In Jackson, Mississippi, we were knocked out by the storm for a week or two and as soon as we got back on our feet we set up a cybercafe at the Mississippi Coliseum, in Jackson, where hundreds of refugees from the gulf coast were camped. The cybercafe allowed them to find loved ones, get access to cash and other resources, find out what was going on with their households and jobs and more.
Then we asked our meditation community if they would donate to help people on the coast and we would travel there and distribute what they gave. We got a call from Jack Kornfield at Spirit Rock Meditation Center north of San Francisco. They had people that wanted to help, including one anonymous donor who wanted to give $50,000! In all, about $65,000 was collected and our instructions were to try to get it directly in the hands of the poorest of the poor in the affected area.
We had never done anything like this and were hesitant at first. Then we figured out a plan. We knew some community organizers in the gulf communities and we would get them involved and help us, with their local knowledge, to know who should get help and how much.
When we went to the coast, it was incredible. Everything was destroyed. People were living in the entryway of their houses. Too much toxic black mold to go in their house, way too hot to venture away from the shade of their front doors. All their destroyed belongings in big heaps along the road. They had visits from the president and top federal and state officials. They had heard a lot of promises. But a month after the disaster, nobody had really helped them at all. We wrote a detailed report with pictures about our experience in giving the money away. The most memorable event for me was going up the entry steps to a mobile home where an elderly black woman was sitting in an old chair outside her door. We gave her a check and she broke into tears. She said that was the first time a white person ever helped her in her whole life. Wow.
Following is the report we wrote to the donors:
“As you have done it to the least of these, you have done it to me.” Matthew 25:40
Hurricane Katrina made landfall on August 29, 2005.
We left Jackson before dawn on Saturday, October 1, and drove south to the Mississippi Coast to distributed donated money directly to hurricane victims.
We saw the destruction of the hurricane gradually increase as we made our way south. There were places along highway 49 south of Hattiesburg where we went through a gauntlet of tree rubbish piled high on either side. On our left were toppled tops of trees every few feet that had to be cut to clear the traffic lanes. On the right were huge tree roots from trees ripped out of the ground.
As we reached Gulfport virtually all the buildings had damage. Nearly all signs were blown down.
In North Gulfport we turned into the neighborhood to the west of Highway 49 and found our way to Rose Johnson’s house.
“We All Live In The Ghetto Now”
Rose Johnson – $2,000
Rose is a community activist for her low income, black and largely elderly community. She lives just south of Turkey Creek. There is no car in the drive. She needs $300 to get it back from the repair shop. Rose has led the campaign to stop a wealthy New Orleans developer from draining and filling over 300 acres of nearby wetlands to build condominiums. With flooding (and pollution) along Turkey Creek already a problem, losing the wetlands would likely double the flooding. Rose was recently successful with the help of the Sierra Club to get Turkey Creek listed as one of the ten most endangered waterways in Mississippi. Like all her neighbors, Roses home has bare concrete floors. All her carpet and moldy belongings are out along the street. The black mold that grows on everything from the flooding is nothing to take lightly. It can cause brain damage, respiratory disease and other serious ailments. Rose said after she had gone down to highway 90 and seen the damage to all the expensive properties along the beach, she said, “you know, now we all live in the ghetto”.
Charonda Gary – $1,000
Charonda Gary is Rose’s daughter. She has 6 children and has lost all their family belongings because of the hurricane flooding. She is going to help us get around the neighborhoods.
Alberta Pittman – $1,000
Alberta is one of the community elders. Her home like her neighbors was lost in the flooding and wind. She is going to help us find those who need help the most. The average family income for these neighborhoods is under $20,000 a year. The income in the surrounding neighborhoods is more than double that.
Charonda – Rose – Alberta
We met with the director of the red cross shelter in the middle of a poor black community about a mile or two away on the east side of highway 49. He agreed to let us write checks as we went around to people resting on their cots in the building.
James Johnson – $100 Resident of Gulfport. Lost the roof on his house. No place to live.
Diane Dube – $100 From Gulfport. Was living in the Britney Apartments and lost everything. Has been to three or four shelters now.
Tammy Breasale – $100 From Gulfport. Lost everything. No place to live.
Then we changed the plan and they put us at a table where people could line up for checks.
Aaron Luton, Jr. – $100 55 yr. old Gulfport resident.
Paul Britton – $100
Jo Anne LiPoteete – $100
Bob Cauthon – $100 Later we saw him and his long white beard walking north a couple miles up hwy 49.
Wallace Everett – $100 A Long Beach resident. “Wiped Out”
Clifton Pearson – $100
Don Tower – $100 From Mobile, AL and lost everything
Eva Dickerson – $100
Kendall Ray Walker – $100 Lives right in North Gulfport and lost everything
Willie Blackmon – $300 His daughter and wife were also in the shelter
Shirley Ward – $200
Keith Hayes – $100 From Mendenhall, MS
Joseph Arrington – $100 Lives in Jones County, MS
Willie Knox, Jr. – $100
Rhonda Thurman – $100
Jazzmine Gaddis – $100
Brayshana Dickson – $100
Cephius Robey – $100
Belinda Henley – $100
Darryl Ellis – $100
Quincey Barbour – $100
Marsha Barbour – $100
At this point the Red Cross people got nervous about doing this inside the building because Red Cross couldn’t sanction it. So we moved to a table outside the building.
James Farrow – $100
Beverly Dean – $100
Clifford Saucier – $100 Both Beverly and Clifford could not speak English, we exchanged thank yous in español
Kathleen King – $100
Patrick Pate – $100
Mark Thomas Vany – $100
Paul Lundberg – $100
Carrie Sullivan – $100
James Cauley – $100 From Georgia.
Janet Ladner – $100 Living from a wheelchair. Lives in Gulfport.
Lena Ladner – $100
Samuel Grouham – $100 Lost everything in Pass Christian
Kenneith Mott – $100 Even his ID had water damage
Roy Hamilton – $100
Stephen Sebak – $100
Robert Cameron – $100 Lost his home near Brookhaven, MS
Lottie Mae Romain – $100
Breonna Dickerson – $100
Red Cross was now nervous about doing this outside their building and called the police. At this point we had written a check to nearly everyone and we were able to calm down the police officer and convince him that he was doing a good job and no doubt his presence there was preventing a riot – but not before he had called for backup.
Anita Gaddis – $100
Shamis Sims – $100
William Janis – $100
Michael Moran – $100
Deborah Romain – $100
As we finished we assured the officer that the rest of our activities would be from private homes and he agreed to call off the backup.
We drove around this neighborhood and delivered more checks.
Mary Thigpen – $500 Is a singer in the local church and inspires many.
Armatha Beavers – $500 Lives in a small house and is having her roof replaced.
Jerlean Brazier – $200 Needs a new roof.
Forest Heights Subdivision
Then we went back across highway 49 to a planned community that was the first one of its kind designed for African American women property owners. This community of 210 homes had all been submerged under at least 4 feet of water. Most of their roofs were damaged and all their belongings in the homes were heaped on piles on the streetsides.
This whole community is endangered if development takes away the Turkey Creek wetlands.
Barabra Tims – $500
Sheredia Grabes – $200 We met her in the street. She had on coveralls and a hard hat and was holding a shovel. Cleaning up mud from damaged neighbors homes.
Marie Walls – $500
Martha Anderson – $500 Just got a FEMA trailer today. It’s small but her family of 4 can survive in it. Her house was smooshed by several trees in addition to the wind damage and flooding.
Linda Lindsay – $100
Shevlon Denks – $200
Sallie Simmons – $200
Lubertha Haskin – $500
At this point we took a break and went back to Rose’s home and watched a home video shot while the hurricane was ripping off the shingles on their roof.
BAY ST LOUIS
We took interstate 10 west to the exit to get to Bay St. Louis. All the tall billboards were ripped apart showing sky instead of whatever.
We made our way down to highway 90 and down second street into town and parked at the United Methodist Church on Main St. We met some of the people on the cleaning crews living in tent cities and they were really happy to see what we had brought them.
Two gas powered high pressure water sprayers – $577.78
We walked the couple blocks to the bay and saw where Beach St. use to be. All the restaurants, natural food store and other shops that were on the beach side of the street were completely gone. Hardly any of the street was left. This picture is from the bay side of what was once Beach St. looking north from Main St.
The railroad tracks crossed the street and dove into the bay. Workers were out on barges trying to repair the pilings where the railroad crossed the bay. Antique and art shops were there with their store fronts broken or missing. Thick mud on their floors. Mold growing everywhere. Destroyed artwork and office equipment sitting in the mud. All our camera batteries were dead so these two pictures of the church and beach street were borrowed.
We went to the retreat center, St. Augustines, where we had organized 10 day meditation retreats for years. The newly constructed buildings were still standing, but inside they had been gutted down to the 2 x 4’s. We saw a new Saturn car parked by the back door of the administration building and went to see if anyone was there. On closer inspection, the car had floated to that resting spot. Nobody home. We took a look at what use to be the Bay St. Louis bridge across the bay, then returned to Gulfport.
Gulfport part 2
We had a quick lunch at one of the only restaurants open south of interstate 10. This Applebee’s had all their carpet ripped out and had a limited menu and bottled water.
We met up with Rose again and her daughter and found some of the folks we had missed earlier.
Alma Page – $200 Alma is just recovering from a stroke. She feeds the neighborhood cats that come to her to survive. The picture is her neighbors house.
Gladys Lee – $500 Gladys is waiting for a FEMA trailer. She was so moved to receive your donation. She cried and cried.
Lattie Grubbs – $500 Lattie and her husband are an elderly couple. He is recovering from a stroke.
TURKEY CREEK
Turkey Creek Neighborhood runs along Turkey Creek just above where it empties into the bay. This community got flooded very badly and there were many stories of the young men of the community organizing boats to rescue elderly residents from their roofs. We went to the main community church where there was a meeting going on about how to restart programs for the young people in the community. Jane Pauley and a crew from her network were there interviewing community organizers. In the parking lot, we began writing checks to the many community members who were there.
Sherryl Thompson – $500
Lottie Caldwell – $500
Charlie Idom – $250
Angie Stewart – $250
Dorris Caldwell – $250
Warren Howard – $250
Netterine Theodore – $250
Ronald Jackson – $250
Kim Thompson – $250
Ethel Caldwell – $250
Bennye Mosley – $250
Flowers White – $250
Warren White – $250
Ed Butler – $250
Edward Moser – $500
James Bell – $250
Martha Snelling – $250 Martha is interested in meditation and has been trying it on her own for quite a while. We got her address and will be keeping in touch and sending her more information on meditation.
Calvin Jackson – $500
Therosine White – $250
Daffena Hamilton – $250
Beatrice Brown – $250
Marline Wilson – $250
Robert White – $250
Cozetta Bell – $250
Ywlanta McLaurin – $250
Ylonta Starks – $250
Sullivan J. White – $250
Timothy Hill – $250
Sylanva Escobar – $250
Pauline Young – $250
John Evans – $250
Johnny Mays – $250
Kelvic Dedeaux – $250
Mary Hamilton – $250
Houston Fairley – $250
Louie Mays – $250
Dozier Hines – $250 He had a crutch and was feeling sick.
Wanda Miller – $250
Sherri Bell – $250
Sheila Robinson – $250
Michael Evans – $250
Jeffrey Stewart – $250
Dasawn Thompson – $250
Damaro Thompson – $250
Elizabeth White – $250
Angelo Saucier – $250
Rosella Williams – $250
Jerry Darden – $150
Jeffrey Weston – $150
Belinda Rankins – $150
Eugene Williams – $150
Deterris Marshall – $150
Charles Marshall – $150
Arthur Smith – $150
Tommy Stewart – $150
Bennie White – $150
Alfred White – $150
Tracy Butler – $150
Rosetta Flowers – $150
Donna Flowers – $150
Sandy Flowers – $150
Ebbie Stamps – $150 Related to the Stamps in Jackson.
Patrick White – $150
Delbert Bester – $150
Hurley Johnson – $150
Terry White – $150
Thomas White – $150
Jerome White – $150
Farland White – $150
Levey Mays – $150
John Idom – $150
Monica Bester – $150
This picture above is Derrick Evans and John Wathen. Derrick is a community organizer in Turkey Creek. He also teaches at Boston College. He came back from Boston when Katrina hit. Along the way he brought a couple trucks of supplies and maxed out his credit card with $20,000 of purchases to help his community. John Wathen is an activist in Bobby Kennedy Jr.’s Waterkeeper organization. He is on the front lines of protecting rivers and creeks from corporate pollution.
We wrote checks until we nearly ran out of money and did run out of the four books of checks we had brought.
Sunday – Biloxi
After retreating to Hattiesburg for a good night sleep at a friends home, we drove to Biloxi early Sunday morning to meet with Carol Burnett who is a minister and director of the Moore Community House in the poor sections of east Biloxi. We crossed the bridge into Biloxi (often the cross over is an hour and a half wait – but no wait this early Sunday morning). We found the whole east Biloxi area had been submerged under 12 feet of ocean during the hurricane.
Moore Community House – $5,000.00
Moore Community House – Now in its 77th year of mission and service to the families and children of the working poor in east Biloxi, Moore Community House strives to empower people to improve their lives and community. Through Community Dream Makers, local residents come together at MCH to find ways to sustain their neighborhoods and roots. The Biloxi Community Development Coalition, an outgrowth of Community Dream Makers, seeks to build up the neighborhood economically, equitably, and ecologically. MCH also offers a complete child development program, emergency assistance, and counseling and support services.
The whole complex of buildings making up Moore Community House and home to all its programs was standing, but will probably need to be demolished.
Here is a picture of the room where they had education for preschoolers. Those are soaked ceiling tiles on everything.
Their van and school bus were also totaled. They were just a few days ago able to get their staff back together. The staff will stay on salary for now and will be trying to find the families of the children they worked with and find what their needs are.
All the buildings in the area were marked with this symbol by the search and rescue teams. The top mark is the date of the search. The bottom number is how many dead were found inside.
We told Carol to use half the money to help get her staff needs better met and use the other half for the families they work with.
So far, thanks to your donations, we’ve given out $49,458.88 in direct donations to Katrina victims and several hundred more dollars giving computers to victims as well.
There are still several hundred thousand people with pressing needs, and we have a list of people needing specific things, so as more donations come in, we know exactly how to get the money where it is needed.
Thanks again to everyone who made this happen!