"Camp Covington" in LA, our Vets For Peace are in charge!

[anarchy1999]

These people are doing an amazing job. You can also feel really good giving donations to them and sending the items they need. This is a group of strictly 100% volunteers making sure everything goes to the community and aid, no one making any big salaries or staying in nice hotels or arguing about who to blame and what to do. They are also helping these people to stay in Louisiana or get to where they need to go. They aren't being shipped out to Phoenix, DC, Utah and heaven only knows where else.

Don't forget, they were the first to arrive on the scene and when FEMA finally did get there, FEMA wanted them to leave. The RED CROSS said no, if they go we go. So now look at how much they have managed to accomplish.
Peace, anarchy1999


Casey III, day five: Four cities Five Days

Red Cross was working on the internet getting people recognized when I woke this morning. The Bus has become an information portal, a reunion vehicle, and an office and home in the past five days. We are stretching out a little. We are establishing a cover for people to use the internet outside of the bus, and we are awaiting the arrival of equipment to establish permanent internet access for the shelter we are covering at this time.

We have been told that it is inappropriate to call for equipment and funds to establish technological gear in these parishes. I hope everyone knows where we are working, the infrastructure for the work we are doing was not here. We are not sending out daily updates from a coffee shop. We are working from a 1977 Gillig Bus, that has thousands of dollars of modern technology on it. This is how we are making this mission happen. We need to duplicate this model. We are a four man crew, who picks up help along the way. There are a lot of communities who need to have basic needs attended to. This equipment was borrowed, begged, and paid for with donations that we have collected. And now we are intending to duplicate this model, and leave these communities armed with the appropriate technology to get people stabilized. Do not worry about the gear, we are leaving it here.

Today we had a nice stream of arrivals. I did not get a look at James photos today, and we are hoping to start posting them soon. Gary, from www.plenty.org came in with another load of goods. James left with Gary and Ralph from the Plenty.org crew, and set off to pull some more people out of the swamp. If you want that work, it looks like James is going to stay on point in the struggle to keep people from dying in the toxic soup of New Orleans.

I got to talk with Paul, from www.plenty.org, he arrived with Lenora, Katherine, Kara, Ralph and Gary. Plenty Inc., is over thirty years old and has been involved in disaster relief for as long. We are honored they arrived with such urgency and we are happy to say we will be working with them to assist the people in need after Katrina.

Scott Johnson and Ben Breneman showed up today, and all I can say is, "thank goodness."

Here is what these guys pulled off: They brought in a great deal of supplies. After we got settled, they broke camp with a truck load of supplies headed for Bogalusa. First attention to this community, and the connection also allowed us to look North for other under attended parishes. We see Franklinton and Slidell in the sights for tomorrow.

Jaime took a hill full of goods in her truck to Folsom. Most of the goods were distributed, and we can say we believe Folsom is weathering the storm safely. If you hear differently please let us know at www.vfproadtrips.org/Katrina on the message board.

Reunions are starting, people are coming to this shelter at Pine View Middle school from East Louisiana, the stories are not pretty.

The daily distribution at Reverend Peter Atkins park continues in Covington, and today a shelter was recognized in Hammond. Craig stopped by and told us they needed toothbrushes and paste where they are housing two hundred evacuees. We gave them what we had and expect to have more provisions for them tomorrow.

We have distributed every day in Covington, twice now in Folsom, today we introduced ourselves to Bogalusa and Hammond. Four cities in Five days.

Andrea and Jeff, arrived this evening with a load of supplies they have collected since departing Camp Casey. With a van and a trailer in tow they set up camp. They are the fourth vehicle we have to perform distribution. This is going to be a major part of the infrastructure is the volunteers to drive and distribute. Many people say the shelters are served. OK, but not everybody is homeless, so they are not at the shelter. They, too, need these supplies.

Andrea and Jeff are from the 9th Ward, New Orleans. Not knowing what kind of shape their house is in. Looks like James will get into the city with them tomorrow and we are hoping to establish that as the vein to feed the people in that region.

So, if you want to meet Southern Louisiana, bring some supplies to this ditch and we will have a guide take you out to distribute yours and other provisions we are having sent as I write.

Gordon took some video tape of the kids here at the shelter and the young man with cystic fibrosis loves the camera and wants to be a videographer. Community is being established between the sheltered and the volunteers.

The bus is back from New Orleans, Gary from www.plenty.org reports that:

Subcontractors are already here and locals are out of a job.

There are a lot of people around who need immediate help, just a bottle of water or sandwich to get them down the road, Gary and the crew took a full bus load of water and goods and came back empty, they were able to stop in three communities. Food was distributed, In the Garden District, and French Quarter, as well as the Convention Center.

Five Cities, Five days, the food is getting out, the food is needed. We need your help.

We are calling on the world to come here and help.
Go to the message board and let us know what you think we should do, http://www.vfproadtrips.org/katrina

http:// www.denniskyne.com
Support the Truth

Veterans For Peace Chapter 116 is going just that!

Location:
Pine View Middle School in Covington, LA.
1115 West 28th Street Covington, LA. 70434

Services:
We are providing food, water, shelter, transportation, and supporting the Red Cross and the refugees. They have come from Slidell, New Orleans, inside Covington and other areas to the Pine View Middle School for help.

Actions:
We have gone into New Orleans and Pulled people out. We have distributed several tons of goods and needed services directly to the people of the effected areas.

We have set up a Food Bank, Volunteer Camp, And Satellite Media Hub right next to the School. We use this as base camp to bring in volunteers & supplies from all points. We then organize it and distribute it into the communities we can reach.

Resources:
We have limited power, but we have more generators on the way.
We have access to bathrooms with portable Johns coming.
We have real cooking facilities and shower (1).
We have wireless Internet access with more one the way.
We have some cell phone service and it is improving.
We have millions of people ready to help!
Do We have you?

Our mission:
#1 Do No Harm
#2 Support Each Other
#3 Feed The People
#4 Shelter The People
#5 Give To The People
#6 Rebuild Our Lives
#7 Rebuild Our Cities
#8 Rebuild Our Shores
#9 Reclaim Our Humanity
#10 Learn From Our Mistakes

CALL TO ACTION:
Who Wants To Help?

We need trained Volunteers! NOW!

We need Food, Water, Supplies, and Equipment, Transportation and Shipping.

More will be posted as people sign up for jobs in Camp Casey Covington, LA. When jobs are filled by Volunteers They will post updates needs lists and give their comments as to the results.

There is no time to waste, the storm clouds are returning, Thunder is rolling, the rain is falling and people are dying.

We have set up a permanent Camp Casey at the Pine View Middle School, 1115 West 28th Street, Covington, LA. We are supporting The Red Cross with power and medical supplies and kitchen service, food bank, and distribution and Internet communications and trained medical personnel.

DROP OFFS
Volunteer Kitchen, Food Bank and Distribution Center
Pine View Middle School
1115 West 28th Street Covington, LA. 70434

UPS & FEDEX
Veterans For Peace Chapter 116 C/O
645 Kimbro Drive, Baton Rouge, LA. 70808

We are using the school to support Veterans For Peace hurricane relief efforts from Covington, LA. for the people of the region.

This petition is to the US government to open closed military bases to house the Hurricane victims- please sign and pass on.

Sign the petition

www.vfproadtrips.org

[Generic Other]

1. Letter from Michael Moore soliciting help for the vets!!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4678300

[Karenina]

2. WOOOO-HOOOO!!!

:woohoo::woohoo::woohoo:

[nofurylike]

3. outstanding! thank you so much anarchy1999, for ALL you do! eom

[anarchy1999]

8. Thank you for the thanks, but I really do so far less than so many others,

but that is what makes it work, if we will just all do what we can, some more and some less, then magic happens.

Peace

Help to spread the word on what our Vets for Peace are doing. This is not just in Covington, Vets nationwide are helping to support this effort.

[nofurylike]

9. you do so very much! and yes, will do, spread the word!! eom

[anarchy1999]

4. A couple of letters from a VFP member from Arlington West that is

helping to support Camp Covington and was on the bus when they took Cindy to Crawford. This trip he had to stay home.

Subject: Why Camp Covington?
Sent: Wednesday, September 7, 2005 4:37 AM

Why did we get a New Deal?

If you look at the mood of the leaders in the USA in the 1920s, it wasn't on the agenda. When people lost their homes and farms in the early 30s, they gathered in Hoovervilles. There they learned to help one another and to share their meager resources. It was out of the Hoovervilles that the labor movement grew. In the Hoovervilles the people organized and became strong. When they helped one another they became strong. When FDR created the work camps the process continued.
As the Chinese say, in crisis is opportunity.

Now, in this current crisis, are the seeds of change. The government has created confinement camps, where the New Orleans displaced wil be kept and cared for by the government. I am told they are guarded by armed guards and barbed wire. The camps are far flung, almost all in the opposite direction from Washington, DC....places like Phoenix.
Only in Louisiana are the evacuees allowed to organize and help themselves, and primarily around Camp Covington. This is why Camp Covington is so important...because it is not government or a non profit organization, it is people helping people.

In hope, Lane

FOR MORE ON CAMP COVINGTON GO TO http://www.vfproadtrips.org/


>Dear Friends,

Cindy Sheehan, Gold Star Families For Peace, Veterans For Peace and
Military Families Speak Out were on their way to DC when the White Rose, the VFP bus with the southern route made its way into Covington, Louisiana, a community near New Orleans that is full of working class refugees from Katrina. They have set up a kitchen, clinic and communication center in Covington, which had no electricity or phone service...not even celphone...before they arrived.

The trip to DC was to ask for answers from George W. Bush about why so many Americans had to die because of his rush into an unnecessary war in Iraq. Now it seems that there are thousands of New Orleans refugees that would also like to ask him questions...questions like why were the Louisiana Guardsmen and their equipment involved in the Iraq quagmire when their own families and communities needed them? And why did the Bush administration transfer funding for the US Army Corps of Engineers reconstruction of New Orleans flood control pumps, levees and facilities to projects in Iraq? And what about the oil industry's complicity in the destruction of the wetlands that would have protected New Orleans from Katrina? Certainly Cheney should be able to answer that!

So now that Bush and Cheney's senseless rush to war in Iraq has caused the death of countless more Americans, lets invite them all to come to DC with us to camp on the White House lawn and demand answers from George W Bush and Richard Cheney, the NeoCon Artists who misled us into the war! Let's do our best to transport each and every New Orleans refugee who wants to go to DC! Lets supply them with food and care that the government should have provided. As I figure it, that may mean about 100,000 pissed off cajuns who demand answers to join the thousands of veterans, military families and concerned citizens. Lets keep the buses moving with the donations that roll in....the refugees must go somewhere...what is more appropriate than having them on the White House lawn?

It is time to demand those answers!

In solidarity, Lane

******************************************
As we peer into society's future, we-you and I, and our government must avoid the impulse to live only for today, plundering, for our own ease and convenience, the precious resources of tomorrow. We cannot mortgage the material assets of our grandchildren without risking the loss also of their political and spiritual heritage.

President Eisenhower's Farewell Speech 1961

Santa Barbara Vets For Peace www.vfpsb.org
International VFP www.veteransforpeace.org
Vietnam Veterans Against the War www.vvaw.org

[anarchy1999]

5. If you are in California (especially South) it may be easier to help here:

(note to mods, I have permission for names and numbers to be posted)

We are doing our thing here in California in case you haven't received our emails. We have two vans full of goods caravanning to Covington on Friday, they were going to leave one today and one on Friday, but safer (in case of vehicle problems) for both to go on Friday. We are in process of raising the funds for the gas and food for drivers now. We need about $10,000 to start and more as we make more trips and right now we are at an amazing $2300.00. People don't realize how much it costs to drive down there, about $2000 in gas round trip for one van loaded with goods. We have enough for one van so far. We also have a semi truck coming to Covington on the weekend with goods collected from 22 high schools and junior highs in Anaheim Union High School District thanks to the Superintendent, Mr. Joe Farley and a board member there, Mrs. Denise Reinking. Without there help this miracle wouldn't be happening at the level it is. Mrs. Reinking was able to get the semi truck donated including the drivers, we pay for gas, etc which amounts to between $4,000 and $5,000 loaded down, round trip of course.

Fortunately, in case you hadn't heard, one of the vans is only going one way, as a chapter member of ours who was donating it to the chapter to sell for funds for our treasury has decided, along with the chapter to donate it to the Camp Covington group to use for whatever they see fit. It's in perfect condition and afterwards, the guys there can decide on a family to give it to permanently for free. So that van will be half of the cost of the other.

Sally Marr and Peter Dudar sent a 500 gigabyte hard drive, brand new in the box for the guys to help with their system. DeDe Miller, God bless her pea pickin heart, drove to Los Angeles, picked it up at Sally's and brought it all the way down here to Mission Viejo to go in the vans.

Just heard another note from Dan on the cell, Senior Reverend Michael Barta of the Johnson Chapel AME Church in Santa Ana is allowing us to use their facility their as a staging area for people to bring goods or donations to. The pastor and his wife Linda are friends and obviously ready to help wherever needed. This will be open to drop offs starting Wednesday or Thursday morning. Please give us a call if you need to drop off things so we can get our volunteers there and so the church knows people are coming. Once things start to roll in we'll have some regular hours for drop offs. The church is located at the corner of West 2nd and Bristol in Santa Ana, 1306 West 2nd Street.

So we are really excited, the phones are ringing almost non-stop, people all over the country are sending money and now we have a direct deposit ability with Bank of America. Anyone who would like to help funds the vans and the semi truck coming to Covington may go into any Bank of America in their area, make the check payable to: Veterans For Peace, Chapter 110 Orange County, fill out a blank deposit slip to Acct #0992440990.

If you would prefer to mail your donations, please make check payable as above and send to:
Veterans For Peace Chapter 110 Orange County
c/o Dan and Kathie Kelly
23701 Via Navarra
Mission Viejo, CA 92691

So that pretty much catches everyone up, I hope. If you need more info or have any questions, feel free to call Dan or Kathie (that's me) at [phone] or [phone] or [phone], the later being cell phones.

We love you all for the support you have so graciously given to this project, much more is needed. If you haven't received the lists from Covington as to the needed products, let me know and we will send it to you. Otherwise, pretend you are in your front yard and cannot go into your house, with your children and relatives....what would you need to survive?? No used clothing or goods whatsoever. Refer to our previous emails for list of things to bring, except you can leave off any of the camera equipment that originally was requested. We here at Chapter 110 decided there are so many other things needed for the people there that filming the event is last on our list of priorities. There are live people there who can testify to the goings on, we'd rather spend the money for the people.

Again, thank you all for helping to make this miracle come true and for your continued partnership with Veterans For Peace.

Peace to us all and God bless and keep each and every one.........
Kathie and Dan Kelly
Veterans For Peace, Chapter 110, Orange County, CA

[WolverineDG]

6. a kick & a recommendation

hi anarchy!!! keep up the good work!! :) :loveya: to you & the vets!

dg

[anarchy1999]

7. Hey there sweetie! Spread the message to all you know.

I think it is important for everyone to know that every dollar donated is going to support. No salaries being paid, strictly volunteers. I wish I could be there with them, but I'm stuck for a couple of weeks.

Peace,
s

[WolverineDG]

11. no problemo!!

I copied & pasted your post into an email to office colleagues. We'll see what happens. :) My schedule right now is too tight to allow me to run off for the weekend (too many Friday morning court sessions dammit), but I will kick in some aid. Have you notified Countdown yet?

dg

[WolverineDG]

24. When you get a break

check your PM!! :) Haven't heard back from the person I sent the info to, but that's probably due to the time differences. :loveya:

dg

[anarchy1999]

10. kicking up

Hope someone can help keep this info up and nominated.

[DoYouEverWonder]

12. Do they need clothes?

I've got lots of t-shirts that are misprints of slightly defective that I can send. Just let me know if they can use them.

Thanks.

[anarchy1999]

14. I'm sure they can.

You can reach them directly at the camp on their blog, or just go ahead and drop ship to the Baton Rouge address, include a note telling what they are. Thanks.

blog address is:

http://www.vfproadtrips.org/katrina/

[DoYouEverWonder]

15. Great

I'll send a load out tommorrow.

Peace
DYEW

[anarchy1999]

16. Be sure to include in your note who and are and that you've been

supporting sending t's to Crawford. I'm sure it would lift their spirits. Personal notes are always good.
anarchy1999
S

[GreenPartyVoter]

TOO awesome!

------------------------------------------------------
Save the Gulf:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=106&topic_id=22507&mesg_id=22507

Then save the nation!
http://timeforachange.bluelemur.com/electionreform.htm

[Just Me]

13. YEAAAAAAAAHHHHH! Nominated!!!

:hug:

[redwitch]

17. I love these people!

Just did some shopping at the local grocery store for diapers, food, baby wash etc. It's boxed and ready to go tomorrow. I wanted to get money to a family or another organization and still will do that. Wanted to help someone at a hotel in LA that MASSDEM had recommended, but the manager never got back to me- I'm sure they have been overwhelmed. Anyway, for anyone who is feeling helpless, it feels awfully good to give... And I would imagine the grocery stores have been overwhelmed too and lots of stuff we can still get, they cannot. Do your patriotic duty GO SHOPPING!

[anarchy1999]

18. Wonderful redwitch. To me it feels great to know that every dollar I

give or box I send it is helping a dedicated bunch of volunteers reach out and help all those in such need in the area.

They are doing it the right way. People helping people.

Please help to keep this thread up and maybe soon it might make the front page. I was absolutely thrilled to read how they are expanding into other small towns!

[babylonsister]

19. Those that can, do. The VFP proves that. Thanks, anarchy! nt

[anarchy1999]

20. Kicking up.

:kick:

Spread the message to people who want to do something but don't want to donate to the Red Cross or don't know what they want to do.

Also trying to get the media is good. Maybe if they are being kicked out of New Orleans they might find Covington a worthy story.

[mogster]

21. Recommend! And a kick! n/t

[theHandpuppet]

22. Confusing addresses

Okay, so far I've seen several different addys posted for the VFP effort.

Last week I sent supplies to the address posted in an earlier thread, which was the relief station set up at the Reverend Peter Atkins Park in Covington.

Now we have:

Veterans For Peace Chapter 116 is going just that!
Location:
Pine View Middle School in Covington, LA.
1115 West 28th Street Covington, LA. 70434 (This is listed as the dropoff addy but is it also the USPS addy?)

DROP OFFS
Volunteer Kitchen, Food Bank and Distribution Center
Pine View Middle School
1115 West 28th Street Covington, LA. 70434

UPS & FEDEX
Veterans For Peace Chapter 116 C/O
645 Kimbro Drive, Baton Rouge, LA. 70808

Can someone please tell me just ONE address where I can send supplies via USPS? Thanks! I want to make a shipment today.

[WolverineDG]

23. The vets are in Covington

They've set up camp at the Middle School in Covington. They were initially at the Park because that is where they heard the Red Cross was setting up. If you read their updates, it explains all the different addresses.

The Baton Rouge address is the address of the local VFP rep. He is shuttling supplies to Covington. From the information provided, if he is only the UPS/Fedex contact, then you can send stuff USPS directly to the Middle School on 28th Street.

dg