Posted on 09/03/2005 10:04:34 AM PDT by NavySEAL F-16
Edited on 09/03/2005 10:06:22 AM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
Someone forwarded this to me last night..
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The Positive Stories Must Get Out
Name: Robert LeBlanc
Home #: (removed)
Email: rlrenrec@aol.com
Subject: My Hurricane Story -- The Positive Stories Must Get Out
Story: Please help me to get this story out. We need to get the truth out and these people helped.
Jeff Rau, a family and now personal friend to whom I will forever be linked, and I were volunteering with a boat and pulling people out of the water on Wednesday. I have a first-hand experience of what we encountered. In my opinion, everything that is going on in the media is a complete bastardization of what is really happening. The result is that good people are dying and losing family members. I have my own set of opinions about welfare and people working to improve thier own lot instead of looking for handouts, but what is occurring now is well beyond those borders. These people need help and need to get out. We can sort out all of the social and political issues later, but human beings with any sense of compassion would agree that the travesty that is going on here in New Orleans needs to end and people's lives need to be saved and families need to be put back together. Now.
I will tell you that I would probably disagree with most of the people that still need to be saved on political, social, and cultural values. However, it must be noted that these people love thier friends and families like I do, desire to live like I do, and care for their respective communities (I was even amazed at the site of seemingly young and poor black people caring for sickly and seemingly well-to-do white people and tourists still needing evacuation from New Orleans' downtown area) the same way I care for mine.
Eight people in particular who stood out during our rescue and whose stories deserve to be told:
1.) We were in motor boats all day ferrying people back and forth approximately a mile and a half each way (from Carrolton down Airline Hwy to the Causeway overpass). Early in the day, we witnessed a black man in a boat with no motor paddling with a piece of lumber. He rescued people in the boat and paddled them to safety (a mile and a half). He then, amidst all of the boats with motors, turned around and paddled back out across the mile and a half stretch to do his part in getting more people out. He refused to give up or occupy any of the motored boat resources because he did not want to slow us down in our efforts. I saw him at about 5:00 p.m., paddling away from the rescue point back out into the neighborhoods with about a half mile until he got to the neighborhood, just two hours before nightfall. I am sure that his trip took at least an hour and a half each trip, and he was going back to get more people knowing that he'd run out of daylight. He did all of this wit! h a t!
wo-by-four.
2.) One of the groups that we rescued were 50 people standing on the bridge that crosses over Airline Hwy just before getting to Carrolton Ave going toward downtown. Most of these people had been there, with no food, water, or anyplace to go since Monday morning (we got to them Wed afternoon) and surrounded by 10 feet of water all around them. There was one guy who had been there since the beginning, organizing people and helping more people to get to the bridge safely as more water rose on Wednesday morning. He did not leave the bridge until everyone got off safely, even deferring to people who had gotten to the bridge Wed a.m. and, although inconvenienced by loss of power and weather damage, did have the luxury of some food and some water as late as Tuesday evening. This guy waited on the bridge until dusk, and was one of the last boats out that night. He could have easily not made it out that night and been stranded on the bridge alone.
3.) The third story may be the most compelling. I will not mince words. This was in a really rough neighborhood and we came across five seemingly unsavory characters. One had scars from what seemed to be gunshot wounds. We found these guys at a two-story recreational complex, one of the only two-story buildings in the neighborhood. They broke into the center and tried to rustle as many people as possible from the neighborhood into the center. These guys stayed outside in the center all day, getting everyone out of the rec center onto boats. We approached them at approximately 6:30 p.m., obviously one of the last trips of the day, and they sent us further into the neighborhood to get more people out of homes and off rooftops instead of getting on themselves. This at the risk of their not getting out and having to stay in the water for an undetermined (you have to understand the uncertainly that all of the people in these accounts faced without having any info on the resc! ue ef!
forts, how far or deep the flooding was, or where to go if they want to swim or walk out) amount of time. These five guys were on the last boat out of the neighborhood at sundown. They were incredibly grateful, mentioned numerous times 'God is going to bless y'all for this'. When we got them to the dock, they offered us an Allen Iverson jersey off of one of their backs as a gesture of gratitude, which was literally probably the most valuable possession among them all. Obviously, we declined, but I remain tremendously impacted by this gesture.
I don't know what to do with all of this, but I think we need to get this story out. Some of what is being portrayed among the media is happening and is terrible, but it is among a very small group of people, not the majority. They make it seem like New Orleans has somehow taken the atmosphere of the mobs in Mogadishu portrayed in the book and movie "Black Hawk Down," which is making volunteers (including us) more hesitant and rescue attempts more difficult. As a result, people are dying. My family has been volunteering at the shelters here in Houma and can count on one hand the number of people among thousands who have not said "Thank You." or "God Bless You." Their lives shattered and families torn apart, gracious just to have us serve them beans and rice.
If anything, these eight people's stories deserve to be told, so that people across the world will know what they really did in the midst of this devastation. So that it will not be assumed that they were looting hospitals, they were shooting at helicopters. It must be known that they, like many other people that we encountered, sacrificed themselves during all of this to help other people in more dire straits than their own.
It is also important to know that this account is coming from someone who is politically conservative, believes in capitalism and free enterprise, and is traditionally against many of the opinions and stances of activists like Michael Moore and other liberals on most of the hot-topic political issues of the day. Believe me, I am not the political activist. This transcends politics. This is about humanity and helping mankind. We need to get these people out. Save their lives. We can sort out all of the political and social issues later. People need to know the truth of what is going on at the ground level so that they know that New Orleans and the people stranded there are, despite being panicked and desperate, gracious people and they deserve the chance to live. They need all of our help, as well.
This is an accurate account of things. Jeffery Rau would probably tell the same exact stories.
Regards,
Robert LeBlanc
Yep, that's the photo -- post #38.
It's good to see the shot getting a lot of media exposure.
When Greta asked Gibson where the bus was now in Houston, he pointed...
"Over there."
LOL.
I am sorry. I am so computer illiterate. I still can't figure out how to post an article.
Wow! Goosebumps here!
Garden City preparing to help relocate hurricane victims
GARDEN CITY - Garden City is preparing to host some families displaced by Hurricane Katrina, Mayor Janie Perkins said Friday.
Officials didn't specify how many families they hope to bring in, but they said the transition would occur in the coming weeks with the assistance of Catholic Social Services and the Red Cross.
"These families have lost so much," Perkins said in a press release. "The best thing we can give them now is hope."
Garden City and St. Catherine's Hospital here will donate residential rental properties to house the families while Garden City USD 457 has agreed to waive fees and provide counseling for incoming children, according to the press release.
The hospital also has pledged to provide medical check-ups, family counseling and other services while the Garden City Chamber of Commerce and other area businesses are preparing to make contributions of their own.
Perkins encourages all Garden City residents to get involved, gathering up food, clothing, furniture, school supplies and other items that the newcomers might need.
"Look at everything in your house," she said. "That's what these families will need."
She also called on the public to think about how to address the labor and transportation needs of any newcomers as well as their living expenses.
A fund has been created at Western State Bank for donations to refugee families, the Hurricane Katrina Family Fund. City officials will announce drop-off locations for other donations early next week.
09/03/2005; 1:29:06 AM
A person can find all kinds of great stories if they look. Unfortunately the MSM is only reporting on things that will create chaos and anger when they could be doing so much good. God bless all the policemen and rescue workers in La. who have unselfishly given of themselves without recognition and whos reputations will be besmirched now because of the media concentrating on a few bad apples.
Some Good News...
They just said that the lower Mississippi River is open to deep draft vessels with up to 35 ft draft.
Thats great! God bless them all!
Mississippi foster children, disabled adults are coming to Kansas
By Chris Grenz
Harris News Service
TOPEKA - A group of foster children and developmentally disabled adults from hurricane-ravaged Mississippi, where their group homes were destroyed, temporarily will be coming to Salina and elsewhere in Kansas.
Sharon Ringler, vice president of marketing and development for St. Francis Academy in Salina, said three of St. Francis' sister facilities - two in Picayune, Miss., and one in Pascagoula, Miss. - had about 70 staff members and 44 clients in need of assistance.
But she was relieved to report no one was hurt within the St. Francis system, a national, not-for-profit behavioral health organization.
"We're trying to get them out," Ringler said. "We're just trying to do the right thing to get them here and take care of them until they can go back."
With no electricity or telephone lines in much of Mississippi, communication has been a challenge, Ringler said. So far, they have relied on a single radiotelephone at one of the Mississippi campuses.
"We don't know what some of the buildings look like," Ringler said. "We still have staff that are not able to even get out to see if they have a home. We have staff that have no home."
Ringler said many staff members haven't been able to touch base with parents, siblings and other relatives.
"The communication part is just so difficult," Ringler said. "That's a huge problem."
To help, St. Francis Academy in Salina is opening its doors. Ringler expects about 20 foster children and seven staff members to arrive today. That group likely will be able to stay at residential facilities in Salina.
More will come over the next few days, with perhaps 40 clients in all coming to Kansas. Some may have to be shuffled to other facilities or foster homes in the state, Ringler said. Counselors will be available for the children.
"We're going to have to deal with grief and we want to be able to take care of all of them," she said. "Not a whole lot is being shared as far as the devastation. They know that it's bad and they've got to go to another area. You know, sometimes you can just share too much."
About 12 developmentally delayed adults are expected.
"They're very confused about what has happened," she said.
Ringler isn't certain how many staff members are coming, but they will do their best to meet their needs, she said.
"When we get them here, we're not thinking days or weeks," she said. "We're talking about months."
At United Methodist Youthville in Newton, spokeswoman Amy James said they are prepared to lend assistance.
"We have been contacted by the state to help out if needed, and of course we're willing to do that," she said. "It's an honor to be able to help out in any way we can."
The Farm, an Overland Park foster care contractor, also has agreed to take 50 or more kids, said Social and Rehabilitation Spokesman Mike Deines.
"They're contacting foster families and asking for their assistance," he said.
At a morning legislative budget meeting at the Statehouse, House Budget Chairman Melvin Neufeld, R-Ingalls, said he was asking state agencies to waive cumbersome policies to help those in need get settled quickly in Kansas.
"We need to make sure these people are taken care of," he said. "It's a big tragedy in our nation and we need to step up and do our part."
At a Statehouse news conference, Gov. Kathleen Sebelius said a community leader in Parsons had called her office to say they were willing to adopt five families in need of a home. Up to 1 million Americans could be displaced by the storm for many months, Sebelius said.
"We in Kansas have a long tradition of helping neighbors in need," she said. "We have communities that are beginning to step up and say we would be willing to adopt families."
Already, there are several thousand refugees in Arkansas, she said, and more may be headed this way.
"We anticipate that that move may come further west and further north," she said.
Deines, the SRS spokesman, said some refugees already are beginning to arrive in the southeast corner of Kansas.
"We've gotten some indication that we're starting to see some folks flow into the state," he said. "We're in the process of developing guidelines that would allow them to apply for food stamps and those types of programs here in Kansas."
HOW TO HELP:
St. Francis Academy in Salina will welcome a group of foster children, developmentally disabled adults and dozens of homeless staff members from Hurricane Katrina-ravaged Mississippi beginning today. Those wishing to help, either with the needs of those staying in Kansas or the rebuilding effort in Mississippi, can send a check, payable to St. Francis Academy, P.O. Box 1340, Salina, KS 67402. Please note the money is for the "Mississippi disaster" on the memo line. For more information, call (785) 825-5915.
"We do need monetary help," said Sharon Ringler, vice president of marketing and development for St. Francis Academy in Salina. "That would be very much appreciated."
09/02/2005; 1:29:14 AM
Conroe, Texas http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=15134814&BRD=1574&PAG=461&dept_id=532215&rfi=6
I saw that, too. Pets can be so important to people and they seem to be forgotten. I would hate to lose my 3 dogs and 2 cats.
Someone just asked a good question on talk radio... what ever happened to the prisoners in NO and did that contribute to the shootings, rapes and murder.
Wonderful story! What a brave and caring young man. Such a contrast to the looters and thugs who would have robbed those poor people instead of gave them a helping hand.
Sorry, this is a good news thread. My bad.
Thank you because our biased MSM in FRANCE are giving only bad news,trying to create a big campaign against G.W.BUSH .
They hate him and hese values,western values which are at the foundation of our societies(leftists are denying that and want to destroy that),and they want to make him fall!
For them the huricane is a divine surprise!
In France one so called "specialist" of US policy and society,Nicole Bacharan,is very glad to say that this disaster show that Bush's environmental policy is wrong refusing to sign Kyoto protocol!
Fortitude and hope ! Ulysse
That is a wonderful, gripping post. You should post it as a thread. It's as worthy as any I've read.
God bless all those hurt by this terrible storm, and God bless all those who help them.
People on all sides of this disaster have to remember this is a tragedy of unforeseen proportions. 90,000 square miles of affected areas, equal to the state of Idaho.
Incomprehensible.
Wow! This is wonderful. It has opened my eyes! Thank you for posting this.
The last I heard some of them were holed up at the Superdome and some at the convention center. I bet they wound up in Houston. I think the thugs in the streets were street gangs.
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