up a twang over the cow stalls and couples began to dance. In the booths around the stock yard I found massive crushed-velvet Elvis wall drapes, Confederate flags on license plates, hats and bath towels, Texan star jewellery and a 4 foot giraffe statuette(???) - which fearless Bob Dendoff ("I collect these!") of our Nanaimo BC branch immediately bought. The evening ended with the band singing America The Brave as everyone whooped and hollered and waved their Stetsons in the sticky sub-tropical air.

Unforgettable.

My USA Hurricane Ike experience

Assignment: Hurricane Ike response, Staff Relations Manager, Houston, Texas, USA
Volunteer: Bob Dendoff
Hometown: Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada

Tomorrow (Thursday) will be my last day on the "job'". We have now moved to our new Headquarters. My trips to Bigtown and Galveston have proven to be an eye opener. The smell of rotting garbage still piled up on the streets is not pretty.

While visiting our Galveston shelter, which is made up of huge tents housing up to 200 evacuees per tent, I had the opportunity to have a personal tour around the place. It started to rain. You do not want rain in that dirt field.

Over to the mega warehouse area which is located next to the destroyed aircraft museum at the local airport. The site would make a grown man or woman cry....

At this site there are dozens and dozens of refrigerator ("reefer") semi-trailer units loaded with all types of food, which is distributed into dozens and dozens of Emergency Response Trucks, known as ERVs. It is a massive operation.... and very well organized.

This Disaster Response volunteer assignment is truly a hardship situation and you definitely have to be able to bare the heat, primitive conditions, and be in good physical and mental health.

Bob

Hurricane Ike impacts turtles, too

Assignment: Hurricane Ike response, Shelter Management, Houston HQ, Texas, USA
Volunteer: Derrick Harvey
Hometown: Comox, British Columbia, Canada

Hurricane Ike is now almost history in most of the country and the world, but not down in Galveston. Yesterday, I visited two of my shelters: Galveston and Baytown.

After you drive down the interstate from Houston, you start to see the countryside change, but rather than changing flora and fauna, you start to see the carnage wrought by Ike..... sailboats lying in the centre median of the highway, cars under tons of rubble, buildings now just piles of brick, steel and wallboard.

Galveston is a low-lying island surrounded by a sea wall. The sea wall in most areas is at least 7 metres high, but the water from Ike breached it and rose another 7 metres. As a result, all the buildings along the sea front have suffered extensive damage from the tidal surge.

There are hundreds of service workers down here who are trying to restore electricity, traffic lights, sewers, the water system, telecoms and more. Every house has a pile of household goods in front, waiting for a truck to come and haul it away to a central collection centre, where metal and wood are separated.

The beaches along this part of Texas are known for the breeding of the Ridley turtle and there is a very real danger that the debris spread by Ike will interfere with the upcoming egg-laying season. Plastic junk is everywhere, in some cases metres deep, and spreading back from the high water mark 20 to 30 metres above the high water line.

I am now starting to slow down as my shelter count has dropped to the last remaining 4 in the Houston area. Two of those will continue to operate for at least a month, but the other two will stop in the next week or so. My processing-out date is two days away and I have had an incredible experience, met some totally devoted Red Crossers that will stay with me for a long time.

This will be my last blog from the field. Tomorrow I am taking one last tour of my shelters to see how the process is working and to say goodbye to a heck of a lot of hard working volunteers.

After I have some sleep, I will be doing a review and submit for the blog.

cheers
Derrick Harvey
Canadian Red Cross in Houston

My USA Ike experience

Assignment: Hurricane Ike response, Staff Relations Manager, Houston, Texas, USA
Volunteer: Bob Dendoff
Hometown: Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada

In order to provide a clear concise service delivery I have designed and implemented a six person team of Canadians and Americans. Our task is to provide Staff Relations on a 24/7 basis in order to serve all of the affected areas of Hurricane Ike.

Our "office" hours are down to 8-6pm, so we are now on a 10 hour shift. We also have a 24/7 cell phone, affectionately named "Bat", because it has a tendency to ring after dark.

It is my 8th day on the job and I have travelled to Baytown and Galveston. Yesterday at Baytown I met and briefly spoke to First Lady Laura Bush.

There is still lots of work to do, and as of Monday we are re-locating our HQs.

All is well here, more hotels are coming available, and new recruits are coming in to takeover the lead.

Humour

Assignment: Hurricane Ike response, Shelter Management, Houston HQ, Texas, USA
Volunteer: Derrick Harvey
Hometown: Comox, British Columbia, Canada

Tragedies sometimes evoke humour that allows people to deal with stress and to cope with the emotional pressure that was and is Hurricane Ike. There are some things that we have learned from this event. Let me share them with you.

1. Coffee and frozen pizzas can be made on a BBQ
2. He who has the biggest generator wins
3. TV is an addiction and withdrawal is painful
4. There are a lot more stars in the sky than most people realize
5. People will line up for anything... even if they do not know what the lineup is for
6. Crickets will increase their volume to beat down even 30 generators
7. Children can survive more than 4 days without a video controller in their hands
8. No matter how many times you flick the switch... without electricity, the lights will not come on
9. A 3 kg bag of ice will keep a 6 kg turkey frozen for 8 hours
10. When required, a Lincoln Continental will float. It won't steer, but it will float
11. People can walk a lot further than they think they can
12. When the phone lines are down, a cell phone will work for about 5 hours.

So there is a way to relieve some of the tension and stress generated by this Hurricane. It is not out of line to find groups of Red Cross workers having a good laugh about some aspect of their deployment and enjoying the relaxation that comes with laughter. I am coming down to the end of my rotation here in Houston, and as expected, the one constant that I have experienced here is change.

True to that, we found out today that we are closing down this Disaster Response HQ and moving to another location, to allow the local Houston chapter of the Amercian Red Cross to use their disaster building for the needs from the immediate area.

I am taking a trip down to Galveston tomorrow to check out our shelter there and gather some information to allow it to run more efficiently. We consider Galveston to be a real hardship posting: no water, no sewer, etc, etc.... so I am hoping that at some point, I will be able to coax the volunteers down there to laugh with me.

Derrick Harvey
Canadian Red Cross in Houston, Texas

More changes, Bridge City clean up

Assignment: Hurricane Ike response, Shelter Management, Orange, Texas, USA
Volunteer: Sandy Miller
Hometown: Hammonds Plains, Nova Scotia, Canada

Once again we are tearing down a shelter. We had to divide our residents between 2 smaller shelters in two different towns. The night before moving the residents and Red Cross had the plan down pat.

The morning of the move everything changed! We all got through it and by 11 am the shelter resident population was down to 5. By 7 pm our population was down to 2. While moving clients we had sent most of our volunteers to Bridge City to distribute cleaning supplies, water and meals as they were having a Bridge City Clean Up Day. We disassembled cots, loaded up the trucks with supplies and inventoried everything. Two of our crew have gone to the new shelter where most of our residents went: one is going to Vidor, Texas (another shelter) and the remainder of the team are replacements and fillers for whatever needs to get done.

Once we have closed we will have the remainder of the day off... showers and a sit down meal tonight for all!!!

Sandy

Tom's Texas blog #4: a visit from the First Lady

Assignment: Hurricane Ike response, Response Coordination, Houston, Texas, USA
Volunteer: Tom Windebank
Hometown: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Good morning blog... so I've had biscuits and gravy - Hmm, not quite sure what to say about that.

It's busier at the volunteer intake center today - lots of training classes for volunteers coming in to work in the warehouse, kitchen and mass shelter. Some of our volunteers are clients from the mass shelter here in SE Houston. Many of these volunteers are very disadvantaged in their regular lives - Hurricane Ike destroyed the little they had. When we give them their American Red Cross ID after the Fulfilling Our Mission class you can see a real glow in their faces - a smiling lady, whose home was destroyed by Ike, tells me that volunteering is helping her get over the disaster. Many of the shelter clients are waiting for FEMA to provide a longer-term solution.

After lunch a veil of security falls over us as the 1st Lady's visit draws close. There are Secret Service marksmen in black on the roof of our building, State troopers are everywhere and no-one is allowed to leave. The heavy security presence seems to have scared away a lot of the shelter residents - the places where many residents usually spend the day are completely empty. Charles Blake, the head disaster management guy in the American Red Cross, comes to get our team and escort us through a crowd of police into a quiet area completely surrounded by blue drapes. Laura Bush's assistant is immediately with us, making us laugh and smile along with her incredibly happy, energetic persona. Once she has us all organized and waiting for Mrs. Bush, she disappears only to start playing peek-a-boo through the drapes - her head popping in at different places as she pokes her tongue out at us. We all think she's great - the Secret Service guys are not at all amused.

The 1st Lady asks us where we're all from, she beams at me when I say Canada. She shakes a lot of hands while very calmly and sweetly thanking us all for the work we're doing. Then we turn to face the White House and ARC photographers as they go to work on a series of group shots. When she leaves for the media throng outside the blue drapes I think we all feel a bit special. Her assistant rushes back in with a smile the size of Texas.

The word is in, we're moving further south. The Dallas Ft. Worth ARC crew is joining us at a new operations hub south of Houston. I'll be closing down the volunteer intake center and taking my happy band of hardworking ladies (I'm the only guy) onto new adventures near the Gulf coast. Our efforts to bring in local volunteers have had some success but not enough - we need thousands of local volunteers, more than the hundreds we have brought in. To fill the gaps we're being helped by prison convicts who clean shelter cots and work the warehouse. When I check my daily workforce planning arrivals roster I can see that scores of DHSR members (mostly paid Red Cross reservists) are pouring in from across the country.

Next time you hear from me I'll be somewhere near the NASA Space Center - you know, it's the "Houston we have a problem" place. See ya later blog.

Some number, plus a visit from the first lady of the USA

Assignment: Hurricane Ike response, Shelter Management, Texas, USA
Volunteer: Derrick Harvey
Hometown: Comox, British Columbia, Canada

Not that I want to bore you with details, but I think that the figures I am about to relay will give you some idea of the magnitude of this Disaster Response.

As of today, the Red Cross has served over 3 million meals, 3 million 300 thousand snacks, more than 57 thousand comfort kits have been distributed and we have used over 26 thousand cots.

Close to 200 Emergency Response Vehicles, which are specially equipped to deliver food to shelters and clients, are in use throughout the stricken area. There are over 2000 other vehicles that are in use to administer this Disaster Response and to move staff around.

Approximately 326 training courses have been run in conjunction and some 7 thousand volunteers have been trained.

So far, we have accomodated close to 2 million overnight stays in shelters that come under the jurisdiction of the Houston Disater Response HQ.

This might give you some idea of the level of RED CROSS response for this Hurricane. There are still areas of this part of Texas that are being assessed as to liveability and safety and indeed just this morning, a large area of land close to Houston has been declared as a mandatory evacuation area and so we are ramping up in one shelter for the expected rush.

Over the next few days, we are going to receive fresh volunteers who will be deployed to the two main shelters in Houston and Galveston. So once again, we are back at the beginning for some of our processes. It seems like its a never ending circle, but we are looking at reduced day to day activity and today the first lady of the USA will be visiting our big shelter here and I am sure that will be a boost to some of our shelter clients.

cheers for today
Derrick Harvey
Canadian Red Cross in Houston
DR 238-09

October 3

Assignment: Hurricane Ike response, Shelter Management, Orange, Texas, USA
Volunteer: Sandy Miller
Hometown: Hammonds Plains, Nova Scotia, Canada

On September 30th we were told we were shuttting down and relocating somewhere. We are doing everything in our power to find another location. That evening, the children put on a talent show, engaging some Red Cross Workers to display some talents. We performed "I'm a Little Teapot" while Dave Arsenault attempted to dance. September 30th was my birthday and my 19th wedding anniversary.

It was a crazy day, but at day's end a wonderful couple who are staying in the shelter presented me with a cake and card. That gesture brought several of us Red Cross workers to tears. We realized that although some poeple say very little, they do appreciate what we do and we do mean something to them.

Today's count is down to 57, with several families having found another place to live. Some are leaving tomorrow to relocate to Dallas, 6 hours away.

Our original staff of 13 is down to 6 now... still running the shelter 24 hours a day. Ambulances are still called daily, yesterday a client had a grand mal seizure.

Some interesting stats:

• Bridge City 12,000 people only 14 homes have not been affected by water.
• As of Sept 28th, 1.5 million meals had been served Our local kitchen is pumping out 4000 meals per day.
• Canadian Dave Arsenault has removed 515 bags of garbage from this shelter alone (not including other team members efforts)
• We are burning $44K worth of fuel per day overall
• Oct 5 Bridge City is expecting 10,000 people to attend a local football game and then they are all expected to go into the city and assist with clean up efforts.

That is all from Orange, Texas today... lunch is about to arrive and we have some hungry people to serve!

Sandy Miller
Shelter Manager
West Orange Middle School
Orange, Texas

Shelters, trains and alligators

Assignment: Hurricane Ike response, Shelter Management, Orange, Texas, USA
Volunteer: Dave Arsenault
Hometown: Halifax, Nova Scotia


Hello y'all! Hard to believe that a Cape Bretoner such as myself would be able to talk Texan-ese without too much problem, but I have!

Fellow Nova Scotian Sandy Miller and I are still here at the shelter in Orange Middle School in Orange, Texas, where we have 57 clients tonight. I think of myself as the shelter "runner" since I run to the local chapter of the American Red Cross on a daily basis, sometimes more than once. You can do the math ... a return trip to the shelter is only eight miles and to date I have logged 678 miles on our cargo van. Of course, my fetish for driving any vehicle with a Red Cross on it may account in part for the mileage, though I also make frequent runs to the local Sam's store for any goods the shelter may need.

On Sunday, I will lead a special project into nearby Bridge City, which only has a population of 8,000, and where upwards of 98 per cent of the homes received substantial flood damage. This project is very special and it's an honour for me to lead it. You see, here in Texas, high school football is huge ... It's not unusual for a game to attract 18,000-20,000 fans. And that's a small crowd. So a group of citizens decided to invite everyone from Saturday's game to come to Bridge City on Sunday to help clean up. They're expecting over 10,000 people ... far more than the city's entire population. I'll be leading a team of Red Cross volunteers into Bridge city to support this project by providing food and water. Six ERVs for the feeding and two ERVs to provide the water along with 4 box trucks ... I am really looking forward to it.

Hurricane Ike has posed some interesting challenges. During our first day here, 14 alligators (and those are just the ones we've heard about...) were found in people's homes or swimming pools. I suspect they were chasing the thousands of fish that Ike dumped on the local streets and left for dead. Hmmm, can you say there is something fishy about this whole story? So much so that we had to dispense over 4,000 brooms and mops ... though no fishing rods.

The Emergency Response Vehicle (ERV) people park at the local outdoor kitchen, which on a daily basis is producing over 4,000 meals a day. Those numbers only include lunch and supper. Among my other interesting statistics ... to date I have taken out 515 bags of garbage. I believe national office is going to present me with an award.... Yes, I am kidding about the award, but not the garbage. Meals served to date: over 1.5 million. Number of shelters in this area: 35 housing about 4,000 people. Number of times Sandy Miller snores during the night: 45,645,656,523 (Just kidding). She is not nearly as loud as the train, which runs through the city at least 8 times a day ... 5-6 of those times when people are trying to sleep. I hear that someone tried to give the railway a ticket for making to much noise while blowing the whistle ... they were not successful so now the railway does it on purpose. The moral of the story: Never be a whistle blower.

During the night when one ventures to the river banks of the city, one may be overwhelmed by what appears to be Christmas lights bobbing on the river ... until you realize they are alligator eyes probing your every move....

I have enjoyed meeting the many faces attached to such a disaster. Our crew is called "204 Ready to Roar." We've had some good laughs, despite the tragedy.

Cheers and good night from Texas.
Dave

Only 6 more sleeps

Assignment: Hurricane Ike response, Shelter Management, Texas, USA
Volunteer: Joanne McClenaghan
Hometown: Yorkton, Saskatchewan, Canada

Hi all, I rushed around this AM as I thought I had slept in only to find I was up an hour early so will take the time to talk to you-all. I had a sleep in yesterday then went to the shelter to find myself promoted to supervisor. I made sure all the info stations were manned and took the rest of the day off as I had not had a day off yet. We are in charge of the info desk and the phone and computer bank. We are supposed to have 2 new volunteers arriving this morning so that will certainly help. We are still getting new people in each day as they are consolidating into the mega shelter. The info desk is the hot spot in the shelter. We are continually getting bombarded with new issues each day, and are valiantly trying to give people the correct information.

Many of residents from Galveston have still not been back to see their homes. The mayor is still encouraging everyone to stay away. There have been no buses going back and most of the people in our shelter do not have their own transportation. We are going to take another drive to Galveston as we would like to see the Red Cross tent city shelter. I have decided to stay in Houston as Sandy and I are the most informed at our station and will need to transition to the new folk coming in to take our places. We do have a couple of local volunteers coming in now and that is great as they can give better directions or have a better idea about the local resources.

The majority of the shelter residents are male now. A lot of the families seem to be disappearing each day. FEMA must be geeting them into hotels or alternate housing.

I am anxious to go home now. Only 6 more sleeps. My family can expect me to sleep for a week. I convinced the shelter manager to cut our hours yesterday as many of our people are nearing exhaustion. The dorm workers have been working 12 hour shifts. That's a long time on your feet!

All for now. Joanne

Tom's Texas blog #2

Assignment: Hurricane Ike response, Response Coordination, Houston, Texas, USA
Volunteer: Tom Windebank
Hometown: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Dear blog...... crazy morning with staff relations over breakfast and one of our client care volunteers who's having a tough time. Then it's onto Interstate 45 South for the 270 mile drive to Houston. First cactus seen at 9:45, first donkey pump (there's a lot of oil here) at 10:15. Local radio is a mixture of trucker rock, heavy metal and C&W Christian, Mexican and (my favourite) Casa 106.7 "we speak Spanglish!" - it belts out high energy spanglish rock/funk/rap. I learn the phrase "hotter than a burnin' fence post".

Driving around Houston I see the first signs of Ike: damaged roofs, windows blown out, fences and walls down, piles of debris in front of most houses, a lot of downed trees and traffic lights not working. The Houston chapter is buzzing and I find Martha, my administrator, in the midst of it all. We go over to the mass shelter in SE Houston to visit the new Volunteer Intake Center. Large groups of State Police guard all entrances and check clients coming in. The shelter is huge (2000 beds) and running at about two-thirds capacity - it's clean and bright and bustling. The Volunteer Intake Center is at far end of the shelter where I meet the fabulous crew from San Francisco, New York and National HQ that have set this unit up. Learning the process and the names and how we fit into the big picture - essentially our aim is to recruit huge numbers of local volunteers, screen, train and deploy them as fast as possible to the mass shelter and operations in other parts of the city. The national crew is leaving in a couple of days and I need to find supervisors to replace them.

Outside the mass shelter there's a huge feeding tent and a fenced shelter with rows of cages for pets - there's even a patch of grass for the animals to roll around on. It's been a long and fascinating day. Tonight I'm rooming with Jack from Sarasota - he's been jumping from one disaster to another from Florida to Gustav in Louisiana and on to Ike - he takes his ukulele everywhere. Tomorrow the real work begins.

Good night blog
Tom