Live from Pearlington - 9

Karaoke Night was a huge success! Scores of people showed up for the crab and shrimp boil, cooked in a spicy broth and then dumped on tables covered with newspaper. At the end, piquant sausage, wieners, potatoes, whole onions and mushrooms are cooked in the broth and eaten almost whole. One of the local women, who had run karaoke nights for the local bar before the storm, brought her 7000 songs and used my equipment to run the show. I got to relax and have fun, singing when it was my turn and hanging out with some very happy folks. It was group therapy at its finest and a good time was had by all.

Things are running very smoothly. Pearl*Mart is getting just what it needs, thanks in part to the Needs List posted on the blog, We have just finishing recovering two more rooms of the school - uncleaned since Katrina - to use as indoor storage and a volunteer dormitory. Actually it’s part of our plan to “encourage” Hancock County to save the buildings. Word’s out that they’d like to tear it down. It has become the undisputed focus of this community and we will do what we can to support the residents in their quest to get it fixed and back in use. It will take a lot of money and we’re working on that, too. That’s Frank Nadell’s project and Dream. Frank is a firefighter from Carbondale, Co. whose county - which includes wealthy Aspen - has “adopted” Pearlington.

Every person I send to the Disaster Recovery Centre next door returns with solid answers and expedited results. On Friday, a woman was in Pearl*Mart looking sad and I spoke with her. I held her as she sobbed, frustrated and overwhelmed. I asked er to have faith - in fact, I named Nov. 11 “Faith Day.” I sent her next door to my new best friend Royce at FEMA. She returned in an hour, smiling and opening her hand to show me a piece a paper that held a sum she would get in a few days: $17, 051. One of our great Red Cross men at the Shelter, Rusty Irving, was to be sent away prematurely, some “mental health” clipboard claiming he was burned out. In fact, it was to disperse the last group because something happened at the Shelter last week that I will share with you some day - but not today. We called Paula Buhr, who in turn called everyone from her dogcatcher to the White House and the clipboard was forced to reverse his bad decision and Rusty stayed. Rusty is a fixer and a finder, someone who is invaluable at helping us create what we need to get these folks their trailers and their new lives. Thanks Paula - you ROCK!

The clinic is running well and I have assigned a permanent member of Americorps to them. Lydia wants to be a nurse and she is in her glory. I tease her and call her Nurse Lydia every chance I get and she beams with joy. Jackie, the Americorps Team Leader guides them all well and is a very bright, hard-working and always pleasant young woman. Seems most of the male firefighters think so too.... I scored us another washer and dryer, so the locals can come and do their laundry, get a meal, shop at Pearl*Mart, get a hug and sign up to get help in having their house gutted, or their trees cut and land cleared for a trailer, a new water pump or sound advice and resources. Yesterday, a man arrived who is the inspector who decides if their homes are more than 50% damaged. This guy can get them serious rebuilding money if he decides it is so. He seems a very nice man, deeply moved by this disaster, and as we talked his eyes filled with tears at their plight. He’s another perfect fit for Camp Renegade and I immediately set him up in his own “office” in Pearl*Mart and a bucket of ice with cold drinks. He did more work in a few hours than has been done in this regard in the last two months. He joined us for Karaoke Night and I made sure he got all the crab and shrimp he could eat. I’m a shameless suck-up if I need to be!

Joe Williams from the Emergency Command Centre also joined us with his wife. He represents the body that overseas the whole recovery effort on the coast and he gave me the latest newsletter, featuring Pearl*Mart on its cover. He was deeply impressed by the community we have built and he’s a good man to have in our corner. Everybody is working as a Team, in a well-oiled effort of which I am hugely proud. Last night, a Red Cross Public Relations officer interviewed me and I shared with her our credo:

We believe:

....that it is our duty to be focussed on the needs of the people
of Pearlington and that all other considerations are secondary;

....that we have a responsibility to ensure that the goods and services entrusted to us
by our donors and providers reach ONLY their intended destination;

....as Hurricane Katrina herself did,
that all the people of Pearlington are to be treated equally;

....that each and every person we serve deserves to be accorded
the respect, dignity and kindness that God mandates for ALL His children;

That’s what we hold dear as we toil for Pearlington. That’s why we are here and that’s why we are winning. I will brook no interference and we will get this job done at last.