Monday, September 1, 2008

Hurricane Gustav




Our family vacation plans to head to Destin for the week were sidelined by Hurricane Gustav:(. I must admit, I felt sad and inconvenienced. Boy, was I in for a lesson on what it means to be inconvenienced. Saturday evening, we learned that our church was going to become a Red Cross shelter for hurricane evacuees from New Orleans- that night! Not long after, 130 people arrived. Now mind you, these were the people that you probably saw on the news. People who had no other way to get out. If many of us were forced to evacuate our homes, we would load up our family and some belongings, get into our cars and go. This was not an option for these people. They were loaded onto buses, taken to the airport, and flown into Smyrna, TN (and for quite a few, it would be their first ever plane flight). From there, they were bused to their shelter at College Hills. So who had the real inconvenience? I am pretty sure God was telling me that it was not me!
Both the Red Cross and our church family have been very receptive of these special guests and have tried to have all the basic supplies they need. Many different agencies and local restaurants have been sending over meals. I felt very blessed to be able to go tonight and help serve dinner. Even in the face of adversity, the people were so grateful and in pretty good spirits. When I asked one man how he was doing he said that he felt "blessed". No one is exactly sure right now how much longer they will be staying (although I heard someone mention tonight that it may be at least 2-3 more days), but if you are interested in helping out, I know that the following things were needed: diapers (all sizes), socks, underwear, men's clothes (especially basics like T-shirts), and baby wipes (always useful for many things). If you are interested in donating anything, you can just drop it by the church at 1401 Leeville Pike in Lebanon, or let me know and I will get it there!

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