Hurricane Katrina

[Patrick]

Hello,

As I am sure you are aware, our country is now dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. This has and will affect many, many people. There is a lot of work to be done and people that need to be helped. In line with this, I wanted to put out a call to the users of this site to donate money to the charity of your choosing, if you are so inclined. If you don't know what charity to donate to, donate to the American Red Cross. Instapundit.com has a list of charities, as well. Please feel free to use this thread to recommend a charity.

Thank you for reading.

[Kicks]

Thanks Patrick. We appreciate anything anybody can do.

And we thank all of you on this forum for all your thoughs and prayers for me, my family, and all us us in the Gulf Coast region. We are hanging in there and we see things slowly improving in one thing, but getting bad in another thing. Such as, we are finally getting back to having regular garbage pick up service. The debris and odor was taking over the neighborhoods. You could smell it in the air from miles away. Even with the pickups they have done I still don't think the streets are safe for kids to go trick-or-treating' Monday night. Many street lights are out and debris still covers many lawns and sidewalks. Piles of debris 10 feet high are replaced not long after a garbage pickup.

People are trickling back in and some businesses are opening up. But there aren't enough people to work the businesses, so thay have limited services and limited hours. Everything closes early. Imagine that, New Orleans closing up early. Its hard to find a place to eat at night, and if you find one its packed.

Some businesses have tents pitched up along the highways and avenues with balloons, music, and refreshments trying to recruit workers. This includes fast food chains to major resturants and service companies. Its like a circus in the middle of a ghost town.

When driving around after sunset its the strangest thing to see so much darkness. Many square miles of residential areas are dark. You only see a few street lights down a few of the main avenues, but nothing in the neighborhoods. The people just arent there. The homes still aren't livable, and public services still aren't up. The phone company's entire grid was destroyed and has to be rebuilt. People aren't moving back also because schools aren't open. We'd still be living away if our kid's schools weren't open.

Our TKD school will finally resume classes on November 1st. We got almost two feet of water in the dojang and the wood floors buckled, so they had to be replaced. The walls also had to be cut out and rebuilt. Much of our equipment got soaked and had to be thrown out because of contanimation and mold.

I have put some of the photos I've taken of the areas I've been to on a webpage. You can see them at:

http://www.livaudaisnet.com/katrina/katrina.htm

Kicks

[karatekid1975]

Bless you, Kicks. And everyone there. We have a Katrina fund going at work, and everyone still puts money into it. It's the least we can do (and the Red Cross here who sponsers it). It's "chump change" to some, but it will help you guys in the long run. Let me know how things go and how you guys are doing.