Mardi Gras, volunteering

What a great day!

The secret to why I love volunteering so much? I meet the best people. Anybody who gives up their only days off in a month to come sit at a Red Cross tent - they're good people. I spent my day with a guy who works in a refinery and another who works for FEMA and is away from his family 50 weeks of the year.

We met at the Red Cross headquarters at 8:30 this morning. The headquarters aren't functioning, they just use the parking lot. The building was badly flooded and gutted but useable. The ERVs (Emergency Response Vehicles) were there - and by the way, they were mostly purchased by the Kuwaiti government who also promised to pay to construct five Gulf Coast Red Cross branches - which won't flood. Which seems a reasonable stipulation, but it means it can't be built in New Orleans - so, no headquarters now. Between the Kuwaitis and Qatar, the Middle East has been a huge support throughout disaster. And I seem to recall Jordan helped out, too. Probably. Jordanians rock.

We got the ERV ready and then I got called to a third station instead. So we waited and waited for an ERV from somewhere else. We got it loaded up and rolled out. Got to Lee Circle and I went on a coffee hunt, calling Tami & Ahmed who were able to direct me to the nearest PJ's, for which we were very grateful.

People were lined up for the parades already, barricades in place. The EMS guy came over and introduced himself, which was the last time I saw him because they kept getting called to emergencies starting with an elevator emergency - 9 trapped and 2 unresponsive. Hope that turned out ok.

I'll do a different post about the parades - they were AWESOME.

There weren't a lot of people there, and we got two band-aid requests and that was IT.

The thing is, that didn't bother me, to be sitting around not doing anything. I enjoyed the people I was stationed with, and we got to see the parade (though not close enough to snag beads) and people watch. And we were there in case somebody did need us, which is valuable volunteering. And it was a nice change from a frenetic pace - just chilling. And people are so darn friendly to me when I'm in a Red Cross vest. Unfortunately PJ's didn't give us free coffee, but I can't ask for everything.

Tonight will be really, really busy - there was already a considerable amount of drunkenness and a ton of ladders that people climb up to catch beads. They make little platforms for their kids - and last night somebody dropped their little daughter who fell hard and embedded a bead in her forehead. OUCH.

I go back tomorrow for more fun in the early evening. The only bummer is that I was really cold. I asked Susan to mail me my winter gear that I left at her house in Oregon, but since I asked her yesterday it's clearly not here yet.

And I am going to be a Disaster Volunteer. I knew it as soon as somebody said they needed a gallon of hand sanitizer and asked me to find an extra in the ERV. I found it in short order because everything's well-stocked and organized. Organized hand sanitizer? I'm so there. I don't know how well that will work out with my schedule, but I'll try. Another volunteer came over and chatted with us and talked about how the volunteer base was decimated with Katrina, so there's a real need. What, a need? I'm so there.