Enough to tick you off!

[wuffo 1]

I ran this through urban legend and spam services and found nothing to contradict anything in it.

On the other hand, I heard an interview of a business lady in Atlanta who pooled her resources to find shelter to the displaced NO folks in the
Atlanta area and ran into similar experiences.

Account from Houston volunteer- very upsetting
______________________________________________
Here is some good reading on the way the volunteers ar being treated by the grateful people of New Orleans.[exception:Cuss words have been
removed.] Thought I might inform friends on my recent traumatic experience. I am going to tell it straight, blunt, raw, and I don't give *.
Long read, I know but please do read!!!
I went to volunteer onSaturday at the George R. Brown convention for two reasons.
A: I wanted to help people to get a warm fuzzy.
B: Curiosity.
I've been watching the news lately and have seen scenes that have made me want to vomit. And no it wasn't dead bodies, the city under water, or the
sludge everywhere. It was PEOPLE"S BEHAVIOR. The people on T.V. (99% being Black) where DEMANDING help. They were not asking nicely but demanding as if society owed these people something. Well the honest truth is WE DON'T. Help should be asked for in a kind manner and then appreciated. This is not what the press (FOX in particular) was showing, what I was seeing was a group of people who are yelling, demanding, looting, killing, raping and SHOOTING back at the demanded help!!!!! So I'm thinking this can't possibly be true can it???? So I decide to submit to the DEMAND for help out of SHOCK. I couldn't believe this to be true of the majority of the people who are the weakest of society. So I went to volunteer and help folks out and see the truth. So I will tell the following story and you decide:
I arrived at the astrodome only to find out that there are too many volunteers and that volunteers where needed at the George R. Brown Convention Center. As I was walking up to the Convention Center I noticed a line of cars that wrapped around blocks filled with donations. These where ordinary Houstonians coming with truckloads and trunks full of
water, diapers, clothes, blankets, food, all types of good stuff. And lots of it was NEW. I felt that warm fuzzy while helping unload these vehicles of these
wonderful human beings. I then went inside the building and noticed approximately 100,000 sq. ft. of clothes, shoes, jackets, toys and all types of goodies all organized and ready for the people in need. I signed up, received a name badge and was on my merry way excited to be useful. I toured the place to get familiar with my surrounding; the entire
place is probably around 2 million sq. ft. I noticed rows as far as the eye can see of mattresses, not cots, BLOW UP MATTRESSES!!! All of which had nice
pillows and plenty of blankets. 2 to 3 bottles of water lay on every bed. These full size to queen size beds by the way where comfortable, I laid in one to see for myself. I went to look at the medical area. I couldn't believe what my eyes were seeing!!! A makeshift hospital created in 24 hours!!! It was unbelievable, they even had a pharmacy. I also noticed that they created showers, which would also have hot water. I went upstairs to the third floor to find a HUGE cafeteria created in under 24 hours!
Rows of tables, chairs and food everywhere - enough to feed an army! I'm not talking about crap food either. They had jason's deli food, apples, oranges,
coke, diet coke, lemonade, orange juice, cookies, all types of chips and sandwiches. All the beverages by the way was put on ice and chilled!!!! In a matter of about 24 hours or less an entire mini-city was erected by volunteers for the poor evacuees. This was not your rundown shelter, it was BUM HEAVEN.
So that was the layout: great food, comfy beds, clean showers, free medical help, by the way there was a library, and a theatre room I forgot to mention. Great stuff right????
Well here is what happened on my journey - I started by handing out COLD water bottles to evacuees as they got off the bus. Many would take them and only 20% or less said thank you. Lots of them would shake their heads and ask for sodas! So this went on for about 20-30 minutes until I was sick
of being an unappreciated servant. I figured certainly these folks would appreciate some food!!! So I went upstairs to serve these beloved evacuees
some GOOD food that I wish I could have at the moment!
***The following statements are graphic, truthful, and discuss UNRATIONAL behavior***
Evacuees come slowly to receive this mountain of food that is worth serving to a king! I tell them that we have 2 types of great deli sandwiches to choose from - ham and turkey. Many look at the food in disgust and DEMAND burgers, pizza, and even McDonalds!!!! Jason's deli is better than McDonalds!! Only 1 out of ten people who took something would say "thank you" the rest took items as if it was their God giveen right to be served without a shred of appreciation!!! They would ask for Beer and liquor.
They complained that we didn't have good enough food. They refused food and laughed at us. They treated us volunteers as if we were SLAVES. No not all of them of course.but 70% did!!!!!! 20% were
appreciative, 10% took the food without any comment and the other 70% had some disgusting comment to say. Some had the nerve to laugh at us. And when I snapped back at them for being mean, they would curse at me!!! Needless to say I was in utter shock. They would eat their food and
leave their mess on the table. some would pick up their stuff many would leave it for the volunteers to pick up. I left that real quick to go down and help
set up some more beds. I saw many young ladies carrying mattresses and I helped for a while. Then I realized something.their where hundreds of able
bodied young men who could help!! I asked a group of young evacuees in their teens and early twenties to help. I got cursed at for asking them to help!!!
One said "We just lost our ****homes and you want us to work!!" The next said "Ya Cracker, you got a home we don't" I looked at them in disbelief. Here are women walking by carrying THEIR BEDS and they can't lift a finger and help themselves!! I waved them off and turned away and was laughed at and more "white boy jokes" where made at me. I felt no need to waste my breath on a bunch of pitiful losers. I went to a nearby restroom where I noticed a man
shaving. I used the restroom, washed my hands and saw this man throw his razor towards the trash can...he missed. he walked out leaving his disgusting razor on the floor for some other "cracker" to pick up. Even the little kids where
demanding. I saw only ONE white family and only TWO Hispanic families. The rest where blacks.sorry 20% to 30% decent blacks. and 70% LOSERS!!!!!
I would call them N*****S, but the actual definition of a n*****r is one who is ignorant, these people were not ignorant..they were ARROGANT *******.
The majority of which are thugs and lifetime lazy ass welfare recipients. We are inviting the lowest of the low to Houston. And like idiots we are serving the people who will soon steal our cars, rape, murder, and destroy our city while stealing from our pockets on a daily basis through the welfare checks they take. We will fund our own destruction. By "US" I don't mean a specific race, I mean the people who work hard, work smart, have values and morals. Only people who want to help themselves should be helped, the others should be allowed to destroy themselves. I do not want to work hard, give the government close to half the money I earn so they can in turn give it to a bunch of losers. I don't believe in being poor for life. My family immigrated here, we came here poor, and now thank God, and due to HARD WORK we are doing fine. If immigrants, who come here, don't know the language can work and become successful... WHY CAN'T THE MAJORITY OF THE HOMEGROWN DO IT!!! If we continue to reward these losers then we will soon destroy our great country. I just witnessed selfish, arrogant, unappreciative behavior by the very
people who need help the most. Now these same people who cursed me, refused my citiy's generosity, who refuse to help themselves are DEMANDING
handouts on their own terms!!!!!!! They prance around as if they are owed something, and when they do receive a handout, they say it's not good enough!

[skymama 37]

paragraphs are our friends.

She is Da Man, and you better not mess with Da Man,
because she will lay some keepdown on you faster than, well, really fast. ~Billvon

[wingnut 0]

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paragraphs are our friends

never stopped me....... i like to use alot of piorids though.......

______________________________________
"i have no reader's digest version"

[skybytch 273]

I wonder if the person who wrote that has ever lost everything they own in a natural disaster.

I wonder if the person who wrote that has ever been in a situation where they couldn't afford to pack up and leave town ahead of a natural disaster.

I wonder if the person who wrote that has always been a racist.

[wildblue 7]

I'll choose to believe this account. Readable, and signed.

Quote

Jeff Rau, a family and now personal friend to whom I will forever be linked, and I were volunteering with a boat and pulling people out of the water on Wednesday. I have a first-hand experience of what we encountered. In my opinion, everything that is going on in the media is a complete bastardization of what is really happening. The result is that good people are dying and losing family members. I have my own set of opinions about welfare and people working to improve thier own lot instead of looking for handouts, but what is occurring now is well beyond those borders. These people need help and need to get out. We can sort out all of the social and political issues later, but human beings with any sense of compassion would agree that the travesty that is going on here in New Orleans needs to end and people's lives need to be saved and families need to be put back together. Now.

I will tell you that I would probably disagree with most of the people that still need to be saved on political, social, and cultural values. However, it must be noted that these people love thier friends and families like I do, desire to live like I do, and care for their respective communities (I was even amazed at the site of seemingly young and poor black people caring for sickly and seemingly well-to-do white people and tourists still needing evacuation from New Orleans' downtown area) the same way I care for mine.

Eight people in particular who stood out during our rescue and whose stories deserve to be told:

1.) We were in motor boats all day ferrying people back and forth approximately a mile and a half each way (from Carrolton down Airline Hwy to the Causeway overpass). Early in the day, we witnessed a black man in a boat with no motor paddling with a piece of lumber. He rescued people in the boat and paddled them to safety (a mile and a half). He then, amidst all of the boats with motors, turned around and paddled back out across the mile and a half stretch to do his part in getting more people out. He refused to give up or occupy any of the motored boat resources because he did not want to slow us down in our efforts. I saw him at about 5:00 p.m., paddling away from the rescue point back out into the neighborhoods with about a half mile until he got to the neighborhood, just two hours before nightfall. I am sure that his trip took at least an hour and a half each trip, and he was going back to get more people knowing that he'd run out of daylight. He did all of this with a two-by-four.

2.) One of the groups that we rescued were 50 people standing on the bridge that crosses over Airline Hwy just before getting to Carrolton Ave going toward downtown. Most of these people had been there, with no food, water, or anyplace to go since Monday morning (we got to them Wed afternoon) and surrounded by 10 feet of water all around them. There was one guy who had been there since the beginning, organizing people and helping more people to get to the bridge safely as more water rose on Wednesday morning. He did not leave the bridge until everyone got off safely, even deferring to people who had gotten to the bridge Wed a.m. and, although inconvenienced by loss of power and weather damage, did have the luxury of some food and some water as late as Tuesday evening. This guy waited on the bridge until dusk, and was one of the last boats out that night. He could have easily not made it out that night and been stranded on the bridge alone.

3.) The third story may be the most compelling. I will not mince words. This was in a really rough neighborhood and we came across five seemingly unsavory characters. One had scars from what seemed to be gunshot wounds. We found these guys at a two-story recreational complex, one of the only two-story buildings in the neighborhood. They broke into the center and tried to rustle as many people as possible from the neighborhood into the center. These guys stayed outside in the center all day, getting everyone out of the rec center onto boats. We approached them at approximately 6:30 p.m., obviously one of the last trips of the day, and they sent us further into the neighborhood to get more people out of homes and off rooftops instead of getting on themselves. This at the risk of their not getting out and having to stay in the water for an undetermined (you have to understand the uncertainly that all of the people in these accounts faced without having any info on the resc! ue ef!
forts, how far or deep the flooding was, or where to go if they want to swim or walk out) amount of time. These five guys were on the last boat out of the neighborhood at sundown. They were incredibly grateful, mentioned numerous times 'God is going to bless y'all for this'. When we got them to the dock, they offered us an Allen Iverson jersey off of one of their backs as a gesture of gratitude, which was literally probably the most valuable possession among them all. Obviously, we declined, but I remain tremendously impacted by this gesture.

I don't know what to do with all of this, but I think we need to get this story out. Some of what is being portrayed among the media is happening and is terrible, but it is among a very small group of people, not the majority. They make it seem like New Orleans has somehow taken the atmosphere of the mobs in Mogadishu portrayed in the book and movie "Black Hawk Down," which is making volunteers (including us) more hesitant and rescue attempts more difficult. As a result, people are dying. My family has been volunteering at the shelters here in Houma and can count on one hand the number of people among thousands who have not said "Thank You." or "God Bless You." Their lives shattered and families torn apart, gracious just to have us serve them beans and rice.

If anything, these eight people's stories deserve to be told, so that people across the world will know what they really did in the midst of this devastation. So that it will not be assumed that they were looting hospitals, they were shooting at helicopters. It must be known that they, like many other people that we encountered, sacrificed themselves during all of this to help other people in more dire straits than their own.

It is also important to know that this account is coming from someone who is politically conservative, believes in capitalism and free enterprise, and is traditionally against many of the opinions and stances of activists like Michael Moore and other liberals on most of the hot-topic political issues of the day. Believe me, I am not the political activist. This transcends politics. This is about humanity and helping mankind. We need to get these people out. Save their lives. We can sort out all of the political and social issues later. People need to know the truth of what is going on at the ground level so that they know that New Orleans and the people stranded there are, despite being panicked and desperate, gracious people and they deserve the chance to live. They need all of our help, as well.

This is an accurate account of things. Jeffery Rau would probably tell the same exact stories.

Regards,
Robert LeBlanc

it's like incest - you're substituting convenience for quality

[Feeblemind 1]

Does it not appear obvious to everyone that when disaster strikes whatever personal attributes an individual has, peak??

Some folks out of the goodness of their hearts risked their lives to save others.

Some of the rescued were thankful and offered what little they had to their rescuers.

Others wanted and or demanded what they in their opinion are entitled to.

Some stole, looted and destroyed.


This is a society we and our government have created. Working for a public agency I see this on a day to day basis. I work in an area where most of the response are into low income apartments. It amazes me what this class of people will activate the 911 system for!! The majority of the calls are because they don't feel well for one reason or another and do not want to wait in the waiting room of the hospital (they think if you go in by ambulance you go straight to the back, WRONG!!!) Don't get me wrong, we do respond to legitimatecalls in these areas but they are the exception more than the rule. Just like the original post indicated, we as responders are treated like we OWE them our service and they are ENTITLED it. It really frustrates me when folks behave in this manner as I am looking at a 50' plasma TV and ubah stereo system that even though I could afford it, I wouldn't buy it.

Rant over.

Fire Safety Tip: Don't fry bacon while naked

[JAC 0]

I saw this on Myspace.com yesterday as it had my sister very upset. Both of us have contributed our time, her at the food bank and me at the convention center. I started to get upset by the tone of the initial message, and then chose to ignore it, and not respond. From my experience helping the evacuees at the Convention center, 99.9% of them have been extremely greatful for everything they have received. The other .1% are still too shocked to even know what the hell is going on. The majority of them have not even begun to digest the magnitude of what has occurred, so we should probably forgive them if they forget to say "thank you".

[banjobill 0]

There is enough blame to go around, but we created the society we have long before Katrina hit New Orleans. Unfortunately, reversing welfare dependency requires action that gets people booted from office.

B.

....with a capital P and that rhymes with T and that spells TROUBLE!!!

[sistaluv 0]

Go to bed!

Blue Skies and Terminal Memories 4 Life

[riddler 0]

Thanks for sharing your real experiences. They mean more to us than a second-hand account.

Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

[skymedic 0]

Quote

I work in an area where most of the response are into low income apartments. It amazes me what this class of people will activate the 911 system for!! The majority of the calls are because they don't feel well for one reason or another and do not want to wait in the waiting room of the hospital (they think if you go in by ambulance you go straight to the back, WRONG!!!)

And these are my favorite types of calls....take em straight to chairs. much to there chagrin.

Marc
otherwise known as Mr.Fallinwoman....

[skybytch 273]

Quote

Others wanted and or demanded what they in their opinion are entitled to.

Try to put yourself in the shoes of someone who has no reliable transportation and an income at or below the poverty line (ie someone who lives from paycheck to paycheck). Now imagine that the government has told you to evacuate the area due to an impending disaster but has offered no way for you to do so.

Next, pretend it's you stuck in the middle of a lake that used to be your neighborhood. You have no or very little food, because you've never been able to afford to have the recommended "disaster preparedness kit." You've been there for a few days, you're hungry, you've seen and experienced things that nobody should have to see or experience.

imho, you'd have every right to think you were entitled to food, water and a dry place to sleep.

[TequilaGirl 0]

My dad, his girlfriend and myself adopted a family of 22 - they are nothing but grateful for everything we give them.....and are moving into furnished apartments this weekend....

[ACMESkydiver 0]

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Thanks for sharing your real experiences. They mean more to us than a second-hand account.

I'll echo that.

~Jaye
Do not believe that possibly you can escape the reward of your action.

[airtwardo 7]

Hero....you made it a verb.

~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

[JAC 0]

Quote

My dad, his girlfriend and myself adopted a family of 22 - they are nothing but grateful for everything we give them.....and are moving into furnished apartments this weekend....

That's awesome! I signed up to be a host housing as well. There are so many people that have posted available temporary housing, that I haven't been contacted as of yet.

[wmw999 2,534]

Likewise me too.

Wendy W.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[diverdriver 6]

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My dad, his girlfriend and myself adopted a family of 22 - they are nothing but grateful for everything we give them.....and are moving into furnished apartments this weekend....

No shit! You rock! I know you didn't post it to get praise but rather to report their grateful attitude. But still... YOU GUYS ROCK!!

[heidihagen 0]

i'm just wondering what kind of system they have worked out with the george r brown center & the astrodome. a lot of them seem to be taking to the streets. i know they set a curfew due to umm problems, but can't they go back the next day? and why did they knock off our supertarget (the one on westheimer) when they were just handed out $2k debit cards? mainly, why are there so many new homeless faces along main street? if they're just walking/sleeping the streets uring the day.. then doing back to the dome at night, then they're taking away business from OUR bums... and i think that's kinda rude.

i didn't lose my mind, i sold it on ebay. .:need a container to fit 5'4", 110 lb. cypres ready & able to fit a 170 main (or slightly smaller):.[/ce