Journal #2 (10/18-26)
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Friday, October 21, 2005: I haven't had a chance to write for a couple of days to will try to catch up today.
On Tuesday I just had time to put in my schedule and post a couple of photos and then off to work. I haven't talked about work here as I am trying to organize in my mind what I can say and what I should leave in my memory for personal use only. I will take to time to gather my public thoughts soon.
As we do not get out much because Red Cross cars are in use for work related transport, the Shifties are not altogether acquainted with the area: stores, restaurants, etc. We headed out to a breakfast place we know about that stops serving breakfast at 10:00. It is a small local restaurant called Sharon's. We had an ordinary breakfast there (good biscuits). I think we stopped off at Walmart on the way back but can't remember for sure. It is all beginning to blur. Then back to the staff shelter to pass off the car to the next eating shift.
(Have I already written that the transportation situation has stabilized somewhat. Sometimes we have too many people to fit in the available seats in the van, but we manage to stuff them in somewhere.)
Then off to work at 3:00 and back to GR (God's Restoration) to go to bed.
By the time we got going on Wednesday morning, it was 10:00 at we had missed the breakfast shift at Sharon's. The group decided to go there anyway and see what they had for lunch. As we headed there, we passed by a MacDonalds. We argued about whether it would stop serving breakfast at 10:00 or 10:30, and most agreed to go on to Sharon's (just a block or so away on the other side of the street.) I decided to drop them off and swing by the drive-thru anyway. They were still serving breakfast so I bought a breakfast meal (with diet-coke as the beverage, of course) and headed back to Sharon's to eat with the group. Before I got there, though, I spotted a couple of scruffy individuals trying to hitch a ride. It was two Shifties giving in to the lure of fast food breakfast. They had rejected the lunch offerings at Sharon's so they piled into the van and we turned around and headed back to the golden arches. I had bonded with the drive-thru employees on my first trip so she got to laugh at me as I showed up again ordering more food. The three of us then went back to Sharon's to meet up with the lunch eaters.
After eating, we dropped two group members off at the Baton Rouge Zoo, which is near by; then went on a run to Walmart. One of our number (Bill) had filled up the cards on his digital camera and needed to transfer the files to my computer so he could reuse the cards, so I picked up a universal USB connector, and also found a toiletries bag to replace the zip-lock bag I have been using. I also had been wanting a small spiral notepad to carry around while at work and make notes about things I needed to do, so I found one of those as well. Then back to the shelter for housekeeping tasks.
There had been some staff turmoil the night before and we were all called in to work a little early Wednesday afternoon. However, we had to pick up the zoo people so did not make it in much before 3:00 anyway.
After Tuesday at work it was obvious that Jen, who is working in admin, was much busier than I was (working on the floor and guarding the floor entrance) so I transferred myself, with permission from the group leaders, to help her out. I started that new duty on Wednesday. I still did not feel like I helped much but am trying to learn the new duties and hope to make more of a contribution as I pick up more information.
On Monday and Tuesday, four of us had decided to take a day of, if possible, and head down to New Orleans. That required getting permission from supervisors and also signing up for the day-off car. We were successful on both counts and were able to bring the extra car back to GR with us Wednesday evening so we would be ready to go Thursday morning.
Thursday, October 20, 2005 (day off)
We found ourselves short on maps and were fortunated that Jen had printed some directions from Mapquest on Wednesday night so we had some idea where we were going. First we had to drop Cheryl (the Baker shelter assistant manager) off at the airport as she had "outprocessed" on Wednesday and was flying home.
Digression. The staff situation is always up in the air because people are arriving and leaving everyday. Even among our group of Shifties, we have varying departure dates. Jen has the shortest schedule and is leaving on Monday (or outprocessing on Monday, I can't remember which.) Most of the others are leaving some time next week as well, as they are on two-week deployments. I am a three-weeker so will be a real "oldie" by the time I fly out on November 3. I will be leaving just about the time I figure out what is going on.
Continuing digression. The continuing staff turnover means that we never know from one day to the next whether our assignment will change. I heard this morning that a bunch of people are being transferred from swing shift to days, which means changes in sleeping schedules as well. It would be great if the housing could match the work shifts. This would minimize conflict over sleeping and waking times. We had one health services person here for a few days who was on graveyard shift and he was having a terrible time sleeping during the day as there is only one room and too much activity in and out from the other two shifts. He was transferred over to the Blackwater staff shelter on Wednesday. It is larger and I believe has some separate rooms as well as an open lounge area for socializing so I hope he is getting some rest now.
Back to our day off. We drove back through Baton Rouge and on to New Orleans (77 miles from BR to NO.) with the intention of arriving at the French Quarter, which, amazingly enough, we did. We parked the car in a lot on the river and walked around for a couple of hours. Although we were not in the most devastated area, it was still an emotional jolt so see the reality of what we had all be watching on television. Fully aware that it is a bit ghoulish, we wanted to take pictures of the destruction to share with friends and family back home. We did take pictures, but found that our desire to do so was blunted by the awareness that this is interesting to us but represents the ruin of so many lives.
Over and over again as the days go by, we are reminded that we get to go home to our comfortable beds, loving families, and familiar surroundings. For the people of the gulf coast (the Baker shelter residents, the owners and renters of the homes we see, and the people we meet) this is home. There is no comfort to which to return for them.
One of the things that stuck us as we made our way around is the existence of trash everywhere: on the roadsides, in the streets, in the yards, in piles and scattered around. Junk, papers, water bottles, wood, metal, and debris everywhere. Who has time to pick it up. The people are too busy trying to rebuild an infrastructure.
In the French Quarter, electricity is on and some stores and shops are open. There is quite a bit of traffic, but I wonder how much of it is attributable to relief workers and contractors.
As we wandered around into residential areas we saw some activity: mostly people cleaning up. In need of a restroom, we were on the lookout for an open store or restaurant, and found a small corner tavern where we stopped to use the facilities and have a beverage. The bartender was quite gracious but we did not intrude ourselves into the conversations of the other few patrons.
We did encounter an ERV (Red Cross Emergency Relief Vehicle) set up in a vacant lot, along with a couple of rented trucks. There was a line of cars all around the block waiting their turn. The workers were distributing diapers, food, beverages, and other stuff. They were quite busy and we did not stop to chat.
It did not appear that people are actually living the neighborhood yet, but we just may not have seen them. Everywhere we went we saw abandoned refrigerators and freezers. They must be so permeated with the stench of decomposed food that they cannot be restored. There is still an odor about the place (stronger in some areas than others) but not as overwhelming as it must have been in the past few weeks.
Back to the commercial area near our car we stopped for coffee and pastry at Cafe Du Monde. (Bill, Jen and Victoria. Brenda took the photo.)
Before that, though, we began to see lots of soldiers. The closer we got to Jackson Square, the more there were. Outside a beautiful church(?) by the square we stopped to chat for a moment with a couple of the troops. They said everyone was there to attend an appreciation ceremony that was scheduled to start in a few minutes. We introduced ourselves as Red Cross volunteers on a day off and received expressions of appreciation for our sacrifice in coming down to help out. 
It is embarrassing for those who have worked so hard and have personally suffered so much to be thanking us. No matter what we do, it does not seem like enough. It never be enough. There is too much that needs to be done.
We walked through Jackson Square and I asked Bill to take a picture of me with my distant uncle. I will put it up here when we get it out of his camera.
I had to stop at the House of Voodoo to see if there were any Halloween-worthy items. The best was the animated mummy in the entrance but I did not even look at the price.
I was excited to see Zoltar (from the movie Big) and had to get a photo of that. He was talking to us the whole time.
As we were back to our starting place, we decided to get back into the car and make our way to Slidell, across Lake Pontchartrain, even though we had not yet acquired a map. I had looked at a postcard that showed the lake, New Orleans, and Slidell, and thought that we knew enough to get us going in the right direction.
Trying to get back to I-10, we passed the Superdome. I tried to get a couple of photos out the van window, but failed. There were workers on the roof repairing the damage but not much other evidence of what transpired there, other than the ever-present trash strewn about.
By this time, Jen was driving, and we are all fortunate that she was willing to do so. She has an excellent sense of where she is and got us back to I-10 and on our way. We did not recall when we planned to take I-10 to Slidell that the road would take us on the long (but not the longest) bridge over the east end of the lake. Jen is not comfortable on bridges in the best of times, and adding stop and go contruction traffic added to the stress. We firmly resolved not to take that route back to Baton Rouge.
The traffic on the bridge was two-way, and we realized where we were when we started to see remnants of the south-bound bridge immediately to our left. 
I remember seeing film of the bridge on the news. It had been reported that they were taking pieces from the southbound bridge to repair the northbound bridge, which had suffered less damage. I took some photos out the window. 
I hope you can see that you are looking at pieces of the other bridge. 
We eventually made our way across and up toward Slidell. By this time a restroom was become necessary so we were alert for any open establishment. However, this was not the place to be if one was looking for an open business district. The shocking thing to some of our group was the degree of devastation still apparent. It is clear that this area is going to be a long time in the recovery process.
We eventually located an open gas station/convenience store. The store was open but the gas pumps were not. Nor did they have an open restroom as they had no water. 
They did point is in the direction of an Ace Hardware that might be open, and it was. The bathroom had a couple of walls that were open to the two-by-fours for about three feet up from the floor. 
However, by that time a functioning toilet was more important than privacy and we guarded each other and took care of business. I can't imagine how this business community is going to recover. 
I hope there are grants and loans available for them to weather this period and get back on their feet.
We headed backt to Baton Rouge from Slidell on Highway 12, taking us west along the north side of the lake to avoid the evil bridge. We stopped in Covington and spent too much for an excellent dinner at Copelands. We got chocolate cake to go and I ended up giving most of it to the people at GR as I could not face more food.
We made it back to GR around 8:30, in plenty of time to avoid the 10:00 curfew. It was my first experience going to bed before lights out. It was nice to be able to take some time to wind down and read for a few minutes before going to sleep. However, I paid for it later when I woke up at 2:00 and was kept awake for a couple of hours by the stereo snoring: the earplugs did not block it enough to get back to sleep. I was able to sleep in this morning, though, and did not get up until about 8:30. There are more photos from our trip on the New Orleans Area Photos page.
The group went out to breakfast, but I was not ready to eat again and wanted some alone time as well, so I have been hanging out here writing and relaxing. I had done a load of wash Thursday morning but did not have time to put it in the dryer before we left, so hung that on the line. I hope it is not too muggy for the clothes to dry.
Saturday, 10/22 (written 10/25)
The Baker shelter was down to just a few people a couple of weeks ago, but then it got an influx of residents from the River Center shelter in Baton Rouge. Over 1,000 people had been staying there since the storm, but the city needed to start using it as an event facility again. There were concerts and other events planned that generate revenue for Baton Rouge that they could not continue to defer or cancel, so they had to transfer the shelter residents to other facilities. The Baker shelter received approximately 150 a couple of days before we arrived to work, hence the chaos at the beginning as they were trying to settle in with the new population.
Some of the volunteers at Baker transferred over with the residents, while others were either existing Baker staff of new volunteer. Much of the administration staff were new: not having been at Baker or River Center.
On Saturday, some of the shifties decided to check out the River Center facility and have breakfast. It is an attractive convention facility on the river in Baton Rouge. 
We had buffet breakfast and then wandered around. Debbie worked at RC before it closed so she showed us around.
There is a FEMA Disaster Recovery Center (DRC) at the River Center, which worked great when the residents were there, but is not so helpful now with the residents in Baker with no transportation. Sometimes they only thing they can do to resolve difficulties with FEMA is to appear in person and talk face to face with the FEMA staff. Althouh FEMA shows up occasionally at Baker, but they do not have their computer resources and their effectiveness is limited.
Faith-based organizations perform a valuable function in disaster recovery. Our "Brownies" have been very helpful to the residents at Baker. They are from Calvery Chapel in California and wear brown shirts, hence the name. The Red Cross is not permitted to provide transportation for residents in Red Cross vehicles, for example, and the Brownies are provide some assistance with that. Today they are running two vanloads of residents to the DRC at River Center. Hopefully that will alleviate some of the problems individuals have been having with the FEMA benefits. 
After breakfast we walked along the river. An old navy ship, the USS Kidd, is dry-docked there for people to tour. The facility also includes a casino riverboat .
Our greatest challenge each morning seems to be finding breakfast. By the time we all get up, have coffee and wait for a turn in the shower it is somewhere on either side of 10:00 a.m., the primary breakfast cut-off time in Baker (except for the MacDonalds which serves until 10:30.) Sometimes we have two vans, and sometimes only one. (Fortunately, the days of no vehicle for the shifties seem to be over.) Today Debbie and Diana went to church so the rest of us piled into the other van and headed out to find food. We eventually agreed to go into Baton Rouge and have breakfast at the Cracker Barrel, not a particularly wise choice as it turned out. One has a tendency to lose track of the days as they are all pretty much the same. It dawned on us after we arrived that it was Sunday and the rest of the world was going out to breakfast at Cracker Barrel as well. We put our names on the list and waited for 35 mintues for our number to come up. It worked out okay in the end though because we got a larger table than we needed and dined in some comfort.
The Cracker Barrel was a new experience for me and one I am not particularly eager to repeat. To get to the restaurant entrance you have to plow through the incredibly clutered gift shop, which is full if completely useless souvenir items. Sensory overload is a problem everywhere, but the shelves and shelves of stuff and crowds of people were a little more than I wanted to deal with. I am happy to report that I did not run screaming down the street, but gathered my frayed inner resources and maintained some self control.
The lack of relief from chaotic input was something we were warned about before coming down here and I did consider whether I could handle it. My conclusion was the same as that I had reached about physical hardship, mosquitoes, limited access to showers and electricity, difficult working conditions, and the general lack of privacy: I can stand anything for three weeks.
I do get some occasionaly alone time when I have time to sit down and work on the computer. That happens every few days, when breakfast does not turn into a day-long affair and we do not have other adventures planned. I can sit outside, gather my thoughts, prepare new photos for posting, and work on this journal. It is very peaceful out here at the staff shelter, sitting in the shade listening to the birds and the occasional traffic noise.
After breakfast, we went by headquarters to see if someone had a list of open shelters. Bill is helping one of the residents try to find a relative and had exhausted the available telepone and internet resources. He had discovered that she was living in a shelter in Baton Rouge but could find no other information about the location of that shelter. We thought that headquarters might have a list that was not posted on the internet so went over there on a quest.
Brenda and Jen went to the mall to pick up a few things and Bill and I went to headquarters (right next ot the mall.) Our quest resulted in immediate success. The staff at the Shelter desk had a new shelter list (all shelters, not just Red Cross) and I pocketed it in triumph. Bill, meanwhile was wandering around checking out different departments and made the mistake of stopping at the Safety and Security department. He was curious about the specifics of those jobs and found out quickly enough when the security guy noticed that he was not wearing a Red Cross badge. (He had left it in the staff shelter, but had gained entry to headquarters with his RC debit card and driver's license.) He received a good talking-to and an escort out of the building. They ran into me at the staffing desk on their way out. I was asked to identify Bill, which, after a moment's internal debate, I was happy to do. However, that was not enough and Bill was hustled out of the building. I went along for moral support. After a quick foray back to the "Oasis" for beverages, I went back out and we lurked around waiting for the return of the shoppers with the van.
When we returned to the staff shelter there was just time to get everything ready for our return after work. We have to be ready for bed before we leave for work because the lights are out and the day shift workers are all asleep when we get back. We tiptoe in, sign in, change into our jammies, visit the bathroom, and go to bed. There is no time to relax and rehash the day as we are not allowed to talk inside and are not allowed to go outside.
We have new staff shelter managers and they were apparently not informed that the shelter includes swing shift staff. Their original position was that if we were not in bed by 10:15, ready for lights out at 10:30, that they would not let us into the building. The Baker shelter manager, who also lives here, had to explain that we do not even get off work until after 11:00. Continuing to retrain new people is one of the challenges of shelter life.
The first thing we did when we got to work today was gather the staff together for a photo. Jen is leaving on Tuesday, Brenda on Wednesday, and Bill on Thursday. 
Together with other attrition, that will leave Diana and me as the only two members of our original group still at Gods Restoration and working the swing shift at Baker. A few are at another staff shelter and/or working days, and a couple have left, either transferred or returned home.
Debbie and Diana had the day off on Monday and went to New Orleans. Brenda, Bill Jen and I discussed driving through Slidell to Mississippi in the morning but the concensus was that the risk of being late to work was too great, so we decided instead on another visit to New Orleans. I had finally found Louisiana and New Orleans maps in Slidell on Thursday so we were more prepared this time.
We started by making our way to the lakefront, and found a lovely park area where a casino riverboat was moored. The casino was closed and a security guard waved us away, so we parked at a public area where heavy equipment was cleaning up what looked like the remenants of a concrete retaining wall.
One of the striking things about the neighborhoods and streets in New Orleans is the amount of trash strewn about everywhere. When you realize that this community has been working on clean-up for almost two months you get a sense of how it must have been right after the storms. If there is this much trash now, what must if have been like then. Debris is gathered everywhere in piles, waiting for removal. One of the questions we wondered about is where are they going to take it all.
Another thing you notice is that New Orleans has become a refrigerator graveyard. Taped-up refrigerators are everywhere, alone and in groups. I heard that people were told to just tape them up and move them out. 
No efforts at recovery will be successful after all the time they sat in the heat, filled with rotting food.
We saw a couple of Red Cross mobile distribution centers: 
one that we had encountered on Thursday set up in an empty lot, and other at a gas station. They are passing out food, water, and clean-up kits to residents and recovery workers trying to bring their homes and neighborhoods back to livibility.
After driving through some neighborhoods we ended up back at the French Quarter again. While driving, we saw a fire truck marked “HAZMAT/WMD.” 
I don't know if it was comforting or creepy.
There seemed to be a few more shops open but fewer people were out and about. The groups of soldiers that were bustling about on Thursday were absent today. 
Jen and Brenda did a little shopping and Bill continued his search for the perfect key chain.
On our way out, we passed the Superdome and University hospital. The Superdome roof is looking better all the time.
We also passed a large cemetery where, as we were told at the House of Voodoo on Thursday, they bury people above ground. The comment really tickled Bill and "buried above ground" as become one of our in jokes.
Our God's Restoration group has dwindled to six. We took a group photo this morning before we vanish altogether. (at left: from left Debbie, Brenda, Jen, Diana, Bill, Victoria.) Then we took Jen to the airport and said goodby. The first of the more emotional farewells for our remaining shelter group. Jen was eager to return to her family but also sad to leave the staff and residents she had come to care for.
A smaller and sadder group, we went off to breakfast at Lagniappe (actually it was lunch.) Service was slow and they put cheese on Bill's burrito (or whatever it was) in spite of requests to the contrary. Then he asked for an entree without cheese and the server brought another one with cheese all over it. A grumpy day.
Shelter organization. Shelter management consists of a manager, assistant manager, and shift supervisor (one for each of the three shifts.) The manager and assistant manager (Christine and Matt) work the day shift (7:00 - 3:00) but are usually around long after that putting out fires and meeting with people.
Up until a couple of days ago, our swing shift supervisor was Dave. Dave had been at Baker since before the River Center people were transferred over. He had a thorough knowledge of the facility and was our institutional history, such as it is. However, he out-processed (that is what you do at headquarters before you leave) a couple of days ago and was replaced by Jamie.
Staff at the shelter are assigned to administration, logistics, the kitchen, or the floor. (Health services and mental health services are outside this structure.) Admin consists of the managers and supervisors, a person at the information desk, and a minion. People on the Floor take care of the dorm area and security at the entrance (from the office to the dorm.) It is not clear to me whether everyone on a shift reports to the shift supervisor or whether only the Floor people do so. I know the kitchen has a supervisor but do not know if that person reports to the manager or the shift supervisor. There is only one logistics person and she works day shift but is usually around later as well.
When I started, I was working on the floor, but soon ended up at the security station monitoring who when in to the dorm. All residents wear a yellow wristband and only people wearing a wristband or other staff ID are allowed into the dorm. It was a difficult task at first because I obviously did not know anyone and some residents were offended at being asked to show their wristband. Although I was new, they were not , and did not seem particularly thrilled to have to retrain new staff every few days. I even stopped the police chief. He was in civilian clothes with no visible ID so phooey.
I think I mentioned earlier that Jen (the admin minion and a shifty) seemed to have more work than the rest of us so I asked to move over to admin to help her out. Then I found out she was leaving on the 24th and I would be taking over that position. It wasn't something I planned for but I had experience being Pepper's minion at the Oregon Train Chapter so I suppose it was a natural progression.
The minion organizes things, keeps track of the bed assignments, updates the bed assignment list, answers the phone, and generally does what needs doing, as does everyone else. Pepper will be glad to know that I have been alphabetizing forms and other paperwork. Last night (Wednesday) I even learned how to turn off the dorm lights without turning off everyone's television sets.
Anyway, Tuesday the manager and assistant manager were actually able to get out early. That coincided with the new shift supervisor's day off. Since another of the swing shift staff (from another staff shelter) also had the day off and Jen had left in the morning, we were a little short on volunteers. Since I am the admin minion and Bill is the info desk staffer, the manager left us in charge. We had big plans to move all the beds around when no one was looking, hide various essential paperwork items, and reassign all of the vehicles to the swing shift at our staff shelter. However, there turned out to be enough to do without that.
As I may have mentioned before, the residents at Baker are nice people who are trying to get their lives back on track. However, as with any large group, there are those who have health problems, mental health issues, anger management challenges and other pesky details that intrude in all of our lives from time to time. Many of the problems that people have may have been lurking below the surface when they were in place before the storm, but now they have bubbled to the top given the horrors of the hurricane and its aftermath, as well as the subsequent repeated displacements. Somone who is managing just fine in their familiar environment may have more problems dealing with current reality when everything familiar is gone.
When a person in distress reaches the point where he or she has lost contact with reality and can no longer function or may be a threat to others, the shelter is no longer an appropriate place for that person to reside. Deciding that the situation has reached that point is difficult and fortunately we have mental health professionals around to work with people and assist in making that judgment. Such a judgment was in the works when Bill and I were left in charge, and it was necessary to remove someone from the shelter. This is a challenge for the mental health staff, as they must determine what approach will cause the least conflict. In addition, the public safety people who are there to protect the residents, staff, and community, may have a different perspective on the situation and may reach a different conclusion about what action is necessary under the circumstances. That results in conflict between the mental health staff and the police, sometimes with the shelter management in the middle.
That is where we found ourselves on Tuesday evening with EMTs from the fire department, an ambulance, and police outside, and the mental health people inside working with the resident. All was peaceful but some conflict followed between the health professionals and the police shift supervisor. We all talked and, hopefully, resolved the policy and communication issues. However, I found myself wishing that I had known more about the “extraction” policy before it all transpired. There were other issues as well that involved communication between shifts or shelter details (e.g. turning the lights off at the circuit breaker) about which I did not feel confident. Bill was much more comfortable muddling through, and it all worked out fine (I hope). In any event, I know a lot more now than I did before, and Christine returned later and cleaned up any messes we had left behind. That story got straightened out the next day, I guess.
On top of everything else, there was a little fuss at the end of the shift about staff transportation. Jamie and Larry were off so the other two people staying at the Blackwater staff shelter had no ride home. There is a new person on the shift and she had apparently arranged with the health services people (also staying at Blackwater) for a ride. However, she seemed to forget that she had done that and tried to go out with us. She was reminded that she had made other arrangements and went back inside. However, I heard later that she told the shelter manager that we had abandoned her and she did not get home until two in the morning.
When we finally got out of the building around 11:45, I was feeling kind of down about the way I had handled things. I got ready for bed, and when I turned down the sheet to crawl inside I spotted a huge spider in my bed. (This spider had been making the rounds earlier and the last I knew it was waiting for Matt. Apparently Bill had later decided that I was a more likely target.) I almost laughed out loud and was cheered up again, so got a good night's sleep and was ready for a new day on Wednesday.
Today was Brenda's turn to fly away and Bill's to out-process. Only five of us in the car to the airport as we said goodby to Brenda. She was the kind of person I expected to find here: always willing to do what needed to be done and not looking for excuses not to do a particular job. But I will most remember her for her constant search for enough cream in her coffee. She always asked for extra cream and never received enough. Her place at the table was always surrounded by tiny dead cream containers.
I will also remember her ability to cope after the airline lost her luggage. She spent her entire time here waiting for her suitcase to appear, but instead of allowing that to ruin her experience, she managed to acquire the absolute necessitites and do without the rest. On Tuesday (yesterday) when we took her to headquarters to out-process she was presented with her suitcase. It had been waiting there for her for two days but no one bothered to let her know. At that point she had decided that it would be better if it wasn't located until after she got home so she did not have to cart it around. No such luck.
After another tearful parting at the airport, the four of us who remained trundled over to Walmart. (I am deeply distressed that I have actually set foot in that place several times. The services is bad, the restrooms are dirty, and the whole state is littered with abandoned stores (Baton Rouge Red Cross headquarters is one such) as they consolidate; drive smaller establishments out of business, and then close to consolidate in larger facilities. Grrrr.) Anyway, as we travel everywhere in a group and everyone knows where the Walmart is, it has become the store of choice. Today I was looking for WD40 to oil one of the two bathroom doors in the staff shelter. It was squeeking and keeping Debbie awake. Of course, I couldn't find WD40 so got sewing machine oil instead. I had also somehow lost all three of the chapsticks I had brought from home and was in desparate need.
We got to Walmart and dispersed on our various missions, and then gathered back together and returned to the shelter. I oiled the door and was very proud of myself. However, now that the hinges are oiled the door keeps swinging open. Also, it has developed an annoying creak (not a squeek) that is louder that the original problem. Oh well.
We had breakfast this morning at MacDonalds and Bill asked me to take a picture of the adjacent Winn Dixie in commemoration of the movie, and to show his kids that such a thing really exists.
The available food here at the staff shelter (and at Baker shelter as well) is not what one would choose for maximum health benefits. Debbie's solution has been to buy a couple of days' supply of salads at Walmart. She then stores them in the refrigerator in one of the cabins here. Today, she went to the refrigerator to get her salad and found that the two being stored in the refrigerator were gone. The shelter manager had cleaned out the refrigerator and thrown everything away. A minor tempest ensued but passed quickly and all is back to “normal” now.
Since Bill had to outprocess today, he drove us to work and then drove to headquarters. When he returned, he claimed the record for the shortest elapsed time at 55 minutes. Earlier it had been taking hours to navigate all the stations and wait in numerous lines, but as the numbers dwindle the process goes more smoothly. We would have been more impressed with his record if it hadn't taken him so long to get back. He missed the turn to the Baker and was on his was north to Mississippi when he called me and we figured out he had gone too far.
I think work was uneventful compared to Tuesday. Jamie and Larry were back from their days off. Clients are getting more stressed out as rumors spread about closing the shelter. The actual date is up in the air but Monday, 10/31, is the official date. This does not give people much time to find housing.
Tuesday evening FEMA came and set up a table outside to talk to people about their applications and try to get the process moving. This morning the governor's office provided a bus to take people to the New Orleans area to visit their homes and remove documents and person items such as photographs, but no clothing or large items. They had to dress in hazmat gear and spend no more than 15 minutes inside, as these are the dwellings that were the most damaged and present the most significant threat to health and safety.
Many people who had signed up to go on the bus found that they could not face it and stayed behind. On a previous bus trip (Monday I think) some people came back quite traumatized at the condition of their homes. One man found his home upside-down.
There was also a job fair in NO that morning and some people elected to go on the job fair bus instead. There are many jobs available in NO, but no transportation to and from. The shelter and the FEMA trailer park are in Baker and there is no way to get from here to there and back so people who are ready and eager to work are left to choose between a place to live (of which there are none in NO) or a place to work.
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