Thoughts and Prayers For The People Of New Orleans,

[Eamonn]

I'm unsure if we have any forum members from the New Orleans, area?

But I'm sure everyone will join me in offering a kind thought and many will join in saying a prayer for the people who live in the area.

 

Lord, we are Your people, the sheep of Your flock. Heal the sheep who are wounded, touch the sheep who are in pain, clean the sheep who are soiled, warm the lambs who are cold, calm the sheep who fear.

Help us to know the Father's love through Jesus the shepherd and through the Spirit. Help us to lift up that love and show it all over this land. Help us to build love on justice and justice of love. Help us to believe mightily, hope joyfully, love divinely. Renew us that we may help renew the face of the earth.

Amen

[frank10]

Amen.

[zippie2223]

Thank you,

We need all of your prayer and any help you could muster. I don't know what we have left a home. My little bear just relized that this is not s vaction and that he may not be going home for a while. My baby cried for a half hour when he relized that his birthday was not going to happen next month. We are not sure where we are going to go because last word was 30 or more day before we could go home. Then what are we going home to.

[Eagle447]

May the great Master of all scouts be with you and guide you through this. Our prayers are with you.

[evmori]

My prayers are with all those in the hurricane area.

[scoutldr]

Thoughts are nice...cash is better. Get out your checkbooks, folks. DO IT TODAY!

[docjwt]

Amen and many more prayers for everyone in the Gulf Coast area affected.

 

Already made my personal donation to the relief efforts. Got my Cubs and Boys working on rasing donations to help out.

 

James

[acco40]

Allow me to put on my Grinch hat ...

 

1) I was appalled at the looting I saw going on in New Orleans. If I was Governor, I'd give a shoot to kill order to the National Guard with respect to looters.

 

2) It was readily predicted a week in advance that the storm was going to hit and hit hard. Our relief efforts should have been and should be directed at those who left the area as advised. I realize that some did not leave because of the costs involved. We (the nation) should have spent resources aiding those who wanted to leave. For those who decided to stay why are we spending our limited resources on them now?

 

3) Why do we as a nation feel we can consistently

"fool" mother nature? We build cities in areas below sea level. We pave over wetlands, build levees and straighten out rivers and then are surprised when they overflow their banks. We build cities in the desert and divert water from other areas and are surprised that ecological disaster follows. Our ecological acumen is minuscule and our arrogance is enormous.

 

I am not heartless and feel tremendously for those who have lost their homes, business and family members. I've volunteered my time and money to aid those affected. But I do get angry at many peoples attitude. I guarantee that in a few weeks we will hear from many who plan to got right back and rebuild in the exact same location.

 

Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.(This message has been edited by acco40)

[SR540Beaver]

My heart and prayers go out to those affected by Katrina. When the May 3rd tornado hit in Oklahoma City a few years back, it missed my house by only about 4 or 5 blocks. I lost a single fence panel. Less than half a mile away there were concrete slabs where houses once stood. I've seen the devastation that nature can do first hand. What you see on TV does not do justice to what a personal panoramic view does. We were kept out of the area for only two days. I went in first to check things out. I went back for my wife and tried to prepare her for what she was going to see when we drove down the streets to our house we had traveled for years. She was shocked and burst into tears. To be honest, it shook her faith in God for more than a year. You have to understand, we were both just blocks away from the Murrah bombing prior to the tornado. Bottom line, what you see on TV doesn't even begin to approach what it is really like on the ground in the damaged areas. You can't begin to imagine what it is like to suddenly have absolutely nothing to your name except the clothes on your back. Eventually, life will return to normal for those who survived. But it will be a long hard row to hoe. Continue to keep them in your prayers beyond just today.

[johndaigler]

As usual great thoughts from all of you.

 

Our thoughts and prayers go out to all the families impacted by Katrina.

 

Is there a national structure use by BSA to help Units rebuild after such devastation. So much has been lost by everyone; but just focusing on Scouts for a minute, is there an organized method of helping those units replace equipment, handbooks, uniforms, etc.??

 

I'm sure we can all do things individually and locally but a strong nationwide program might simplify and improve our efforts.

 

And believe me, I understand these people have lost much more than Scout shirts, but Scouting is such a positive for many young boys that getting Units back up and running (and therefore able to help others) will have a positive impact on all those communities.

 

jd

 

 

[Lynda J]

Kevin gave me $10.00 this morning to send and our troop is going to take cases of water to our local food bank. THey are getting a truck ready to head our by Friday. I am cleaning out my pantry tonight and sending canned goods.

And prayers are gives on a regular basis. My grandmother lost everything she owned in l961 when my home town was hit by a 100 year flood. At 75 she never recovered from it.

[scoutldr]

It is important to note that at this time the disaster relief organizations are asking for CASH ONLY. The Salvation Army website is specific that they are not acceping "in kind" donations of food or clothing.

 

Here is a first person report from another list. What impresses me is that even in the midst of personal loss and hardship, this Scouter is asking "how can I help":

 

Message: 7

Date: Tue, 30 Aug 2005 19:53:35 -0000

From: "Mark Landry"

Subject: Hurricane Katrina

 

I am writing to you from a Best Western motel room in Alvin,

TX. We left home on Saturday: Me, my wife, my Life Scout son, my

Venturer daughter, our cat and our rabbit. We thought it would be

just like the other times: we go away for a long weekend, and come

on back after the storm.

 

Not this time. We have been unable to find out whether our

home is still there, but we have reason to hope we were lucky. The

area around our home, and our chartered organization, is some of the

highest (relatively speaking) in the city.

 

I am quite fearful that many of our troop members were not so

lucky. I think many other units in the Southeast Louisiana,

Istrouma, Pine Burr and other Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama

councils will simply cease to exist. Their homes, their meeting

places, their council camps: all gone. Camp Salmen, Camp Ti'ak and

others may never recover.

 

One of the merit badges I counsel is Emergency Preparedness. I

am glad we had an emergency plan. I work with the Red Cross as a

volunteer. I have seen damage like I see on the TV, up close and

personal. But never this widespread, never at places I recognize,

even when covered with water.

 

My son and daughter may be out of school for 2 months, and we

may not be able to get to look at our home for 30 days. It is scary.

 

I have called the Greater Houston Chapter of the Red Cross, and

offered to volunteer where needed. We are sitting in the motel

otherwise, and are going crazy watching the water rise further and

further.

 

My office is a block away from the major breach in the

17th Street Canal, that failed for 3 city blocks. I am on the side

of the canal that did not fail, so I think my office is in no

further current danger. But, if I can't get to the office, I can't

work. And most of my employees are in the areas of St. Bernard

Parish that appear to be totally destroyed.

 

As a young scout, I lived through Hurricane Betsy, and

Hurricane Camille. I have worked as a Red Cross disaster volunteer

since 1970. This is beyond anything that we have ever experienced,

but NOT anything we didn't expect. We have known for decades just

how tenuous was our existance. But that knowledge was only

theoretical, never acutal.

 

We will need help. Your packs, troops, crews, ships and posts

can help. How? I am not sure. I can not even comprehend just what

is happening at home. Think about what you can do.

 

And please keep us in your prayers. A scout, is, above all,

reverent.

 

Yours in Scouting,

 

Mark C. Landry

Advancement Chairman

Troop 230

St. Catherine of Siena Catholic Church

Metairie, LA.

BST Co-moderator

 

[rpushies]

Chief Scout Executive, Roy Williams has posted a statement about the hurricane on the national web site at: http://www.scouting.org/media/katrina/index.html

 

A quick and timely statement from the BSA leadership.

 

Yours Truly in Scouting,

Rick Pushies

[Cubmaster Jerry]

Stunned and in awe. I think that best explains how I feel right now. I do not live near the affected areas nor do I even know anyone who does live there. But the feeling of helplessness is overwhelming.

 

I'd like to jump in the car an head south to help in whatever way I could. However I am content in knowing that my responsibilities in the US Air Force, which include providing back-end support for humanitarian military operations, will allow me to fullfill that desire.

 

Not since 9/11 have I (and I am sure all of us) felt such an empty feeling. However, I do share many of the same frustrations that acco40 has. But it is our human nature to assist those most in need, no matter the reason. Undoubtedly, we will learn from this. Much of our "education" in these types of situations does stem from a reactionary root vs. a preparatory one. As unfortunate and unsensible as that may seem, we are always willing to take the risk rather than heed on the side of caution. We, as scouts may have a hard time understanding that as we are conditioned to Be Prepared.

 

But that doesn't help much right now.

 

Good luck to all.

 

Jerry(This message has been edited by Cubmaster Jerry)

[Bob White]

The results of the hurricane throughout the golf coast is horrifying. As the coverage continues you can barely begin to understand the extent of it all. Our prayers and our support go out to all involved.

 

Now a few random thoughts.

A lot of those "looters" are folks trying to survive. They are trying to find food for their familiy, clothing, containers to try and save their belongings. Stores that would usually be available are abandoned. Many of these folks have no idea how they will survive now they do not know if help will come or when they will get it. And although help may be available, they probably do not know that. We have far more information as to what resources are available for them and where they are then they do. They have no communications to learn what we know through the media.

 

I agree that some are are actual criminals stealing guns and ammunition, electronics etc. But where do you put them if you arrest them? Are more dead bodies going to help them in any way. The law enforcement officers' main concern is safety and keepping people alive, not killing more.

 

As far as living near the ocean, you can't escape nature. Everyone is close to some natural disaster waiting to happen, hurricane, tornados, earthquakes, flood, no one is really in a "safe place" when it comes to nature. It's not a matter of if something will happen its when and how bad. This is the worst storm to hit the gulf coast in a generation.

 

Who is to blame for New Orleans being so close to the water? Who else..THE FRENCH! They had the nerve to build a primary sea port by the water. What were those foreigners thinking? It has stood since before we fought Eamonn's family and sent them packing. You would of thought when we bought it that someone would have mentioned that it leaked!

 

Sure they were told to leave but not everyone had the ability to leave. If you have never been to New Orleans there is a large population of really poor people just like in any large city. Telling someone to leave does not give them the ability to leave. Go where? Get there how?

 

Current estimates are it will take by 3 to 6 months to get the flood waters pumped out and nearly that long before power will be restored, and most will not get to return to see what is left of their homes and businesses unitl then.

 

By then many neighborhoods will be so totally uninhabitable that who knows when things will be able to be rebuilt there if at all.

 

There are no simple problems in New Orleans and there are no simple solutions there either.