CTD relief convoys to the Gulf?

[MCabrera]

Count me in. I'm in Phoneix, so it's a long way away, but a trip to Texas is realistic for me. I will keep checking this post for further info. Good job everyone, for pulling together and showing what this site and group is all about.

 

[cyborg]

The word amongst the feds is "after this weekend, a lot more will happen". There is concern about drawing resources out of the west before the end of fire season. The santa ana winds can be tricky this time of year.



If there is enough serious interest, we need to establish an infra-structure of our own to include planning, operations , logistics and points of contact. Most important is how much can we move, and from where. What are we able to do.

 

[bchesley]

I am in Tyler Texas an hour and a half from Louisianna and can help if something gets organized. I have been working at my church that has 200 refugees from New Orleans and these people are going to need a lot of help. Tyler has over a 1000 so far in four shelters and more buses coming. The best thing is to give the money to the Salvation Army or the Red Cross and or volunteer yourself. You just don't know how real this is until you meet some of the people that it has affected!!!!



Brad

 

[BStoecker]

I just went to the www.FEMA.gov website and followed the links to register to help with this relief effort. I said that I would be available to haul from the Indiana area to wherever they would need these housing units. I would think this may be the best way to do this. I just entered that I would need to have fuel, housing, and food costs covered, but no per/mile fees, etc... I'm closing on a new house in under a week or I would just foot the bill completely, so don't think I'm just a cheapskate... I'm offering what I can from what I have at this point, which is time and truck, but little money.

 

[bzingre]

BStoecker,



Did you mention the TDR. I sounds like we need to get FEMA and TDR joined somehow in order to coordinate an effort. I'm in Atlanta and willing to help. Like you, I'll need fuel, food, and a cot. Can you update your registration to send a link to this thread? Someone from FEMA needs to know that there are numbers of use willing to volunteer our time and equimpment.



Steve St. Laurent,

Any pointers on how to get this done? I really don't know how serious we all are about this, but it sounds like if FEMA could use our help, then we need an online form for registration through the TDR and a point of contact from FEMA needs access to that information so coordination can begin. There's probably steps I'm missing, just $. 02 worth.



If we don't offer a group response, it's important to send cash. I'm going to post this response on the Hurricane Relief thread too.

 

[TinyInOhio]

I am about 6 hours from Elkhart, I can tow trailers down south to help. Count me in.

 

[OCarney]

I received this e-mail a couple of days ago from Horizon Transport. Might be something to consider.





If you are interested in temporarily delivering FEMA trailers to the

Katrina Hurricane victims, please contact the recruiting department

today at 1-800-320-4055.



These units will originate from Indiana and deliver to Louisiana.

They are all 30' and 32' travel trailers.

Pay rate will be $1. 00 to $1. 05 per mile.

We will start shipping these units Tuesday Sept 6.



Dedicated FEMA drivers are not subject to the normal hours of service

regulations. You will be required to log, but you are not subject to

the normal interstate commerce hourly regulations.



Dedicated FEMA drivers will will not have access to any other freight,

(reloads, normal outbound)

 

[scottmcd]

Hello guys,



Am willing to help pull from Denver area. Can run from Friday afternoon till early Monday mornings. Let me know if we can help... Scott

 

[Holysmokes]

Im in the same boat as BStoecker. Im 4 hours from elkhart. I have aprox. 1week and 3 days of vacation I can burn. If this is a group effort Im in. In fact a buddy of mine said he might be ablt to help too. Your on to something great here guys. If we can have it to where its as easy as picking up the trailer and dropping it Id do it ( as opposed to having to get insurance for it and all the commercial stuff) In fact if we have a convoy it might be just as easy to find a big parking lot and catch a nap in the trailer so we wont have to worry about a hotel.

 

[BStoecker]

Maybe we contact the manufacturers about this? I am sure that FEMA is in contact with them as well. The manufacturers might be willing to pay fuel costs to a large group of guys to convoy a large number of these in one shot. Gives them awesome PR and we are able to make use of the resources we have to offer. Anyone in the Elkhart, IN area have some contacts???

 

[sniper351]

some more info...

I don't know if this will help out or not, but my fiance is from the New Orleans area and all of her family is still down there, they have been told that from monday through Wednesday, they will be allowed to go back to their houses from 6 AM to 6 PM to rip out carpet and clean out the refrigerators. Still no answer from any of my Guard buddies, will keep trying there. Hope this helps. Maybe I missed it, but is TDR getting in on this to help contacting the right people?

 

[jandtjil]

This is why I love this group! Something for any who consider driving into the devastated area is a CB/HAM radio, more than likely power to cell towers is still out. If you have an old mobile unit handy consider taking it with you and donate it to someone on scene who doesn't have one. Also make sure you coordinate any drive you are doing with your local (and points along your driving route) red cross/salvation army, they may have goods for you to transport and the destination.

 

[evldsl]

I'm in from California and I can donate 1 week.

 

[TinyInOhio]

I have been trying to get in touch with Horizon Transport, but they are off for the weekend. I will call in the morning. I would suggest anyone wanting to run at least get a temporary CB setup, as communications will be important between trucks. Maybe we could run in groups, talking to each other would pass the time quickly. What all would we need to take with us, besides some coolers in the trucks, safety equipment, snacks, etc?

 

[Headshot zod]

I can donate about a week depending on which week or days. What sort of hitch do I need?

 

[scottmcd]

Any more info???

Is there any more updated info on what we can do help out with CTD's. Not getting much responce from the Red Cross in the Denver area... . Scott

 

[ACoyle]

Please count me in. I can come up with a week for this.



AC

 

[JDougherty]

i am in as well.

 

[Crunch]

Is there any more updated info on what we can do help out with CTD's. Not getting much responce from the Red Cross in the Denver area... . Scott

In my opinion, the Red Cross may be part of the problem. They are now complaining that private relief efforts complicate the problem. I tend to agree with the man quoted in the article below about chewing on a dollar bill when you are hungry. That said, we should consider any negative impact our actions might have, but the solution seems to be delivering supplies to staging areas near where they are needed, so they can be loaded on large truck trailers for the final trip to the people in need. I'm still willing to haul any trailer in my zone (North and Central Texas) to any site in East Texas or Louisiana and return the trailer to a designated pickup point. We don't have the bureaucratic red tape and hesitancy large organizations like FEMA and the Red Cross do. We can act as a rapid response team in getting supplies as close as possible. Here's the article:



http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/07/AR2005090702070_pf.html

Sending More Than Just a Check

Impromptu Efforts Try to Make Relief Tangible and Personal



By Elizabeth Williamson and Annie Gowen

Washington Post Staff Writers

Thursday, September 8, 2005; A20



Distrustful of snarled federal relief efforts and moved to make a personal gesture, an army of maverick volunteers is funneling aid through back channels to the bayou region, complicating overtaxed relief efforts.



A week after Hurricane Katrina flattened the Gulf Coast, Americans have contributed more than a half-billion dollars to disaster aid, nearly double what they gave in the same period after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Accompanying the cash has come a flood of clothing, toys and food, offers of housing, transport and entertainment, taken into the region by Good Samaritans with little or no experience in disaster relief.



But from donated evacuation buses that come home empty, to the mountain of used clothing that disrupted food distribution in a Baton Rouge, La. , shelter, charities say home-grown aid is touching but often not helpful.



"When nobody directs the effort [at the federal level], you end up with a ton of well-intentioned folks who want to help but have no idea how," said Trent Stamp of Charity Navigator, a charity rating service. "That's a recipe for disaster. We've been telling people since day one that the real way to help with this disaster is to write a check, because they're just not prepared at the other end to receive goods. "



Alan Courtemanche, a tae kwon do instructor from Leesburg, discovered that when he arrived in Gulfport, Miss. , on Sunday night. He had his brother Michael in tow, as well as a trailer full of water, food and diapers donated by his students at Gold's Gym in Sterling.



"There is no order," Courtemanche said, speaking on his cell phone from Gulfport. "Nobody knows who is in charge or what to do to help out. "



The brothers finally found a center that accepted their delivery.



"The Red Cross is saying, 'We don't want freelance people bringing supplies down here,' " Courtemanche said. "The Red Cross and FEMA are absolutely in denial. They're saying, 'Send money. ' How many times have you chewed on a dollar bill when you're hungry?"



Charities say their warnings are as much for the safety of the volunteers as for the convenience of the relief organizations.



"You don't know what you're going to find when you arrive. There are inaccessible areas," said Lesly Simmons, spokeswoman for American Red Cross headquarters in Washington. "Conditions are difficult. It is incredibly hot. They may be encountering areas where there is no gas available. "



Also, trained volunteers could be diverted from counseling victims or other important tasks by having to stop and unload unexpected donations, she said. "If you just arrive with truckloads they're not expecting, it takes people away from doing other work. "



At Catholic Charities headquarters in Alexandria, for instance, a small mountain of donated goods has appeared in the lobby, far from where such goods are needed. "Money can buy this stuff, and money is flexible," said spokeswoman Shelley Boysiewicz.



Still, the instinct to do something tangible runs deep for many of those in the impromptu relief efforts.



"Sending in a check to the Red Cross -- what have I done?" asked Pam Weinberg, who helped organize a drive in Frederick. "I think there's a mechanism inside all of us, when we see this much suffering, we need to go into action. I think people want to work. "



Weinberg and four friends launched a kitchen-table effort to fill industrial-size paint buckets with personal care items, flashlights and duct tape -- and drive three truckloads of them today from Maryland to Picayune, Miss. "We never even asked for money," Weinberg said. "We asked for these products. "



After a Web-based call for donations, the group filled a warehouse near Frederick with 1,500 five-gallon "Buckets Full of Hope. "



Kelly Tidwell, a Lorton resident and electrician, recalled the uncertainty he experienced after Sept. 11, 2001, after taking a truckload of respirators, batteries and gloves intended for rescue workers to an anonymous donation center in a Northern Virginia business park.



"In the back of my mind, I couldn't be sure it had actually been received by the people who needed it," Tidwell said. "When this happened, I wanted to make sure it got where it needed to go. More of a grass-roots effort. "



So yesterday, Tidwell was driving south with a friend and a flatbed trailer with five tons of supplies. The supplies -- donated by members of the Neighbors Great Falls community listserv -- included a generator, 100 cases of water and more than 50 cases of food and baby formula.



On Capitol Hill, as lawmakers demand an inquiry into the federal government's handling of the disaster, lobbyist Campbell Kaufman has been directing back-channel aid efforts. A Baton Rouge native, Kaufman was ready to climb into a friend's Explorer and drive supplies from Alexandria to the bayou on the day of the hurricane. But reason took hold, and Kaufman decided to stay put long enough to send out a mass e-mail to Capitol Hill contacts requesting donations and help.



Those pleas grew into a do-it-yourself relief effort scheduled to head to Louisiana on Saturday. By last night, Kaufman had two 24-foot rented trucks parked near his offices on Independence Avenue, ready to be packed full of water and food.



"This was the quickest and most effective way to positively help," Kaufman said. "There are a lot of fundraisers going on around here. But our focus is to get supplies to people now. You avoid red tape that way. "



Staff writers Jacqueline L. Salmon in Baton Rouge and Fredrick Kunkle in Frederick contributed to this report.

 

[MMeier]

Anyone been able to get ahold of Horizon Transport??