Plenty Katrina Relief Summary 2005 From its headquarters in southern Tennessee, Plenty is sending relief supplies, medical staff, carpenters, and other volunteers to assist the survivors living in the hurricane Katrina and Rita battered Delta regions of Louisiana and southern Mississippi. We are especially targeting the people who inevitably are falling through the cracks of the larger scale relief efforts by such agencies as FEMA and Red Cross. Plenty is sending relief supplies and volunteers to the hurricane Katrina and Rita battered regions of Louisiana and Mississippi. On September 2nd, four days after Katrina struck New orleans, a volunteer from California flew out to Nashville and purchased a full-size diesel school bus which was then stocked with supplies. It left on September 3rd for its first run to Alexandria, New Orleans, and Covington Louisiana. Before returning to Plenty headquarters, the bus transported 40 people from the New Orleans airport to Baton Rouge to reunite with family members. Our efforts have continued from there. By the end of '05, with your support, we have accomplished: 19 runs of volunteers and supplies were sent from our home base in Tennessee to assist hurricane victims in Louisiana and Mississippi in numerous ways: building repair, supply distribution, medical care, mold abatement, needs assessment, and more Additional supply and volunteer runs were mobilized from Tennessee, Texas, and Florida 29 individuals have volunteered on site - 12 have gone more than once. Another dozen or so volunteers have supported efforts at the Farm to mobilize crews and supplies. Volunteers have come from as far as New York, California, and Oregon Over $27,500 in supplies have been purchased and distributed due to individual donations and community fundraisers. These include food, water, medical supplies, blankets, heaters, clothing, batteries, cleaning and other supplies. Over $40,000 in donated supplies have been distributed to hurricane victims in Louisiana and Mississippi, including 8 dome shelters for housing donated by Pacific Domes in Oregon. A $25,000 grant from Veterans for Peace for construction materials and training for local residents in home repair is being utilized by local partners in New Orleans and at the United Houma Nation, Louisiana. Thank you for all you have contributed. Hurricane Relief Effort Up-Dates Firsthand reports from the field, most recent ones first: The Gulf: One Year Later by Peter Schweitzer from the fall 2006 Plenty Bulletin After more than a year of providing relief and support to hurricane Katrina victims in the Gulf, we’re continually amazed by the inability of government agencies to meet their obligations. The more we learn about where the responsibilities for this disaster lie, the more we realize that although Katrina was a big and powerful hurricane, it should not have been the “worst natural disaster” in US history, and it wasn’t all that “natural.”...Read more. Plenty crew heads back to the Gulf by Ralph McAtee 3/21/06 The people here suffer some of the same plight as those in New Orleans. Times were already very hard before the storm, the economy was taking its toll, and the wind, rains and flood of these Hurricanes was so much more destructive than anyone could have imagined....Read more. My latest trip to the coast by Elaine Langley 3/17/06 The more I hear the personal stories, the more my heart is broken. Now I have people who are counting on me for support and so, makes it impossible to walk away....Read more. Plenty partners with New Orleans Voices for Peace 2/27/06 Helping grassroots relief organizations communicate effectively using the Internet and the latest in digital media technologies....Read more. February trip to the Gulf Coast by Elaine Langley 2/28/06 On February 8th, the Plenty cargo van was loaded up with our supplies and we headed down to the coast. We spent our first night in Mobile, Alabama at a volunteer house and were up bright and early the next day heading for Biloxi, Mississippi....Read more. A report of my last trip to the coast by Elaine Langley 12/31/05 When we arrived at the distribution center in Pass Christian, there was a sign on the tent that read "Closed until we get more food". When we pulled up in the van, people flocked to the van as the volunteers unloaded it and distributed it....Read more. Return to the Bayou by Dr. Robin Rose 12/20/05 After I returned from Louisiana the first time, right after Hurricane Rita, I was afflicted... infected... unable to stop...the intent to help and heal was very strong....Read more. Truthout Interview with Dr. Robin Rose 11/16/05 I "knew" it was there that I wanted to go, although with the immensity of the disaster, there were many other places for a physician to land and help out. When I arrived in Mobile at the volunteers' houses, it became clear to me that I would go to work with the indigenous people of the bayou....Read more. Report from Ralph McAtee 11/12/05 The Plenty bus had been sitting in my yard for the past week, full up to the gills with great supplies that Elaine Langley had scored. It looked like it was ready to go, and Joel and I finally got our schedules clear and gear packed for a four day tour....Read more. Katrina Relief Effort Up-date 11/5/05 Friday night two more Plenty volunteers, Ada Langley and Lilly Trainor, left the Farm in Tennessee headed for Louisiana driving a full-size cargo van loaded up with more supplies that had been requested by groups working in and around New Orleans....Read more. Report from medical volunteer Judy Joffee, 11/1/05 Coming into the New Orleans Airport, as I look down, I nonchalantly observe large earth-moving machines bulldozing "stuff"; I realize that this is a housing development, now rubble....Read more. Report from Brandon Lerda, 10/18/05 After watching Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, then the Federal Government's bungling response, then Gary Maclaughlin and Plenty's dive into action, my partner Robin, and I felt the need to engage - to go help....Read more. Katrina Relief Effort Up-date 10/13/05 The latest Plenty volunteers have been working primarily in the Bayou communities southwest of New Orleans, home of the indigenous Houma people and related tribes....Read more. Report from Elaine Langley, 10/3/05 It all is quite overwhelming. I spent two weeks on the coast, but had to evacuate for a couple of days back to the Farm during Rita. I feel blessed that I am able to do some healing down there....Read more. Katrina Relief Effort Up-date 9/30/05 On Monday, Sept. 26, two vans left the Farm for the Gulf with a load of medical supplies and medicines that had been donated to Dr. Rose for the trip in the mini-van, and Ralph McAtee, now Plenty's director of relief operations in the Gulf region driving a cargo van filed with cleaning supplies and other goods, with Elaine Langley, RN riding shotgun....Read more. Report from Jeffrey Keating, 9/24/05 After watching program after program on TV about the devastation wrecked by hurricane Katrina on the gulf coast and the slow response by FEMA, I decided to go and see where I could help. I stuffed my extended Aerostar with supplies that were gathered by local high school students and the Florida Greens and headed for the gulf coast....Read more. Report from Thomas and Karen Heikkala, Plenty Austin, 9/21/05 The flurry of activity began when we found out we were going to be part of the Plenty Hurricane Relief Team on Sat. Sept. 10th. We moved the furniture out of our living room and set up a mini warehouse to receive and sort donations and begin the assembly line of packing boxes....Read more. See Plenty gulf coast photos posted on Michael Moore's web site Report from Liz, 9/18/05 I went out with the tribe social worker, and we delivered supplies to the bayous. Unbelievable.  Boats on the land, trash everywhere, roofs off, impossible to describe. Set up two immunization clinics for next week.  Learned more than I had ever thought to learn about the life and history of the peoples here, especially the Houma indians with whom we are working and living....Read more. Report from Ralph McAtee, 9/15/05 I rode shotgun on the Plenty bus with Gary McLaughlin down into Mississippi and then Louisiana, headed for Covington. The camp at Covington had been started by the Veterans for Peace, and we were welcome to come in and join our efforts with theirs....Read more. Katrina Relief Effort Up-date 9/12/05 The band Nine Inch Nails sent a semi load of food and supplies over the weekend, which our crew helped unload at the Veterans For Peace warehouse. Food and supplies continue to arrive in Covington, much of it going to the VFP shelter/warehouse....Read more. Tucker Carlson interviews Gary MacLaughlin on MSNBC - read transcipt Plenty in the news! Read Nancy Pasternack's article in the Santa Cruz Sentinel Katrina's aftermath: Santa Cruz man rides to the rescue Read the bus run up-date 9/6/05! The Plenty bus left at midnight from The Farm community in Summertown, Tennessee with six volunteers, including a photo journalist/writer, and approximately $2500 worth of supplies....Read more. To donate to Plenty's hurricane relief efforts, please visit our donation page or click button: You may also send a check to Plenty, Box 394, Summertown, TN 38483 Contact Plenty through email with any questions or ideas:[email protected] All donations to Plenty are tax-deductible. Thank you so very much.