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Dan Gill
09-10-2005, 2:48 PM
Here's a pic of what I was doing this week. That's not me in the pic, but it's what I was doing before I cleaned off my hands enough to pick up the camera.

We took 22 people and a whole bunch of food, water, bedding, and toiletries to a church in Lafayette where they have been sheltering refugees and feeding about 300 - 350 people a day. On Tuesday and Wednesday a bunch of us went to Slidell, which is just on the north side of Lake Ponchartrain. The guy who took us said his house is 12 feet above the canal and the waterline in his place was over 4 feet high. We spent the time hauling stuff out of his house, and those of several of his neighbors, and mucking out the nasty, smelly mud. We killed two snakes inside one house (don't ask me what kind - they were very muddy and hard to identify, and many of us had shovels in hand). It was filthy, horrible, and totally satisfying work.

We also unloaded and loaded lots of food and water, cooked for refugees, and gave food out to people who had some kind of housing or were housing refugees. I'm dead tired and ready to go back.

If you slept under your own roof in a dry house last night, you should thank God for your blessings. There are millions who didn't.

Dan Gill

Steve Clardy
09-10-2005, 2:52 PM
Thanks Dan. I appreciate people like you willing to do those things for others.

Robert Watsek
09-10-2005, 4:20 PM
Thanks Dan. I appreciate people like you willing to do those things for others.


Dan, I have to echo Steve's thoughts and words.

Ken Fitzgerald
09-10-2005, 4:34 PM
Bravo Dan......Bravo!

Randy Moore
09-10-2005, 4:59 PM
Dan, :) THANK YOU.:)

YOU ARE A BLESSING.

Randy

Dennis Peacock
09-10-2005, 8:06 PM
Thanks Dan..!!!!! We're doing something like that here in Conway. We have about 400 refugees here in Conway and are taking care of them, helping them find jobs and try and establish some resemblance of life for them. THANK YOU for all you have done.

Jules Dominguez
09-10-2005, 9:48 PM
Dan, You're a good man.

Kevin Arceneaux
09-10-2005, 11:08 PM
Thanks for coming.

You coulda PM'ed me and let me know you were coming.

Jim Dunn
09-11-2005, 9:27 AM
Dan, thanks for helping those who have lost so much. Our prayers and good wishes are with all those who lost so much in LA.

Vaughn McMillan
09-11-2005, 6:07 PM
... It was filthy, horrible, and totally satisfying work...I'm dead tired and ready to go back.


I'm sure truer words have never been spoken. I wish I could be there help too. Thanks for what you're doing Dan.

- Vaughn

Jerry Clark
09-11-2005, 7:31 PM
Dan, You sure a treasure to the people and family-- Bless you for your effort to help those in need! :)

Carl Eyman
09-11-2005, 8:26 PM
Thanks, Dan, people like you are the salt of the earth.

Ernie Nyvall
09-11-2005, 10:50 PM
Dan, thank you for your service to the community.

Ernie

Dan Gill
09-12-2005, 11:24 AM
Thanks for coming.

You coulda PM'ed me and let me know you were coming.

I didn't think of that, Kevin. To be honest, I was unsure where we were going until the day before we left. I wasn't running the show.

If you want to lend a hand there in Lafayette, the Riverside Church of Christ is where I was based. They're feeding lots of folks and housing up to 70 a night. I'm sure they would welcome a hand.

One of the great things that happened there was meeting people who wanted to help. Many of the refugees wanted to give back right away, and we had one high school kid who just walked up and asked if he could help after school. He got a hearty "Yes!"

Dan Gill
09-12-2005, 11:30 AM
One more update. I appreciate your comments, folks, but that's not why I did this or posted about it. I just couldn't NOT do it, and I know there are lots of you who are doing everything you can, too. I found out today that the guy we were working with in Slidell finally found his business partner. That sort of thing is happening all the time.

I found out yesterday that our church and a relief organization we sponsor are going back, to Algiers, LA. That's just across the river from New Orleans. They mostly had wind and rain damage, and we're going to be repairing houses in one of the poorest parts of the area, in addition to feeding people and sheltering them. The military (sorry, don't remember what branch) is going to be setting up a medical triage next to us there. As of this time, there are no relief agencies working this area.