Rainbow Healing Center for Energy-Medicine
About the Energy System LuxMani
Hurricane Katrina -Our Trip to Louisiana
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All began a day after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. Friends of mine, Traynter and Meg Turpin of West Palm Beach, Florida wanted to help and organized the neighbors and got out the word that began an amazing outpouring of compassion and caring that reflects the very best in us all.
For days calls were made and we collected everything from water and canned food to clothing, flashlights, generators, toys, folding chairs, camp stoves and an incredible variety of gifts to the people impacted by Katrina.
Individuals gave whatever they could. Many asked what was needed most and then went and bought it. Children gave toys and helped to collect and sort the many donations. Individuals gave whatever they could.
The law firm of Gordon & Doner donated the truck rental, Kjell Bergh's Borton Volvo covered the fuel and Equine Medicine Specialists paid the driving expense. Numerous other business owners provided cash for supplies, inventory from their stores and much more.
On September 8th 2005, Daniel Cleary and myself started the trip to Louisiana as the drivers of a 24' truck - filled to the max.
Some impressions as we drove from South Florida through Alabama, Mississippi into Louisiana:
Generators ARE needed!
A hotel entrance in Gulfport
People camping out in Gulfport
Friends of ours from Michigan (connections through membership in the International Medical and Dental Hypnotherapy Association), New York, Virginia and Pennsylvania (Bob and Linda Otto) assisted in making connections in Louisiana and made the repeated calls that were necessary to get through the damaged phone systems. They arranged distribution, got directions, found out where the displaced people we know were located, found the connections for us to stay in the undamaged home of our friends Conrad and Jenifer Adams in Baton Rouge who interrupted their preparations for their wedding which occurred the day after we left. It was a wonderful display of each person doing what they could to assist strangers in need.
Our friends Conrad Adams with wife Jenifer and daughter. Without their help we would have had very L O N G days and nights.
Another friend, Marc Babineaux, living in Lafayette, Louisiana, had arranged to have a local church (The Family Church, Lafayette, LA) accept and distribute the supplies and everything went smoothly.
The church, where 2,200 people were fed before, during and after the storm, long before any other organization could get there.
Upon arrival, we were met by a group of high-school football players who had responded to unload the truck.
One of the 7 generators we brought is being unloaded.
Done, the truck is empty, the container full:
Inside the church rooms were dedicated as office space so that clothes, toiletries and much more were easily accessible.
Below you see some of the people that made this successful delivery possible:
I have been honored and blessed to be a small part in this first step of a journey which exemplifies the best aspects of all that we are as people.
This work will have to go on for some time and on many levels. My greatest wish is to return and help those in need. My friends and myself are planning to provide services in the form of physical labor, free stress management programs, child care programs and more.
For me to be able to return to Louisiana the first step is to find a way to stay there. My idea is to get an RV with a generator, because rooms are not available, and hotels are either damaged or filled with refugees.
Those of you who can provide ANY form of support and/or have ideas how I can go about my wish, now and in the future, please contact me and consider forwarding this web site address. Thank you!
phone: 1-561-844-1679
email: okka@luxmani.com