|
On December 17 and 18, 2005, Pickin’ Up the Pieces Relief Corps delivered gifts to over 750 of our brothers and sisters in devastated Hancock County, MS. The Christmas outreach project was another huge success and we enjoyed another amazing trip! There were a few minor set backs, including a near head-on collision on I-10 and a tire blow out the next day, but over all things went smoothly.
We left Savannah with a fully loaded 24’ trailer and van loads of volunteers early Saturday morning and arrived in Slidell, LA early evening, where we were hosted by Stennis Rotary Club members Laurie and Michael Jugan and family. We were relieved to arrive in one piece, as it had been storming on us steadily since we’d left the Florida panhandle. As we were traveling through Alabama, several cars piled up together and slid across the interstate literally within inches of the truck and trailer! The vanload of us behind Michael and Todd were amazed that Michael had been able to avoid joining the pileup. Once exhausted and dripping wet, we now settled down to an incredible Cajun seafood and chicken gumbo prepared by fellow Rotarian Chris. Never had anything quite like it!
We spent the night and got up the next morning to very cold temperatures which later warmed up nicely. On the way to our distribution center at Gulfview Elementary in Lakeshore, MS, our truck had a tire blow-out (probably from damage suffered in the near-miss the night before). This put us a little behind schedule because our distribution was scheduled to begin at 10:00 a.m. However, with divine intervention and the unfailing assistance of our volunteers, we somehow managed to pull it off, got the tire repaired, unloaded the trailer and started the distribution on time! On a beautiful, crisp day with an incredible high, blue sky, people filled the parking lot of Gulfview Elementary picking up prepared gift packages and selecting items from the shopping center established by the dozens of volunteers. Several members from the Stennis Rotary Club as well as many of the staff of Gulfview Elementary were on site upon our arrival. We set up tables and labeled them with Angel numbers and placed all of the bags behind the tables. We had a check-in point where the families brought coupons the teachers had prepared. We passed out 300 disposable cameras, generously donated by Kodak, as the families checked in and then they got to pick up their gift bags. We were able to put 3 toys, a stuffed animal and a book for each child in each gift bag. At the end of the tables we had a shopping area containing both new and used items where each family was able to pick out one household item. We stopped at Wal-Mart on the way down to supplement the Angels that came in at the last minute and were also able to pick up some additional household items such as tool kits, cordless drills, demolition tools, electric skillets, crock pots, hand held vacuum cleaners (a big hit for those small trailers!) and other items to distribute to the parents. The families were so happy and grateful for the generosity of the Savannah community.
About half of the families brought their children and the other half didn't because it was the only Christmas that they would receive and they wanted it to be a surprise to the children. There were lots of smiles, laughter and hugs! We distributed to 340 Gulfview students, 60 Charles B. Murphy students, 296 siblings and 50 school staff and families with our December outreach. Many thanks are due to so many, but very special thanks go to the Rotary Clubs of Stennis, District 6440 (IL), Poulsbo- North Kitsap (WA), Kingsville-Perry Hall (MD) and Syosset-Woodbury (NY). Stennis Rotary, based at Stennis Space Center, received assistance from Planning Systems, Inc. With their graciousness, we were able to give $100 gift cards to each staff member and $25 gift cards for their children and the older siblings of the elementary school students. The Rotary Clubs also donated backpacks filled with stuffed animals (do-do birds – a fitting Rotary mascot, several Rotarians suggested!), tub toys, school supplies and encouragement cards. Roy Crochet, the president of the Stennis Rotary Club, arrived bearing boxes of books to add to the shopping center. Then, we looked up to see a pick-up truck full of boxes filled with stuffed stockings sitting at the end of the distribution line, handing out gifts to the children. We approached the folks to introduce ourselves and get some information. We discovered they were Tyrone, Belinda and Katie Fontaine from a Waveland, MS civic club. Wonderfully, these kind people had heard about our project and brought items they had collected for a Christmas parade that was cancelled by inclimate weather. It continues to amaze us how strong the spirit of these people is and how God’s love ever shines in the darkness of this devastated area.
We have some great pictures that we will be posting in the photo gallery of our website. We have also received several thank you notes from students, staff and families, including some beautiful and touching hand made cards from students in one of the classes. We’ll try to get a few of those posted as well. It is a real feel-good at the end of the day when you know that you have made a difference. We couldn't have done it without the support of all who participated and cannot thank you all enough. We’re now moving into a new phase of recovery efforts. Working with Walton County (FL) Habitat for Humanity and New Hope Construction, a 501(c)(3) housing company in Tennessee, we are organizing volunteer teams to build transitional housing in Hancock County. Walton County (FL) Habitat for Humanity has adopted Hancock County, which does not have a Habitat chapter. New Hope is providing the structures. We are making a scouting trip January 11-16, 2006, and will return to begin organizing teams to send to Hancock County throughout the year. We are very excited about this new project and encourage all to participate with your time, financial gifts and prayers. For more information on this project, check out the How You Can Help section of the website. More great news to come! God Bless and Happy New Year!
Linda and Michael |
