San Antonio

As most of you know, I decided to drive down to Texas to help with the hurricane response/recovery.

I left on Tuesday and drove 12 hours to the middle-of-nowhere, Texas. Wednesday morning I drove another 6-ish hours and arrived in San Antonio around 2 pm. I signed-up, got my official volunteer badge, received some "training" and then I was at the shelter for dinner that night. The shelter fed approximately 2000 evacuees ever meal (the number has dropped in the past couple of days, and will continue to as they are opening most of the evacuated areas). My main job is helping to feed the "clients" (as they're called), which is a continuous task. We often receive new arrivals in-between meals, so we're generally scrambling around trying to find food.

The shelter is divided into a day/dining room and three sleeping bays. It's located in an empty warehouse on a closed Air Force base, which accounts for its size. Below is a picture of one of the sleeping bays.

I was able to grab a cot at a shelter across the street from the evacuee's shelter where many of the responders (bus and ambulance drivers, firefighters, Texas Guard) sleep. I had my own FEMA cot, and as the numbers there began to decline, I was able to set-up my own privacy shelter.

If you look closely, you can see that I forgot a pillow, so I've been sleeping on my Peak7 sweatshirt. Unfortunately, operations at that shelter have been declining as well, so different sleeping arrangements have been made. I'm currently holed up in a local hotel until they can figure out if they have enough room for me (the shelter wasn't really for me, but because they had plenty of extra room, I wasn't a factor. I want to make sure I'm not displacing a responder by taking a bed in the new room). I needed the break - I woke up yesterday morning feeling terrible... I caught some sort of bug, so I needed to get away and get some real sleep. Once I beat this, I'll figure out my next move. Until then, I'm glad I no longer have to take a shower in a semi:

This has been quite an eye-opening experience. Because I've never lived through a destructive hurricane, I've always been insulated from the news reports. I felt bad for those whose lives were affected, but didn't have a personal understanding. I think that will be different from now on. The clients generally have no options other than the shelter. And when they return home, what little they had will likely be destroyed; they barely had enough to make do, and now they have to rebuild...

I certainly have been reminded how truly blessed I am - thank you to everyone who has helped me give back.