.
This page is an attempt to collect information on the the various Katrina relief activities with Rainbow Family folks involved.
Since the Rainbow Family is not an organization, all of these activities was done by individuals that know each other from attending Rainbow Gatherings. There many of us have gained much experience at making do with little supplies under primitive conditions. Katrina seemed a good time as any to put skills learned over the decades to work feeding thousands every day with what ever was at hand.
The idea was to setup a self-sufficient camp with food, medical, and security much like a small Rainbow gathering would be. This way there was no dependency on anyone else. This was felt to be the best way to truly help.
Well, it worked pretty good. The newly titled "Waveland Cafe" has been serving upwards of 5,000 people, 3 fresh hot meals a day now for weeks by working with the Bastrop Christian Outreach Center folks that had arrived early on the scene as well. Their ability to fund raise and get supplies combined to make this the largest relief and distribution center anywhere. (sorry if I left out any other groups that helped)
The shipping address for the best chow on the Mississippi coast is:
New Waveland Cafe at Fred's
790 Hwy 90
across from the water tank and police dept.
Waveland, MS 39576-2410
We now have a medical clinic and free food kitchen up and running here
in Washington Square Playground. This park had massive wind damage, but didn't
get flooded. A few blocks away is the hard-hit areas of the city. We had to
spend several days cutting out a space amongst all the fallen trees and
branches. Now that people are returning home, we're here to welcome them.
We're calling this relief center the "Welcome Home Cafe", and we're the only
one actually setup in the heart of the city.
The new mailing address for the Welcome Home Cafe is:
Welcome Home Cafe
PO Box 330
828 Royal St
New Orleans, LA 70116-3199
A page listing info on how to donate is here.
A longer overview of REMA, with photos, is here. You can get more information on the Rainbow Family on my Unofficial Rainbow Family Website
Organic Valley, who provided us with regular shipments of organic
produce, milk, cheese, butter, and other good stuff we were able to
serve to the good people of Waveland. In addition to helping
exhausted crew with R & R in Florida, they contributed one of their
old fleet vans to Levitikus and Theodora. That's all, of course, on
top of them sending Clovis down here in the first place! Oh, yeah,
and 173 homemade pies. OV just freakin' rocks!
All those groovy church folks from the Bastrop group, especially Jim
(actually from TN), Pete, Fay, Steve, and Shaun, not to mention a cast
of thousands of Texans and others we know contributed to the success
of the New Waveland Cafe and Market. Let's start with The Big
Miraculous Generator That Changed Everything, the red and white tent
covering the kitchen that shows up in all the pictures, the innovative
sink setup that encompasses the soapy seas sailed upon by our merry
dish pirates in our dish pit, lots of other sundry equipment. But
we'd be no less thankful for our neighbors if they had brought
nothing. Their committment to and faith in the Cafe and crew,
regardless of how weird, never wavered. We have made new friends for
life.
Youth Initiative High School in Viroqua, WI, for sending us many
wonderful teenagers to cook us breakfast every day. They taught us a
thing or two about hard work and our own process. We also love them
all very much!
Sanderson Farms, for leaving a reefer truck full of chicken and ice
for the past six weeks.
The Generosity of the American People, without which, we would not
have experienced such bounty.
The Hancock County EOC and especially Mike Sweeney, who was able to
fit this round peg into a square hole.
FEMA, who ultimately pays for all of this (out of your pocket, I would
add) and the Red Cross, who made sure we never ran out of cutlery and
saved us a couple of times in our early days.
Everyone who kept us in their prayers, sent us donations of food,
stuff, cash, whatever.
All of the magnificent people who put their lives on hold, volunteered, and made this place so special. Specfically:
Gobble Gobble!
We had an awesome Thanksgiving feed, with a beautiful sit down dinner
for over 300 people. It was a fabulous run and everyone who
participated in the volunteering, the local residence of the Folberg
and Marigny districts of New Orleans, all the generous people who
donated food, time and money to the relief station and, most
importantly, to all those folks who were effected by the hurricane, we
love you all and wish nothing but health, peace and abundance for
everyone!
Special thanks to Deanne and Felipe (without whom there would have
been no relief station), Lynne, Sharon, Rex, Richard, Dave, Rob,
Patty, Dino, Matt, Krystal, Katherine, Rumi, Steph, Stepho (Team
Staphanie), Jimbo, Joey, Coral, Foxfire, Drake, Bam, Diamond D, all
the Food not Bombs folks, Ross, Maria, Saxaphone Joe, Tangela, Frank,
Eric, Mark, Leo, Alonzo, Theresa, Suzan, Penny, all the mid wives,
all the acupuncturists, massage therepists, musicians and circus
performers, and EVERYONE ELSE who I forgot (you know who I'm talking
to)! Also, many thanks to New Waveland Cafe for all the help and love
(we are family), Common Ground for all the support, solidarity and
continuing on in the relief and support, Mama D's, Shut up and Eat it
Kitchen, the National Guard, firefighters, and the local teamsters
union.
So, as you all my be guessing, we will be needing no more volunteers,
but, Waveland is setting up a relief station in Bernard parish, so
they will need volunteers.
Love to everyone and above all, peace, peace, peace.
Spirits are high, morale is strong and the visions of the station's future
have grown in powerful ways. The crew is rockin and rollin like the professionals they are, even though we are understaffed and physically taxed. We would love
to hear from the family, so e mail and boost our energy!
We have been also been interviewed by the Washington Post, L.A. Times, Free
Speech Radio(Democracy Now), NPR (All Things Considered: we will be on the air
today, maybe tomorrow), and several European, Indian and British newspapers.
If you are interested in supporting this solidarity movement, please send a
donation to us, care of Barefoot Doctors Academy.
Our love and hearts are yours as we help our family in New Orleans.
Turtle
The loose-knit coalition of groups known as 'the Rainbow Family of
Living Light', best known for their yearly 4th of July Rainbow
Gatherings at rotating locations throughout the country, have been
instrumental in the relief effort following Hurricane Katrina. The
mobile kitchen they founded in Waveland, Mississippi, the area hardest
hit by the storm, has been consistently serving 2,000 people a day
since its inception in early September.
In New Orleans, the Rainbow Family established a kitchen over a month
ago serving three meals a day to the homeless, nearly homeless, and
underserved people of New Orleans. A half mile away is a facility
with huge tents and serving areas set up by FEMA, but it is for FEMA
contractors only, and large signs posted outside say "No public
services available". In fact, FEMA has been very visibly absent in
the city of New Orleans, from their initial arrival five days late
to their inexplicable lack of public centers in the city itself.
The "Welcome Home Kitchen", as the Rainbow Family's Kitchen is known,
has been serving well over 700 people each day for three meals a day,
as well as providing free medical care, a distribution center of clothing
and supplies, a community bulletin board and information table, and a
sense of camaraderie that has brought smiles and hugs from people in
the most desperate of circumstances.
But now the Deputy Chief Administrative Officer of the New Orleans
Emergency Operations Center, Ms. Cynthia Lear, has declared that the
city will unilaterally shut the kitchen down on Wednesday, providing
no alternative and no resources for the underserved in New Orleans.
Ms. Lear has stated that there is no appeals process for this
decision, even though community members at the Fauberg-Marigny
neighborhood council meeting on Monday gave virtually unanimous
support to the ongoing work of the kitchen.
Please call ms. cynthia sylvan lear, the deputy chief administrative
officer of the new orleans emergency operations center at 504-658-2180
and Mayor Nagin at (504) 658-4924, Fax: (504) 658-4938 to express your
dismay that such a resource would be unilaterally dismantled by the
government while it is providing such an important resource for the
community.
If you don't already know, several kitchens, the
CALM/MASH unit from the gatherings and dedicated,
focused brothers and sisters came down to Waveland, MS
and shortly after, New Orleans, to set up a rainbow
emergency management assembly to give support and
relief.
There have been thousands and thousands of people
helped, and even more are on their way (in the case of
New orleans). However, the work is intense and
constant and our crew people can only go on for so
long. So, as a result, we are putting a CALL out to
you, our Family, for SEASONED, DEDICATED,HEALTHY,
RAINBOW SAAVY brothers and sisters, AND, functional,
MOBILE KITCHENS, to come down and HELP! The time is
NOW to take what we've learned from all those years of
Gatherings and put it into practise in Waveland and,
especially, New Orleans.
If you are one of those brave individuals who wish to
plug in, please R.S.V.P. at this email
turtlebambam@yahoo.com
or call this number 208 602 0909.
The need for mobile kitchens is solely for New
Orleans, as more people are returning to the city,
only to find that they don't have utilities, or simply
can't even live in their own home. So, they are
turning to us.
We need to set up several sattelite relief stations
thruout the hardest hit neighborhoods.
SOOOO, if you are wise in the ways of focalizing a
hygenic, large community kitchen, people who have the
ability to work people thru post traumatic stress
disorder, psychological councelors, social
workers,working at dessiminating and gathering
information (INFO. at the gatherings), have knowledge
about focalizing main supply at gatherings (i.e.
ordering and acquiring large amounts of supplies, or
are simply one of those kind, family members who just
knows how to plug in and fill in the holes when
needed, PLEASE CALL OR E MAIL! We can provide a place
to stay and food, if you are dedicated to being a full
time volunteer while you are down here.
Please remember that one of our greatest threats to a
peaceful and unified future being made for these
victims, indeed all of us, is apathy and complacency.
The time to exercize what we have learned from the
gatherings and the Earth is NOW!
Love and strength,
Much love. Local musicians and artists are trickling in to give back
and keep up the morale. this last week has brought support from
orgs. such as red cross and local religious groups, in the form of
donations. red cross volunteers continue to ask about transferring to
where the help is really being addressed! but thats a whole nother
letter.... our wish list grows so please ask in your contact, in
case you are coming down, what you you might have on
hand to bring. thank you all. much love.
MAYORS OFFICE 504 658 4900
We need your help and support now. Please call and forward on so that
others may call.
Everyday, more folks come seeking assistance. Soon,
this relief station is gonna outgrow this one square
block of park. It would be wonderful if other mobile
kitchens came down to New Orleans, cuz there is a
great need of satelite relief stations to be started
around other parts of the city. If there are some
mobile kitchens out there who are willing to come
down, please contact me at my e mail address.
There is a great need for tents, sleeping bags and
sleeping mats down here. Alot of people who are
suddenly finding themselves homeless when they return
to town.
Also, we need $$ donations in order to deal w/ one on
one cases concerning hurricane victims. Many need to
travel out in order to reunite w/ their displaced
families. Some need $$ to get their loved ones BACK to
New Orleans. Many need to get their medication
prescriptions filled. Things like this. Please donate
to the paypal link below.
http://tinyurl.com/7hnpp
Today was a difficult day for me. It started out at
breakfast when a young lady came in crying. She said
she was just released from jail and needed to get to
CO. to re unite w/ her husband and children. As we
were preparing to help her, she fell to the ground and
proceded to have a series of seizures for about 20
min. Had to call an ambulance, and spent the next 4
hrs. inthe emergency room. Finally got her on her
meds, got her prescriptions, got out of there and
commenced to hunting down a way to get them filled.
Ok, got that covered. Now, we head back to camp after
6 hrs have passed! I'm exhausted! And thats just one
person who needed help.
Anyhow, Keep all of us in your prayers. Remember, this
ALERT!
The relief station desperately needs donations to rent
port o potties! The port o potty businesses have
raised their prices drastically, today! All of them
are raising their prices, and we need 2 port o johns
for this station. Sooo, we need DONATIONS! If you
would like to donate via the internet, here is our
paypal account website http://tinyurl.com/7hnpp. If
you would like to send a postal money order (no other
substitutions, please), the address is:
Welcome Home Cafe
Everyone who donates will get, as a bonus, a warm,
fuzzy feeling inside, PLUS, alot of people in New
Orleans saying "we love youooooo"!
With many helpers at the station, we no longer need so
many people actually coming down here to help, as we
need folks donating that same $$ that would take you
to get here, and buy a bus ticket or airline ticket,
for a displaced New Orleans resident to return to New
Orleans. Or, simply donating to the Welcome Home
Relief Station would also work.
Update on the vet brother who had seizures in the camp
2 days ago. He is now working around the station,
cleaning. He even said a prayer at circle yesterday,
and it he thanked God that he was still breathing.
Pretty cool!
We finally got the grass in the park cut! First time
since the hurricane. Some folks trimmed and pruned
around the park and the result is quite pleasing.
It's been an uphill climb trying to deal with port o
johns and trash. The crew is really starting to get
the groove of running this station, and working w/
them is such a fullfilling experience.
The MO. Nat. Guard have started to hang out in the
camp and conversing w/ them and sharing space has been
a refreshing, eye opening time. They folks are just as
concerned w/ supporting this station as we are and
there are always many waves and smiles when they come
around. Welcome Home Cafe wishes them a safe journey
back to MO. while we welcome the LA. and TX. Nat.
Guard into New Orleans.
The energy was pretty intense today. First, we had a
veteran bro. fall down in a state of seizure. Took
alot to get the guy to start to breathe again. 911
was called and responded quickly. He turned out to be
alright, although we did find out he was mixing
phenolbarbitol w/ alchohol. Bad choice. He's doing
alright now and even joined the dinner circle for a
prayer. Then, a drum corp. parade came down the street
and straight into the square, where they entertained
us for dinner. Very rewarding!
The New Orleans Welcome Home Relief Station now has a
paypal account set up through The Barefoot Doctors
Academy. In 3 days you too may be able to donate to
the cause by internet. Simply go to the website that
Rob will provide and earmark your donation for
whatever part of the Relief Station you wish to
support (ie: kitchen, medical, travel, direct
donations to victims). We all appreciate ya'lls
concern and dedication to helping in whatever way you
can.
Well, I'll say good night and don't let the bed bugs
bite!
Today, we acquired 2 port o johns and one mobile hand wash station. This is an accomplishment!
Also, we were temporarily loaned 3 kwansit huts to shelter main supply
4 the kitchen, distributions and the medics. These huts are round,
longhouses made w/ pvc pipe and tarp (Very useful, as well as clean
looking). Awesome, large, cooking dishware and utensils were donated
to the kitchen, while we served grilled chicken to a record crowd for
dinner. The miltary soldiers are so sweet and love our little
station. They plan to drop off some boxes filled w/ stuffed toys.
Everyone who has responded to the relief we are doing down here have
been such supportive family, and we thank you all for the prayers and
wishes for the health and peace of the hurricane survivors. Soon, we
will a donation site where those of you who wish to donate via the
internet, can. It will be just a few more days. Meanwhile, more people
show up every day and it becomes clear that our relief effort here is
changing the lives of many folks.
Now, I gotta go to bed.
Also, we need a couple folks down here who are wise in the ways of
building foot pedal, hand wash stations. Perhaps anyone from the
Musical Veggie kitchen and camp? Call me!!
All is bumpin at the relief station. Many people being fed, showers
are working. We are trying to outreach into the local community in
order to find safe temporary housing for the folks who have become
houseless due to the hurricane. Deanne, and other people, are
communicating with churches all over the city, tyring to persuade them
to open their doors to this new "houseless" faction. More on this as
the days go on.
Dept. of Health rep. Mabel Pache came though the relief camp and loved
what she saw. Gave us the "thumbs up" and even brought a plate of food
to her mother. The Dept. of Health can't give us port o johns, since
they've sent all of them out, but the idea of renting them is being
tossed into the equation.
We had our 1st camp council last night. Alot of heartsongs and visions
came forward as we passed the talking stick around. It was beautiful
to see everyone speaking, without interuption.
More tomorrow.
It's clear to see that the people who visit the Welcome Home camp and
use the various facilities, are stunned by the efficiency and relaxed
atmosphere. Most people have been complaining of having a very
difficult time getting assistance from the Red Cross. There is such a
mess of red tape to get through in order to have any specific need met
that most people simply give up and go looking elsewhere. When folks
come into the park and realize they can have almost all of their
immediate needs taken care of here, the emotions and gratefullness are
overflowing! One brother, Rob, walked by 4 days ago, came in and ate 3
days ago, and told us that when he went to the Red Cross station to
find out what had happened to his wife and children (because he had
been out of town working), the lady told him that they had perished in
the flooding. Needless to say, he was devestated! However, today, he
ran in, w/ tears in his eyes, and announced that he has found his
family, unharmed, in another state. This is a prime example of the
kinds of issues people are dealing w/ on a consistant basis down
here. There are alot of people in need, however, there are just as
many, if not more, people giving assistance.
There is still no elecricity or running water in manyof the wards,
although the cafe has been connected to electricity through the lamp
posts in the square. Grocery stores and drug stores, in fact almost
all stores, are closed. Finding what you need in New Orleans is a very
hard easter egg hunt. But somehow, people are surviving.
Here at the cafe, it's time for lunch, and the folks are lining up for
a mess of red beans and rice. Frank says, "it's the best hot meal in
town. It's the only hot meal in town,and I love it"!
Tell ya more later.
The amount of people coming by for medical help or food has gone up
substantially over the last 24 hours as more and more people try to
return. A small cybercafe is brewing now that we have internet access
in the park. Another large tent, and hard-working bodies are still
needed. One small problem is getting to be our Rainbow friends that
are coming just cause they think it's a good scene, but don't actually
do any work. I want to emphasize that this is not a Rainbow
Gathering. Please don't come to volunteer unless you are ready to
work 16+ hour days. Please only come if your own health is good, and
you can be mostly self-sufficient. Everyone is working as hard as
possible, and it's obvious those who aren't.
Breakfast and lunch was so much nicer with the addition. Our food has been
good, but with not much variety. Now that we're mostly setup in New Orleans,
we have more crew coming in over the next few days. We did managed to
gain some new crew folks, as quite a few of the neighbors are coming
by now to help with the kitchen. More than a few have said they *really*
want to check out the Rainbow Gathering next year. Last night Dimond Dave
called, so we had fun passing the phone around. Arjay and Richard were
jamming out on guitars, and it was very nice and mellow scene. At lunch,
some of the local came in with an accordian, a saw, and some other weird
instruments, and played for the lunch shift.
Back here in Waveland, things are still cranking at high volumes. There is
a nice new medical tent here (they want our trailer :-), and still many
people. Somebody donated a "The New Waveland General Hospital" sign, and
the distribution center is as huge as always. There's a live electric Rock
& Roll band playing, and people are dancing. It's hard to believe I'm still
in the middle of a large disaster.
We had easily twice as many people in the kitchen today, all of whom
are now coming back home. We've started having to cook in shifts cause
we only had two burners. Tonight we managed to get another big propane
stove going, so tomorrow should be easier. None of us have seen any
green food since we left Waveland, so I'm craving some produce or
fruit. The neighbors claim our cooking is better than any of the local
restaurants from before the flood, so I guess we must be doing ok
anyway. Now that the medical trailer is setup, and the rest of our
supplies have shown up, we're ready for business.
We had the local cops (not the ones we dealt with the other day) stop
by for dinner tonight, so hopefully our relationship with them is
improving. They've been pretty hidden around here since our incident
earlier in the week.
We've now got our distribution area going, just in time for people
coming back. The shelters that were setup around the state are all
closing this week, so folks have to come home, assuming they have one
still... Now that we cleared the playground of all the debris, we had
children playing in the park today. The sounds of laughing children
having fun again is nice.
I just heard the teamsters are on their way with a semi-truck of
supplies! This small relief center is so different than the one on
Waveland. In Waveland, many of the local are pretty traumatized and
have nothing left. They really needed the type of support that's been
going on there for weeks. Here we're part of the neighborhood, and the
neighborood is supporting us so we can support them. We're all in this
together. It's an amazing experience.
Tomorrow our 22ft trailer shows up for the clinic, as well as the rest
of our medical supplies and staff. At that point we'll feel ready to
handle whatever comes our way.
People from the lower 9th Ward are still banned from returning to
what's left of their homes, so with noplace to eat, they're all glad
we're here. As people bring more and more stuff to distribute, one of
the locals is building a box and shelves for a distribution area. We
got a real medical area up and running today, although it luckily
hasn't ben busy at all. But if it does suddenly, we're ready now. As
the city and health dept gave us permission to be here, we have a
donated 22 ft trailer showing up in a day or so to use as a larger
medical clinic. Especially since our focus here is prenatal and young
children care, we needed a clean space. I hotwired the lamp posts in
the park for free juice, so we're powered up, without having to listen
to the generators all the time like in Waveland.
There's alot of tension now after the incident on Bourdon street from
the other night. Cops are more rare, and there seems to be many more
National Guard folks around. Course after our little excitement from
yesterday, we're glad to see em. Lunch today was amusing as we got a
shift of the local contracters working on restoring services and
cleaning up. So at one point most of our dining tent area as full of
hard hats, which was amusing. They said they've been barely eating
since they aren't FEMA or the Red Cross, so they've been on their own.
We've getting getting a mix of locals, fire-fighters, and national
guard folks today here at the kitchen, and have. treated a few people
for medical conditions already. We've also been getting a ton of help
from Food Not Bombs, and have connected with the Common Ground folks
setup in Algiers.
It's a bit unreal being here in New Orleans. Where we are now got
mostly only wind damage, so other than that, things look mostly
undamaged walking around if you ignore the piles of debris. Yet only a
few blocks from here in the lower 9th Ward there is still no power or
water as it was underwater. There are still people living on MREs, so
they're glad to see a free food kitchen.
We just got a semi-truck load of water and ice, which was really
welcome. Unfortunately the local police supervisor just came by to
evict us. I can't barely believe that here in a disaster area I'm
being harrased for not having a permit! After I got read the riot act,
they went after Dee Ann of Barefoot Doctor's Academy,. When they
refused to show their ID, and they had taken off their name badges
she told them to identify themselves using our PA system or leave!
About this time the local National Guard folks from Missouri that had
been by for breakfast and coffee talked to the officer and got him to
realize there was nothing he could do, and that he should leave. Which
he did! Pretty amazing. The Captain said everything was OK, and they
wanted us to feed and do medical care for folks, since nobody else was
in this area. Turns out the Red Cross serves only one meal a day, and
you better like sandwhiches... the same ones every day... Anyway, our
perimeter is now protected by the National Guard. :-)
Then another amazing stroke of luck happened. A semi-truck pulled up
driven by the Ohio Teamsters, chapter 20 (sorry if I got the number
wrong) full of bottled water! So then we unloaded 16 tons of water
with the teamsters and the National Guard. They've got us another
truck full of ice parked outside the park we're all setup in. Since
most of the restaurants aren't open yet, all the local workers come by
to eat lunch.
We also got alot of help today from the Common Ground folks in
Algiers. We were a little low on medical supplies after the morning, so
they brought me a large care package of boo-boo supplies. Several
locals had bad infected cuts that were days and weeks old, and we were
the first real care they got. The Common Cause folks also dropped me
off a box of 802.11b wireless gear, so tomorrow I'll be scouting out
rooftops to setup on and get the new Welcome Home Cafe cybercafe up
and online. :-)
The drive down rt 11 was depressing... The road was recently bulldozed clear
enough to travel, but many of the buildings are destroyed. Until you've seen
boatds in trees, cars parked underwater, and people wandering around picking
through the debris of their homes, you can't barely imagine this scene.
Tomorrow is opening day of the Cafe, so there is alot to do still. Although he
city gave us this park, we already had the chief of police evict us with 24
hours notice. We do have permission to be here, but it's the same ol permit
bullshit... Hopefully we can manifest the paperwork he craves... More info
later when I get the chance.
The Kiddie Village crew and Barefoot Doctor's Academy is setting up
this weekend in Washington Park in New Orleans. The city is lending
this park for a new relief center. The last few days have been mostly
cutting all the dead trees out of the way to make room for
everything. A crew of more medical and kitchen crew is heading to New
Orleans in the morning from here to help them get ready for opening
day on Monday. Food Not Bombs and Seeds of Peace is also helping some,
and fed the work crew clearing the park today. Everyone's invited to
the party if you happen to be in the neighborhood on Monday. (what's
left of it) Washington Park is in the upper 9th Ward, which got hit
heavily by the flood. Many people are starting to return to their
homes, so the new relief center is called the "Welcome Home Cafe". The
power and phones, etc... here are all still down, and probably will be
for awhile still.
Much of New Orleans and Waveland is pretty toxic from all the
pollutants that got released into the water from the refineries and
other nasty sources. Many of us are concerned about the long term
health effects on ourselves and the folks that live in this area. Many
people will obviously never be the same... We're forced to build
platforms to stay up out of the worst of it.
On a sad note, Arjay's dog Calvin died today after being very sick for
awhile, and after a ceremony, is now buried nearby in the woods. :-(
Blogs & Photo Galleries
Several people working at the Waveland or Welcome Home Cafes have
created blogs and photo galleries. I'm not sure if the photos can
convey the mass destruction, but it's a small view on what life is
like down there.
Print Media Coverage
Come September, Hurricane Katrina happened. One of the three dudes,
Ross, did Food Not Bombs for years in Hartford, CT and was like,
'yo, let's raise a ton of money and food and go down south and do our
part for a while.' And there was really no better idea we could come
up with since we had such a huge useful vehicle. So we ended up
raising a bunch of loot, food, and went down with some E.M.T. folks we
knew and jumped right in with a bunch of other Food Not Bombs people,
activists, Rainbow Family people (google 'Rainbow Gathering'), and
other assorted Nice Folks. A local copy of this article is here
Radio Media Coverage
You'll have to right-click to download these, but here's a colllection
of radio interviews about the Waveland Cafe and the Welcome Home
Cafe. The Indymedia interviews also have music mixed in.
Our Supporters
There are many groups helping with Katrina flood relief. I'm only
listing the folks that helped with our own two relief centers, but
wish to offer thanks to anyone not mentioned here that is helping
elsewhere. It's the support these diverse groups gave each other to
help the Katrina survivors that was truly amazing. If we could all
function together like this all the time, the world would be a better
place.
Nov 26: Update from Arjay
Greetings from Waveland! There is so much to be grateful about today.
Let me count just a few of the blessings that allowed the New Waveland
Cafe and Market to happen with such beauty:
It's a time for celebration here in Waveland. Thanksgiving for two
days followed by the Thanks for Giving Parade on Saturday. Then it
all disappears. I miss everyone already.
Thanks for Your Loving Support
Arjay Sutton
New Waveland CafeNov 26: Update from Turtle
Family and Friends,
The time has come, the last meal has been served and all the mardi
gras beads are being taken down. The relief station has closed it
doors as of yesterday, Nov. 25, due to not finding a suitable spot to
re-locate to.
Goodbye.
Turtle
Welcome Home New Orleans Relief Station
Nov 11: Update from Turtle
Greetings comrads!
Jeez! What a whirlwind of a week this has been for the ol' relief station!
Earlier in the week, the city, the Dept. of Parks and Parkways and the Mayor's
office, proceeded to give the relief station it's walking papers by declaring
that we had to be packing by Wed. or they were going to evict us. Well, they
obviously did not know who they were dealing with, and in less than 24 hrs, we
had flyers all over the 3 districts around us, a petition going around, a
protest going from the temp. city hall and all through the french quarter,
hundreds of residents calling city hall and our district rep. voicing their
distress and anger, media from all thru the city interviewing us and putting
uson the news as well as a cohesive solidarity group of local residents ready to
whip up serious dessent, should the need arise. After 3 days of this, the city
has backed the NOPD off of us and are starting to proceed w/ negotiations for
amore dulcit tranfer of the relief station from Washington Sq. park
to other possible grounds. So, bottom line, we've gained time and begrudging
respect from the city as we proceed to settle the station into a more
permanent+home in N.O. where the station will evolve on into an even more
community run station than now.Nov 8: Update from Jenka
The only kitchen serving fresh, nutritious meals to the people of New
Orleans east of Canal St. is being threatened with closure by city
officials.Nov 3: Update from Turtle
Hey all!
As Rainbow Family, I'm emailing you because there is
a serious need on the Gulf Coast due to Hurricane
Katrina and we need your help! Make no mistake, this
disaster is FAR from over and the hurricane victims
need our support more than ever.
New Waveland and Welcome Home Relief Stations
Waveland, MS & New Orleans, LA
TurtleNov 2: Update from Turtle
Greetings from New Orleans! Life is beautifull. We're busy as always,
and growing. Meal attendance is slowly rising as more and more come
home. We are asking for seasoned helpers for the kitchen and
camp. Please respond so that we know you are coming. There is limited
space for tents in this park for full time volunteers. We have also
begun pulling all night security shifts and need help there as well.
Politically, there are many things going on. A phone drive to call
city hall in support was started. I get the impression we out number
the hecklers by far. Ani Difranco even showed up to sign our petition!
the parks department showed to check us out; they were initially
sceptical but came around by the end- we need to provide a proposal
for our set up. local city meetings have brought a few citizens who
perceive us up in negative way, but the locals continue to say, "if
the welcome home cafe leaves, what will you set up in place"? that
seems to stop them in their tracks so far.
Welcome Home
Oct 31: Update from Turtle
Howdy all!
Hope all is well on your end. Down here in New Orleans we at the
Welcome Home Relief Station are having a bit of opposition.
You see, there are some folks who own houses around
the park. Nice, big, rich houses. They don't like our
relief station. They say we are dirty homeless people
and out of state folks who ned to go home or get jobs.
They don't like having to look out off their second
story balcony and see their picture perfect world
marred w/ the reality of people needing to be fed and
clothed. So, their trying to oust us. However, we have
PLENTY of resident supporters who are rallying in
response. If you are so inclined to call in support,
here are a few numbers to call:
DISTRICT C REP. Jaquelyn Clarkson 504 658 1030
Thank you,
Welcome Home Relief StationOct 27: Update from Turtle
Good evening family. Always busy, from sun up to sun down. It's just
one need after another.
trajedy is far from over.
Love,
TurtleOct 24: Update from Turtle
Things are jumpin in Washington Square! More and
more come to the station every day. Estimates range
from 400-600 a day (more on weekends). There is now an
herbal tea stand that will be cranking out herbal tea
around the clock.
p.o. box 330
828 Royal St.
New Orleans, LA. 70116-3199
TurtleOct 22: Update from Turtle
Buenos Tardes.
Hope all is well w/ everyone. Things are amping up
here in Washington square, w/ more people attending
meals and requesting help. So, we must tighten our
solidarity, while at the same time we must also keep
as low a profile as possible.
TurtleOct 19: Update from Turtle
It's late on Wed. evening, and it's go, go, go, all
the live long day. Get up, crack of dawn, cook breakfast. Clean, pick
up, haul water, answer questions, supply runs, etc. I got
to be careful not to run myself ragged, there's so
much to do! But it is so worth it! And not just me...everyone in the
camp has the same attitude.
TurtleOct 18: Update from Turtle
Greetings from Welcome Home Cafe In New Orleans! Recent update; the
cafe/relief camp is looking for a refrigerator truck. Can anyone help
us?! The donations coming in NEED to be refrigerated, otherwise we
cannot keep ice, meat, fresh veggies, etc. If you can fullfill this
need, please contact me, Turtle, at 208 602 0909.
Turtle
Oct 17: Update from Turtle
Howdy family!
Greetings from the Welcome Home Camp in beautiful washington square in
the 8th ward of New Orleans. The service to the people here is consistant,
rewarding and, above all, very necesary! More and more folks are
returning to the city, only to realize that they've lost their homes
and don't know where to eat or go to the bathroom. So, alot of people are coming
to the Welcome Home Cafe, looking for assistance. The kitchen is
serving hot meals, three times a day. Yesterday, the general count was
150-200 folks served. The Barefoot Doctors, in alliance w/ alternative
medical practitioners, are treating people 24 hours a day. With the
hard work of great brothers and M.E.F.U. (mobile emergency field
unit), we've just constructed 3 showers on the opposite end of the
square that will be suppling hot water and electricity off of a single
emergency field vehicle. They should be up and cleaning folks by the
end of the day. There are Mardi Gras parade decorations adorning the trees and bushes,
brought to us by the ward of St. Ann (and Jamba, the dumpster diving
goddess) and a circular tent in the center of the square that serves
well as a bandstand. The whole scene is turning out to be quite a
refreshing and gala affair. We are hoping to acquire 2 port a johns
with in the next few days, but the beauracracy is putting up a
fight.
Turtle
Oct 16: Update
Now that I'm back in Colorado for a little bit, my updates will have
to be second hand. Yesterday after I left the 1000 gallon an hour
water filtration system showed up. I had managed to set this equipment
loan up the week earlier, and then had to wait for it to arrive. It's
being setup by the fire station two block down the street right
now because they've got sufficient water. They're psyched, cause
nobody trusts the city water even though they've been told they can
drink it. Now we can purify the city water, plus the filtration system
comes with it's own water testing kit so we can independantly know
what's in it.Oct 14: Update from New Orleans and Waveland
I'm now currently back in Waveland for a night before having to fly back
to Colorado tomorrow afternoon. :-( We had twice as many people today that
are trying to return home. Last night Arjay delivered an entire crate of
organic apples and some produce from the Waveland Cafe. It was the first
real live food we've had for a week. We swarmed on the fresh apples
after getting them unloaded, and we're giving them mostly to folks
to take with them. Some of the Common Ground folks were here, so we
managed to send a care package to the Algiers clinic.Oct 13: Update from New Orleans
Today our donated medical trailer arrived from Oklahoma. Luckily I had
just finished clearing all the fallen branches and trees out of the
way so we could bring it in back gate in the park. It barely fit
through the gate. There wasn't much room to manuver, so we just had to
deal with it where it would go. I hotwired another lampost, so I sit
here in air-conditioned bliss typing. :-) Oct 12: Update from New Orleans
I'm sitting outside the medical tent using a wifi spot I found from a
local B&B. :-) Last night after my update things got interesting. The
local teamsters came by with two truck loads of food. Since there
headquarters is across the street, they've adopted us. Today they
brought several more trucks loads of supplies, like coolers for food,
more food, and a load of Red Cross boxes we can give folks that come
back to realize there is nowhere to go. We've been getting a steadily
increasing stream of people returning. Today the lower 9th Ward was
opened, but they are only letting people in to grab a few things from
the house, and then they have to leave.Oct 11: Update from Washington Square
Things are really starting to come together here now. We've got an
Info booth setup, banners hung, and "Free Community Kitchen - Free
Food" signs everywhere. We fed probably twice as many people as we did
yesterday. The National Guard is out hunting for some porta-potties
for us, as the ons that were nearby at the Fire Station are now
gone. We've become part of the neighborhood around here. The neighbors
are helping us with finding the things on our wish list, including a
disco ball! :-)Oct 10: Update from Washington Square
I'm sitting here in the "Welcome Home Cafe" in the 9th ward of New
Orleans. We had a great crew from the Waveland Cafe come down
yesterday and helped us get this new relief center going. We served
our first meal this morning, and just finished up lunch for
everyone. Right now we're being entertained by Saxaphone Joe, from
Kiddie Village's, New Orleans style Jazz band the Vipers. It seems
appropriate here a few blocks from the French Quarter, especially
since the band lives in this area as well. The local teamsters
(chapter 270) came through a little while ago with a front end loader
and some dump trucks, and we've managed to get enough of the downed
trees out of the way to have enough space finally.Oct 9th: Update from the field...
I'm sitting here in the French Quarter of New Orleans where I found free wifi
access. A bunch of us from Waveland Cafe came down with a large care package
to help get the Welcome Home Cafe up and going. Now that we've cut most
of the trees out of the way and made a space, we've got the beginnings
of the Cafe started, and we'll be focusing more tomorrow on the medical
part of our new relief camp. Food Not Bombs is also helping out alot at this
site.Oct 8th: Update from the field...
I'm sitting here in the new Waveland Cafe cybecafe via a Tachyon sat
dish. The larger crowds of earlier in the week have shrunk some, I'd
guess there were under 1000 people here for dinner right now. I was
talking to some Red Cross folks a little while ago that hadn't been
here yet, and they were tottally blown away and the efficiency of this
relief center. You'd have to be here to really see the destruction
from Katrina. Some businesses are trying to to reopen in tents next to
ruined buildings. It's a bit unreal to see folks pushing shopping carts
around the Wall-less Mart here containing everything they own now, most
of which they got after they arrived here with nothing but what was on
the backs.