Well, I am “back in the real world”, at least for today. I spent the last 3 days at the George R Brown Convention Center helping the Katrina evacuees. As I mentioned to some of you late last week I was there on Sunday when they called for I.T assistance. I offered my help and they accepted. They needed assistance in re-writing the application used to register the evacuees housed at that location. Myself, and about 5 or 6 other guys, spent all day Sunday and all day Monday doing just that. We also migrated the data from the existing (old) system into the new system. This “on-the-fly” team was composed of some of the best people I have ever worked with. We accomplished a lot, in a very short time. When I left yesterday at about 7:00 PM they had registered almost 9000 people. Some of these, of course, are not housed there. They would come in for assistance and leave. Last I heard, FEMA was to take over the operation today. This is somewhat sad as I seriously doubt they can continue to keep the place running as it was. You see, the people who were actually running the place (registering people, helping people get around, playing with kids, doing the laundry, etc etc) were ALL volunteers. THE SAME VOLUNTEERS day in and day out. We started to know and recognize each other. We began to work well with each other. We could refer to someone by name and everyone knew who we were talking about. It was truly amazing. I felt so good to be able to actually contribute. I cannot tell you how many times we would hear rounds of applause when families had been reunited. I was able to experience this joy personally on several occasions. But the most heart wrenching, for me, was this one:

2 women from child protective services approached me. Here is the conversation.

CPS: “Are you Jason?”

Me: “Yes.”

CPS: “We understand that you’re the I.T. guy.”

Me: “Well I am not THE guy, but I am one of them, what do you need”

CPS: “We’re with CPS. We have a little boy, Johnny Smith (not his real name) here in your facility. He has been separated from his mother. Can you help us find her?”

Me: “Sure. Can you give me his badge number?” (each evacuee is given a numbered badge when checked in)

CPS: “12345”

I began searching our databases (the old one and the new one we were writing) and located his record. This gave me his detailed info. I was able to quickly CONFIRM that his mother had not been registered here. I then searched many other systems and located his mother in Arkansas. I double checked and confirmed that she was still there.

CPS: “Thank you so MUCH” (they said while crying)

Me: NO, thank YOU (I said, choking up)

CPS: “Would you like to meet Johnny before we take him “home”?”

Me: “No, I don’t know if I could handle it. Just tell him I said to tell him mother Hello”?

CPS: “Ok, and thank you again”.

Many of you may not know it as I am not sure if it has been publicized. But the GRB is NOT run by the Red Cross. It is a cooperative effort from a couple of LARGE local businesses, the City of Houston and volunteers (like me). It’s been run, and will continue to run like a well oiled machine. The people there are well taken care of and are receiving assistance with any need they may have (locate a loved one, medical attention, transpiration, job hunting, house hunting, etc etc).

I would like to add that the Red Cross, IMHO, is worthless. If you feel otherwise I would be glad to discuss this with you via email. I am sure I can sway your thinking. But I feel this type of discussion/argument is best suited for email or the lounge.

And lastly I would like to thank the following people even though I know they are not reading this: Jerry, Chuck, Ken, Dwayne, Mel, and Sean. You guys are awesome! What a great team we made. 

Chances are I will return to the GRB and continue to help in any way that I can. God be with them.

 Later Gators,

            Jason