I have been a sporadic reader for a while now, and I’m checking in because I have been transplaned to New York from New Orleans. Thank you for your efforts on behalf of all of us refugees (I do NOT take issue with the us of that word, as that is what I am).

Do you have any big city advice for me? We are living in Brooklyn for the time being and I could use some savy city girl pointers.

Keep writing,

Donna

Uh, yeah. Dude, the people reporting down in New Orleans worked on like two hours of sleep for days in the worst of conditions. I guess they were fortunate — they had a home to go back to — but the bottom line was, it was a terrible, dangerous time. But they did it because they thought it was important to tell this story.

I reached my point as well. I searched through all of my clothes and shoes, etc. and packed up several large boxes of stuff. (Good stuff, too, not just the stained t-shirts) My thought was that these folks are going to need this stuff, suits, nice clothes, etc. I mean, they lost everything.

So, I called Red Cross to figure out where to take this stuff. They didn’t know and didn’t want to accept it. Evacuees were being given debit cards. Called the United Way, no one knew anything. Called Salvation Army. Our local branches weren’t taking anything. They had nothing decided. I spent a couple of hours calling churches and finally found one that was taking a caravan of stuff down and was able to get it there. It’s tough. And it will take years to fully restore the lives of these families.

DeadMike