Friday September 19th we finally had enough supplies to take out to areas in need.  This was our first day in the truck.  Chuck was the driver and I was the shotgun.  Basically it was my responsibility to help him back up the truck  and navigate and we both helped unload the supplies once we arrived to our assigned designation.

Our deliveries were made to a Baptist Church in Beaumont, a Baptist Church in Wildwood, a distribution center in Woodville, a distribution site in Orange TX, a Catholic Charismatic Center in Houston and a Spanish community in Houston.   A few of these places had forklifts to help remove the supplies that were on pallets, but for the most part we had to unload them by hand.  We had good help that came along with us in what they called a chase car and people of the community who came to help.

In most cases the news that we were coming went ahead of our arrival and people started coming before we could get the truck unloaded.  The highlight of my day was to have a moment to talk with the people who came for the supplies, some in cars and some by foot.  They all had their stories and they were all grateful for our coming with supplies and an encouraging word.  There was an 80 year old lady who came for cleaning supplies while her son and his wife were cleaning up the downed trees.  She had left her home to go to Houston to be with them during Ike because they did not want her to be alone.  She was recovering from open heart surgery and had just recovered from a 45,000 dollar loss during Katrina.

There was a lady and her dad who walked up to the feeding site needing water.  They had no electricity and she had not gotten paid because her work was closed.  And two ladies who needed cleaning supplies and had gone to 3 sites and were running out of gas.  One of the ladies helped us unload the truck and I loaded up their little car with the things they needed.

The man above in the golf cart is the priest at The Catholic Charismatic Center and a very Godly man.  He made all the right connections to get supplies from Fema and the Red Cross and rounded up many volunteers from his congregation to get the supplies to those who needed them.  On our second visit we had an opportunity to talk to him and found that we were not far apart in our beliefs.  I had to make a visit to their bathroom and while in the church I heard beautiful music.  I followed the sound and found that some Spanish ladies were leading worship in a room full of people while the priest was taking care of the practical needs of the people.  I stood outside the door and found tears running down my cheeks as I felt the presence of the Lord.  I know that their praises in the midst of their need was precious to the Lord.

Some of our biggest helpers in the chase cars were young people who were part of the Americorps.  Celia and Bryana were with us most of the time.  We ended up sleeping upstairs in our last shelter in a Methodist Church with the 30+ members of Americorps.  We became known as their grandparents.  They were very bright young adults most of whom were college grads who gave 9 months of their lives to do community service. None of them have been home since they joined in February and won’t go home until Thanksgiving. One team had just come from Hazlehurst, MS doing repairs on the boys club camp.  In the above picture is Amy who wants to be a nurse, Celia wants to work for a ministry and Bryana wants to be a dentist. We were proud to be their grandparents for a season.