GIVING BACK

THE PURPOSE OF THIS  PAGE 

I have been working since the age of 12 and know that the richest I have ever felt,  is from this volunteer work which paid nothing

I never stood taller than when I bent down to help another rise up.

Had to Help

I went in to Baton Rouge with the Red Cross on Oct 1, 2005, then on to support 5th Army at Ft Sam Houston during RITA, back to the Red Cross in Gulfport MS, and then to FEMA JFO in Austin TX, and did not get back until July 2006.

This is the best work I have ever done using GIS.......working in support of Damage Assessment, Transportation Logistics, Displaced Persons relocated across the US.

18 hour days sleeping on the ground or in a cot........with no pay

I would do it again in a heart beat.

SPECIAL THANKS 

TO 

Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality in Baton Rouge LA

EROS Data Center USGS Team 

5th US Army at Ft Sam Houston

Hewlett Packard (provided Plotter and all needed overnight)

And Very SPECIAL THANKS to

ESRI 

These people and their teams of personnel got me whatever software and imagery or data that I needed......only asked what else they could do

They are incredible in what this has done for others and evolved into (Enterprise COP's and current imagery and data on the Cloud).

I left for New Orleans, as I could not stand to watch another minute of people needing something as simple as water and nobody could get it there.......I had to do something.........this was the 29th of September 2005. I contacted the RED CROSS, and went to Louisiana, to find a way to help. 

After getting into Houston (at Midnight) and all rental cars that were arranged for by the Red Cross...... were being held by Hertz......I hitched a ride into Baton Rouge with a reporter for the LA Times.......listening to shots being fired over his speaker phone from fellow reporters in New Orleans, and going into the darkness a little wary,  with only love in my heart, and knowing that it would be OK if I stayed sharp and stayed open to learning how to help.

It did not matter.....none of the shooting, none of the power and lights gone, none of almost everything that had to be overcome.......I was supposed to be there..........nothing else mattered. I understand completely how others are leaving everything to go help in JOPLIN and other AL, MS, towns affected this past May and June 2011.........they are answering a call that maybe no one else hears.

I got into Baton Rouge in the middle of the night.........after being dropped off at the empty Walmart (and totally dark) bldg, that would soon be RED CROSS HQ for nearly 40,000 volunteers that were on their way.........I slept on a cot under the stars with no power anywhere in the city ......at the Walmart.......and prayed to be able to do good........in the morning we began to run cable and wire and install the network, unpacked desktop PC's, and helped organize and prep for the 40,000 now on their way from Houston and all parts of the Globe.

So began a new path in Disaster Assessment, Logistics, and Relief efforts.............for which I am eternally grateful to have been in the right place at the right time to help so many of our fellow human beings.

 Gulf Port MS, was hit by the Eastern part of Katrina with winds over 180 mph and 37 foot storm surge. 

This was the 1st Baptist Church near the Beach along the Coastal Highway (brick and steel construction)