We arrive!
Montgomery, AL - 3:00pm, sunny 100 degrees, humid
This place is amazing. This is the center for Red Cross operations for parts of Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Arkansas. It is vast - an old K Mart store, must be at least 100 thousand square feet, and its crammed with stuff; supplies, computers a small shelter, and people, people, people. The parking lot is full of vehicles, , not many Red Cross ERVs, because they are out on the road, but a constantly changing fleet of rental trucks, mainly Budget it seems. Budget runs a 24 hour maintenance facility on site for them
We go through various levels of checking in, most get assigned to their functions, I was going to be going to a shelter, but at the last minute volunteered to become an ERV driver. An ERV for the non Red Crossers reading this is an Emergency Relief Vehicle - the ones with the Red Cross on the side that you see on the TV. I wanted to do this because it might give me the opportunity of seeing the front lines so to speak. They are used to transport food, drinks and relief supplies to the communities effected, and one of their missions is to literally seek out people who need help and who may not have been contacted yet.
It is getting difficult to get computer access for me to post to this blog. It may be that there may be gaps when I can't post, but please keep checking. The stories here and the people are truly amazing. You're much closer to it here, talking to the people who make it happen. You get the sense of the enormity of it all, the tradgedies that have befallen so many people, and the work that still has to be done. It is already so much more real than you can experience it on CNN, and their coverage has been excellent. Of course I haven't even been out yet.
Back at the Red Cross center groups of volunteers come in from the airports, groups of volunteers leave on their various assignments and postings. When a new group of volunteers leaves on their first deployment the whole population of the center rises and applauds them. its so touching.
This place is amazing. This is the center for Red Cross operations for parts of Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Arkansas. It is vast - an old K Mart store, must be at least 100 thousand square feet, and its crammed with stuff; supplies, computers a small shelter, and people, people, people. The parking lot is full of vehicles, , not many Red Cross ERVs, because they are out on the road, but a constantly changing fleet of rental trucks, mainly Budget it seems. Budget runs a 24 hour maintenance facility on site for them
We go through various levels of checking in, most get assigned to their functions, I was going to be going to a shelter, but at the last minute volunteered to become an ERV driver. An ERV for the non Red Crossers reading this is an Emergency Relief Vehicle - the ones with the Red Cross on the side that you see on the TV. I wanted to do this because it might give me the opportunity of seeing the front lines so to speak. They are used to transport food, drinks and relief supplies to the communities effected, and one of their missions is to literally seek out people who need help and who may not have been contacted yet.
It is getting difficult to get computer access for me to post to this blog. It may be that there may be gaps when I can't post, but please keep checking. The stories here and the people are truly amazing. You're much closer to it here, talking to the people who make it happen. You get the sense of the enormity of it all, the tradgedies that have befallen so many people, and the work that still has to be done. It is already so much more real than you can experience it on CNN, and their coverage has been excellent. Of course I haven't even been out yet.
Back at the Red Cross center groups of volunteers come in from the airports, groups of volunteers leave on their various assignments and postings. When a new group of volunteers leaves on their first deployment the whole population of the center rises and applauds them. its so touching.
posted by Peter at 12:56 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home