Supporting the hurricane victims

My cousin, Vicki, who has instigated and organized the delivery of a ton (literally) of stuff to the soldiers out here in Iraq, has also been collecting and delivering things to the hurricane victims. It's difficult for me to comprehend the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina since I couldn't follow it on the evening news, but reading her emails made me realize just how much some of these families were affected. Many lost everything.

This is the first installment. There will be a few more in the next day or two.


It's been a whirlwind of activity since a week ago
Thursday when we kicked off Operation Backpack. Since
so many of you participated in this worthwhile project
for the children affected by Hurricane Katrina, I
wanted to share with you the results. There are
several stories to tell so it may come to you in
several emails...

Large collection boxes were set up in the Homer Dist
33-C schools starting Sept 8 and the backpacks started
POURING in! In the first day at each school, the boxes
were overflowing, so much that second piles were
started on the floor. Several wonderful ladies--Dana
Serpico and my sister, Janice Hickstein, started
making pickups almost every day or so. My garage
became the drop-off point and the pile began to grow!
At one point, I had to dig out from the backpacks just
so my husband could get the lawn tractor out of the
garage. It was overwhelming.

Before the week had gone by, more than 300 backpacks
had been collected!! So the ladies of the Homer
Community and other friends and family went to work;
gathering all kinds of school supplies and sorting the
very generous contributions into bins for an assembly
line. Over the course of 3 days, several groups of
neighbors, soccer Moms and friends showed up to help
pack each backpack with "tender loving care". Each
backpack was loaded with new school supplies as well
as a pack of toiletries and a pair of flip flops. Our
next addition was the selection of a stuffed toy as we
knew that each child that had lost everything could
certainly use a stuffed animal to cuddle with. We
carefully tried to match the contents with the theme
of the backpack wherever possible. As we would run
out of supplies, we'd put the call out and
miraculously, more supplies would be dropped off at
our doorstep. People were SO generous!

Lastly, a note was stuffed in each bag with the name
and address of the Homer School District 33-C so that
the receiving children could write to us if they so
chose.

The backpacks were loaded into my SUV and the results
were such that they were packed to the ceiling and it
took two full loads plus several other avenues to
transport all of the filled backpacks. The backpacks
literally fell out as the doors were opened. There was
barely enough room for me to drive the vehicle!

I want to say thank you to the Homer schoolchildren
and families who generously gave to this project. As
I started this project, I had no idea of how we were
going to get the backpacks to the Gulf States. I only
knew that SOMEWAY, SOMEHOW, we would get them into the
hands of the children. I was adamant that they were
not going to sit on someone's truck only to collect
mold. And that faith didn't let me down.....follow my
continuing story in my next email, "Road to Gulfport".

Here's one. There are many more coming.

Pictures

My internet has been sketchy lately, so I haven't been able to upload the pictures of the stuffed animals and soccer balls yet. Hopefully it will be soon.

Pictures

I'll be posting a page of pictures in the next day or two. We took all of the stuffed animals and soccer balls that Dave Thielen and others recently sent to me and took a few pictures to demonstrate how much there actually was. I'll be passing most of these gifts on to the Blackhawk pilots to drop from the sky to the kids below.

More soon.

Today's link

Bill Brady In the Media
Brady has worked harder than anyone thought he would. He's tenacious, more energetic than anyone else in the pack and did a pretty good job of fundraising this spring. Sen. Brady also upset better known Republican candidates at last weekend's Conservative Summit, winning the influential group's endorsement and delivering a major blow to Sen. Steve Rauschenberger and dairy magnate Jim Oberweis… If Jim Edgar decides not to run … Brady could very well outperform all current expectations. If he doesn't win but keeps up this pace, he could be seen as a unifying candidate for 2010 - an unashamed conservative with many moderate friends who isn't afraid to smile…

Simon Wiesenthal

I came across news that Simon Wiesenthal had passed away yesterday. He was a holocaust survivor who dedicated his life to seeking justice for those who carried out crimes against the Jews during WWII.

The reason this caught my attention is because just recently I came across a book of his, The Sunflower, where he recounted an experience while in a concentration camp. An SS man, on his deathbed, asked Wiesenthal for forgiveness. The first part of the book is Wiesenthal's recollection of it, and the second is a collection of essays written by numerous scholars and statesmen describing what they would do in that situation- whether they would grant forgiveness or not. It was a powerful book. I don't remember who sent it to me, but thank you. While reading it, I wondered whether he was still alive. After 96 years, he no longer is.

RIP, Simon Wiesenthal

Today's Article

We're All in the Same Bloat
In the presidential campaign last year, Democrats were said to be counting on some misfortune--terrorists attacking on American soil, the Iraq War taking a turn for the worse, the economy going south--to help them beat George W. Bush. That didn't happen, of course. But now disaster has struck, and it's becoming increasingly clear that Democrats are better off for it. In ripping through the Gulf Coast, Hurricane Katrina has peeled back the lid on Republican rule and many Americans aren't happy with what they see.

Today's article

Going (Down) by the Book
When President Bush spoke from Jackson Square on Thursday night, across the Mississippi River a few men sitting next to a trailer watched him on a television powered by a generator. They listened respectfully, but they were not exactly dazzled...

I received a ton of boxes today filled with stuffed animals and soccer balls for the Iraqis and their kids. Many thanks go to Dave and his kids.

Supporting Katrina victims

I was really touched by this story the other day. Basically, some Iraqi soldiers in Taji gathered some money together to give to the victims of Katrina and presented it to the American base commander. It was one million dinars, or about $700. Not a lot of money to us, but quite a bit for them. You can see other stories like this at Iraq Files.

I try not to criticize the media that often, but this is a story that definitely should have been reported more widely. The link is from a DOD site. I've seen some references on it from bloggers, but have yet to see it picked up by any major news organizations.

My girlfriend, who sells some things on eBay, is donating all the proceeds from the sale of her Texas A&M related merchandise to the victims as well. To see what she's selling, please go here.

I've also got a link to the Red Cross in the upper right hand corner of this page. I appreciate all of the support I've received, but don't forget these people as well. You can make online donations via that site.

And one of the family

A few more pictures from my leave

Caroline and me at Kate and Mike's wedding

Bill, Alycia, Mike, Kate, me and Caroline

Kris, Bryan, Pete and me in Bloomington/Normal

Article

There's a nice article yesterday in The Daily Camera from Colorado. Many thanks to Dave and his kids, who are hooking me up with a lot of things for the Iraqis, as described in the article.

Since I've been away awhile, I also want to thank Vicki and her crew for all of the things I recently received and will soon be receiving.

I'm told that the last day to send packages to me should be September 25. I'll try to find another soldier in a different unit to keep this going. Remember the hurricane victims with your charity as well, please.