Hurricane Katrina Disaster Relief

Nancee Moster Pontious's short account of a disaster relief effort, spearheaded by the Monticello United Methodist Church, to aid Hurricane Katrina survivors in Mississippi

Objective

Deliver donated goods to Hurricane Katrina survivors in Mississippi.

Donations came from people of many faiths, including:

• Baha'i
• Catholic
• Jewish
• Methodist
• Unitarian

Immediate destination

Vancleave, Mississippi - a small town of about 5000 people about 20 miles northwest of Pascagoula, Mississippi.

Final destination

Pascagoula, Mississippi, on the coast, just east of Biloxi.

Thursday, 9/8/05, 6:00 a.m.

The caravan started on its 16-hour journey:

• Bob Baker and Ed Jester in the lead, with a dump truck and trailer donated by W.E. Excavating

• Rick and Nancee Moster Pontious with a Ford F350 and donated trailer

• Susan Shiley, her mother, and two nieces, in Susan's van - Susan, who lives in Monticello, has family in Pascagoula

We hit our first problem before we even reached I-57: Flapping tarps. Thank goodness I remembered Red Green as I shopped for survival supplies at 4:00 a.m. Wednesday. Duct tape must certainly be one of the greatest inventions ever known to mankind!

Continuing problem: Diesel fuel. At one point, Rick was worried we'd need to siphon fuel from the dump truck to the F350, but his eagle eyes finally spotted a diesel-stocked station between Jackson and Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

Thursday, 9/8/05, 10:00 p.m.

We arrived at the Vancleave United Methodist Church.

We knew (before we left Monticello) we were welcome to spend the night in the church; however, we had no idea what to expect in the way of conditions. (Rick and I were prepared to spend the night in the truck and brought blankets and pillows.) We found:

• Electricity - returned only the day before

• Sleeping quarters for 30 - to house out-of-towners like

• Us who brought supplies

• Volunteers from Norman Oklahoma Indian Ministries who came to help clear roads, re-roof homes, and do whatever necessary to get surrounding communities up and running again

• Hot meals and packed lunches prepared by local parishioners

• Organization and communication that put our government to shame - five local churches banded together to feed and house work crews as well as distribute supplies to those in need

Our special thanks to Pastor Larry Maugh and his wife, Celeste. I vote for Celeste to head FEMA!

Friday, 9/9/05, 7:00 a.m.

Hot breakfast (no grits for me, despite all the teasing) and then it was time to deliver most of our cargo at the distribution center in the Vancleave Baptist Church.

Pastor Maugh arranged for work crews to help us unload the dump truck and one of the trailers.

First step: Deconstruct the trailer walls - we knew the community could make good use of the plywood.

The bottom of the dump truck had five layers of bottled water. At work crew request, we left most of the bottom layer for later delivery in Pascagoula. That stuff is heavy!

Friday, 9/9/05, 11:00 a.m.

We arrived at the United Methodist Church in Pascagoula, just five blocks from the worst destruction.

Managing this relief center: Two dozen folks from Omaha, Nebraska, who arrived Wednesday. Their first job: Remove three feet of mud from inside the church.

They still had no electricity. (Every time the power company turned it on, someone's house burned down!) So they really appreciated the gasoline the F350 carried in a donated transfer tank.

Most in-demand items:

• Gasoline - for generators and chain saws

• Mattresses - someone was kind enough to take a picture of me and the recipient of a twin bed mattress, twin bed box spring, and crib we hauled in the small trailer

• Bleach - the only way to try to stop the mold

Friday, 9/9/05, 2:00 p.m.

The caravan split up for the return trip.

Bob, Rick, and I were delayed by the need to replace a steering tire on the dump truck in Montgomery, Alabama.

Funny(?) story: While we waited for Travel Center personnel to replace the tire, I ran into someone to whom I handed off boxes at the Pascagoula Methodist Church! He and his wife were on their way home to Raleigh, North Carolina.

Rick and I took advantage of the Montgomery delay to visit Rick's son, David Pontious, who was recently commissioned a second lieutenant in the Air Force and was attending a six-week class at Maxwell AFB in Montgomery.

Acknowledgments

Our thanks to:

• Travis, Melissa, Ethan, and Caden Waller, who offered their garage as a staging area for all the donated goods

• Bill and Melissa Pontious, and their workers at W.E. Excavating, for building the trailer enclosure and managing the loading process

• All those who contributed people food, pet food (something near and dear to my heart), water, clothing, books, games, etc.
  
  Many of our donors live in Monticello, Illinois; however, even with less than two-and-a-half-days from start-of-effort to start-of-journey, we also had sizable donations from Champaign, Savoy, Tuscola, and Urbana; including those from my co-workers at Gcom, Inc., Pamida (who sold us the bottled water at cost), Robin Craig, Linda Frerichs, Sandy Hannon, Rod Hinmon and Daunielle Nassar, Mike LaPointe, and Justine Schoeplein.

• All those who helped load the dump truck and trailers

More heartfelt thanks to the following donors who responded to my S.O.S. for monetary help defraying fuel costs:

• David and Marty Atwater
• Joe and Melissa Barle (Lyndhurst, Ohio)
• Debra Schweiger Berg
• Julie Bianchetta
• Dana and Cathie Bishop
• Teresa Boze
• Clifton Steel (Twinsburg, Ohio)
• Ann Donovan
• Don and Susan Elmore
• John Gancar and Shelley McGarry (Voorhees, New Jersey)
• Dave and Marta Grothe
• Mary Jane Harshbarger (Elgin, Illinois)
• Doug and Teresa Jones
• Tom Lewicki
• Mikel and Shelley Matthews
• Carlton and Joan Mills
• Denny and Mardi Moore (Chicago, Illinois)
• Joe and Barbara Moster (Shaker Heights, Ohio)
• Neal and Jean Ann Moster (Overland Park, Kansas)
• Piatt County Farm Services
• Nicholas and Angela Schneider
• Karen Steele (San Antonio, Texas)
• Tricia Truscott
• Oolan and Amanda Zimmer
• Various donors who contributed at the staging area, but whose names were lost

Rick particularly wants me to thank the Monticello United Methodist Church Sunday School, which covered the outrageous cost of the replacement tire.

And a special thanks to my employer, Gcom, Inc. of Savoy, Illinois, who:

• Encouraged my participation in this relief effort.
• Donated both money and goods.
• Spread the word to others who also donated money and goods.
• Graciously provided space on their web site for this short diary

I apologize if I missed anybody. I was but a small cog in a large, well-oiled machine.

Sorry about the scarcity of pictures - I was far too busy working to take many.
Place your mouse over each image for more commentary.

Copyright © 2000-2008, Gcom, Incorporated. All Rights Reserved.