Today’s my sixth day on the job. Larry Boyer—another Red Cross volunteer—and I left St. Louis last Thursday to drive the St. Louis Area Chapter’s Emergency Response Vehicle (ERV) to Baton Rouge. Since we arrived, we’ve helped to preposition supplies and we had to wait out the storm. They moved us to Shreveport once the storm track showed that Baton Rouge was going to get hit hard. Yesterday Larry Boyer and I were in Shreveport loading up the ERV with diapers, comfort kits, toothpaste, shampoo, combs, blankets and pillows. We sorted everything into different boxes and stocked the ERV to deliver to shelters in Shreveport. We went to two shelters; one was the big mega dome. We delivered ice to a shelter yesterday too. That was fun because nearly twenty percent of it melted in the truck over the 15 miles we had to drive the ice. Oh well. We lost some, but not enough to worry about. We helped at the shelter last night—cleaning up, vacuuming and sweeping. You know everyone pitches in at a shelter—even the shelter residents. It’s like a little community and everyone helps everyone else. Today Larry and I are on our way back to Baton Rouge where power is out and storms are still happening. We’re in a storm right now so I’ll have to go for now…

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Re: Mike Wood - Baton Rouge, New Orleans Mike--I saw your picture and story in the St. Clair County Journal. What a great story. Thanks for volunteering. I especially like that your wife is so understanding and supportive of your work in disaster relief. By J on   9/8/2008 1:42 PM