Anyone volunteering for Gulf cleanup?

“My employer (Soc. Sec. Admin.) is asking for volunteers for clean-up. I believe FEMA is looking for any active Fed; I don't know if SSA is looking for people for local office cleanup or to put us on the general FEMA detail. I put my name on the list - I'm between big projects right now, I'm healthy and capable, so it would be selfish of me to twiddle my thumbs at my desk for the next month or two when I could be down there helping. Once I get details from the higher-ups I'll make my final decision.

If I do go I'll post my location so I can coordinate messages or other help if anyone here on TT needs a local contact point for local relatives/friends.

Anyone else going down?”

“And just what the f#%k does that have to do with volunteering to help? Don't be a prick.”

“I think they were just wanting everyone to know they are a fuktard...

I hope everyone who wants to go gets a chance to do so. I feel so heartsick when things like this happen because I just want to jump a plane and go there to offer help but can't.

good luck everyone.”

“I'll drive over and pick you up Nigal and we can head down there. I feel the same way.”

“If I had time off
I'd be there in a flash. :(”

“Ditto!”

“I work for a county health department, and we were asked to staff Red Cross shelters after one disaster. I went. I've already told my boss and my boss's boss that I want to help again. The big boss seemed certain we would be asked, but I've heard no more.

Techntrek, I think you will be glad you offered. And so will a lot of other people.
last edited: 9/08/05 10:20:12 AM”

“For those of us who can't go we might want to look into helping locally to replace those who did go. ??”

“wannabp - I hope so. I'm preparing myself mentally for the images of devastation. Its a car wreck on the side of the road that I don't want to see. But if I must, I will.

nigal - not a bad idea.”

“some of us at work are trying to get some comp time off as we speak.”

“I volunteed with the Red Cross -- from what they tell me and from what I hear from other sources, you're discouraged from going down there lone wolf. There are lots of orgs to volunteer with -- I just happen to pick the Red Cross. I'm leaving in just a couple of days on a 21 day deployment helping them staff shelters and whatever else can be done.

Chances are, you won't have to go very far for a volunteer opportunity to help some of the evacuees out -- they are being put in shelters all over the country, and there may be one near you!”

“techntrek, I am on the redcross waiting list with 600 others. I contacted Chuckd another TT who mentioned they needed some help so I am headed down for 8 days at the end of the month to houston to pitch in. I am trying to get my doctor, dentist coworkers and church to pitch in some money and stuff to bring with me. I figure I am allowed 100lbs of luggage and hope to take advantage of every last ounce of space. The salvation army is also looking for help.”

“Techntrek, maybe the work will be so all-engrossing that the other stuff will not hurt so bad.”

“I'm still waiting to hear if I can get three weeks unpaid leave to go over there with the Red Cross. It's not so much "cleaning up" the Gulf, but working with the housing and feeding for displaced folks in need. I sure hope I can go. I'm sure most of us would go and assist in person if possible.”

“but people that are paid to do the clean-up aren't volunteers, are they?”

“wingding, sorry, I must be confused, I was just stating what my Red Cross volunteer duties would be. I'm not sure what is entailed in the actual "clean-up" of the Gulf and I would suspect that would take more trained personnel due to the hazards, but I don't know.”

“And just what the f#%k does that have to do with volunteering to help? Don't be a prick.”
techntrek
10:14:18 AM

I agree TnT. I was asked to volunteer today to go down as a Verizon tech to bring the comms back up. Ya know when there's an urban myth of snipers taking shots at Telephone techs, plus the diseases,the amount of thought that goes with this decision is weighty for anyone.

It's impossible for the human brain to simultaniously think about two distinctly different things.

Obviously there is a thankfully small minority in this country whos heart and mind are filled with bile and couldn't think benevalently if their life depended on it.

God bless anyone who decides to go and prove to them why we live in the greatest country on the planet.”

“DItto to the folks who are seeing the real need to help people get out of the mire and back to lives again. A friend of mine is a psychiatrist who specializes in disaster counseling. Helped with 9-11 and is on the way to Houston to help victims and rescuers with the trauma.

Lots of local places have needs for volunteers to care for the folks who have been transplanted into their communities. Take a look around.

If I had an apartment complex with empty units, I would HAVE to make them available just in good conscience.

Go Trekkers Help where you may.
http://www.mytrekkingpoles.com”

“Glad to hear there are others who are ready to go, too. I pray for all of us.

I read an article yesterday (online) which linked to a request for help from Dept. Homeland Security employees. It was a copy of the actual paper letter. They are asking DHS employees for a 30-day deployment. Wow, that would be a commitment. I still don't have details from my agency.”

“Our company is seriously considering a satellite office nearby.

Lots of short-term and long-term work to be had...It's simply a money-making venture.”

“I guess it just depends on how you define the word "volunteer". I always thought of volunteering as something that one receives no monetary reward for, but they do receive other rewards such as a good feeling in their heart.

When someone is reassigned from their present job to help, is that really volunteering? I think it's great that people are willing to work in the disaster area, but I don't really look at that as volunteer work.”

“my company is sending a few people down to our sister shelter Animal care & control. I can not go because I am still training :(

the dogs are a huge issue. they are now forming packs and roaming all over the place and getting more wild everyday!


I would go in a heart beat!”

“why dont the gators and cottonmouths eat the dogs?”

“is that really volunteering?
wingding0
7:58:13 PM
9/09/05

IMHO anytime a sacrifice is needed someone needs to step up to the plate. Family, working 16/7 and doing specialized work noone else can do. Excuse me but, they are asking me to work in a disease infested area and live in a tent for a month. Not see my wife or kids in the midst of my sons first year of HS football. I can honestly say, money is not the concern. The first thought (as I'm sure ENS can attest) was a)How many hikes am I gonna miss, and b) I wonder if there are any cool places to hike? : )”

“Wingding, I think it's called volunteering because they ask for people within a work setting to volunteer to go. No is made to do it. When the LA earthquake happened, the Red Cross asked for public health nurses from CA Health Departments to staff the shelters. In my work setting, we were asked if any of us wanted to "volunteer" to go.”

“President's Approval Rating Dips Below 40

By WILL LESTER, Associated Press Writer Sat Sep 10, 8:37 AM ET

WASHINGTON -
President Bush's job approval has dipped below 40 percent for the first time in the AP-Ipsos poll, reflecting widespread doubts about his handling of gasoline prices and the response to Hurricane Katrina.

Nearly four years after Bush's job approval soared into the 80s after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, Bush was at 39 percent job approval in an AP-Ipsos poll taken this week. That's the lowest since the the poll was started in December 2003.

The public's view of the nation's direction has grown increasingly negative as well, with nearly two-thirds now saying the country is heading down the wrong track.

"As a nation, we are pretty well stretched," said Barry Allen, a political independent from Reed City, Mich. "I approve of some of the things the president has done, and disapprove of others. Overall, I disapprove."

Allen said he liked some of Bush's economic steps during his first term but has been dissatisfied with the president's economic moves in his second term, his
Iraq policy and his handling of gasoline prices.

Allen worries Hurricane Katrina has taken the wind out of an economy that was moving in the right direction.

With gasoline racing past $3 a gallon, Bush's standing on dealing with those prices may be one of his biggest problems — seven in 10 said they disapprove.

And just over half in the poll, 52 percent, said they disapprove of the president's handling of the hurricane.

For Bill Kane of Kingsland, Ga., the government's slow response to the hurricane "was terrifying to see in our own country. It made you mad, because it made you think where's our money going?"

More evidence of problems with the storm response surfaced Friday when the
Federal Emergency Management Agency announced it would discontinue a 2-day-old program to issue debit cards worth to displaced families.

The administration also dumped FEMA Director Michael Brown, who had come to symbolize the stumbling early days of the hurricane response, as commander of Katrina relief efforts.

Brown once served as the judges and stewards commissioner for the International Arabian Horse Association.

"Bush puts people in jobs who don't know what they're doing," said Shirley Carignan, a retiree and a political independent from Weymouth, Mass. "I think he's picking friends for these jobs. My girlfriend raises Arabians. You know horses, so what? Horses and people are different things."

The number of people who think the country is on the wrong track grew from 59 percent last month to 65 percent this month. Tumbling consumer confidence after Hurricane Katrina may be contributing to that sense of pessimism.

The RBC CASH Index, based on polling by Ipsos, showed that consumer confidence sank in September to the lowest level since early March 2003 before the start of the Iraq war.

Economic woes and a continuing war in Iraq have been complicated by the continuing hurricane recovery crisis.

"A lot of Americans don't pay attention to their leaders on a day-to-day basis," said Robert Blendon, a public opinion analyst at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. "They measure presidents, governors and mayors on how they handle big events like a hurricane. This event is not over because the bodies are going to be discovered day by day."”

“click”

“habitat for hummanity is working on getting volunteers lined up for future work in the gulf coast...www.habitat.org”

“Please don't hijack this thread. Post your own with an apropriate title, like "I like to mindlessly bash Republicans" or "I don't have an opinion, I just post other peoples Crap"”

“Dear Catskhiker,
“Please don't hijack this thread. Post your own with an apropriate title, like "I like to mindlessly bash Republicans" or "I don't have an opinion, I just post other peoples Crap"”
jackstraw
2:09:23 PM
9/10/0”