A Day in the Life of a PDA Disaster Camp

We live in a tent city which is interesting. We’re up about 7AM as devotions are at 7:30 in an open tent – no heat and the weather has stayed cold here and many mornings are frosty. There are rows of pallets leading to the port-a-potties, rows between the groups of tents, which get slick when frosty. We wear many layers and stocking caps to keep warm. The Florida volunteers are especially cold.

At 8AM we can go to breakfast at the D’Iberville Recreational Center. All relief volunteers plus local victims can be fed there. Then about 8:30 to 9AM the groups head out to their projects for the day. Some are putting up sheetrock or taping and sanding. Some were helping set up tents for another tent city in nearby Gautier. Some head over to the POD (Point of Distribution, a storm-wrecked old grocery store) to give out clothes and food to the local storm survivors. This week the POD crew also helped children chose gifts for their parents and then wrapped them together. Some groups bought food and make their lunch while others return to the recreational center for the lunch.

Dinner is served from 5 to 6:30PM, and you don’t want to be late! Once in awhile groups go to the local restaurants but their hours are limited and service is slow. Every business has help wanted signs and most offer bonuses to try to get enough help. About every second or third day in the evening we go to the YMCA in downtown Ocean Sprints for a shower. After my first day here, I began leaving mornings with towel, clean clothes, and shower stuff just in case we were able to get to the showers. It is about six to seven miles away and its not efficient to come back to the D’Ibverville PDA camp for shower things.

The highlight of the day is in the evening when we gather for devotions and camp talk. This was first scheduled for 9PM but moved up an hour as the evenings grew colder. This week we’ve been gathering at the Carter’s RV around their portable campfire. We often share events of the day, someone gives a thought or scripture and we end with a Christmas carol. We take turns doing devotions but I haven’t yet. Most of the groups are going home Thursday or Friday so the weekend here will be most quiet. The camps are gearing up for about 100 people each who’ll arrive on December 26 or 27. This week we have about forty. Many are young folks out of school.

The heaters for the tents are turned on about 8-9PM as we don’t spend any time in them during the days. There are big baseball field lights which are turned off about 10PM, our usual bed time. Some sturdy folks stay up playing cards! There are still other lights around so it is never very dark. It is never quiet with all the generators running, but we need them for forcing the hot air into the tents from the kerosene heaters. During the night we seem to either get too warm or too cold, the two temperature settings here in Mississippi, but we do fall asleep. The next morning it all begins again.

We have groups here this week from Oregon, Jacksonville and Tampa, Illinois and South Carolina.

Wes Carter from Salem First Pres usually does the typing for this blog after I write it out as he can add pictures. He has a blog also – www.salemkatrina.blogspot.com . We may write about similar stuff but mine has the “Wright”stuff.

Please note: We need sewing machines, two camper trailers for the tent city managers to work from, a plumber and backhoe to help connect the drains at Gautier Presbyterian Church, and two volunteer drivers to bring two pickup trucks from Newberg's First Presbyterian Church down here for camp use. In case anybody is still not aware, this recovery effort will take years and years. This is not a one-mission program for your church but instead a situation which calls for long-term planning and assistance to be offered year after year. If you can't send a church team, send gift cards for Lowes or Home Depot, or arrange to be an individual volunteer (like I did) by contacting a team and joining them. And don't forget, please, that there was severe damage everywhere on the Gulf Coast, not just New Orleans. We also need household goods to replace what these folks have lost from their homes. Please...help.