7-7-7

Sept 29th
Seven am to Seven pm, seven days a week.

Well I'm on day 8 of 12+ hrs a day. I'm not whining...but I am dragging today a bit. We're hearing some of the stories from Bridge City where the damage was pretty horrific. I haven't seen it personally, but we will get out there soon. I spoke with a woman who's house was completely flooded...mudded is more like it.

These folks are on the beginning of a long road to recovery. It will be months...maybe a year until they can rebuild. The beginning is dealing with insurers, registering with FEMA, bank issues, mortgage issues, finding a place to live until their houses are rebuilt/repaired. Many of them are housing relatives and friends (and neighbors they don't really know in some cases, bless their hearts). They're tired and frustrated and frazzled. Some will cry at the drop of a hat, but somehow they don't lash out at us. Sometimes they do a little, but they always rein it in and apologize. That amazes me. Most of these folks are beyond nice to us. I don't know if I'd be that nice to me if I were in their situation.

Today Thomas and I visited a dozen or so churches...they are doing great work for their communities as they always do. They help us get the word out about registering and make our job easier. One place was ramping down their shelter...the Southern Baptist Convention folks were out with the Chainsaws in that area...they are some neat people...'the chainsaw ministry' I've heard it called. They are trained at debris clearing and they do a GREAT job.

Tomorrow we're doing a town-hall meeting for Exxon Mobil in Beaumont. Their employees are coming to hear us talk about FEMA benefits, etc. Hopefully they'll be as nice to us as everyone else has...I'm sure they will.