Thanksgiving Trip and Pictures of Pearlington MS

Check out these pictures of Pearlington taken by Angela at Thanksgiving!

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=bquxt22h.aa18mzu9&x=0&y=-rkdrnf

Below is an update on the state of Pearlington, much more help is needed.

Dear All,
I have been home 1 week from spending Thanksgiving in Pearlington, Mississippi. It seems to take me about a week after I return home to be able to find the words to write about my experiences. While some things have changed, so much has not - and, therein, lies the difficulty of expression. The massive piles of garbage-riddled debris on the worst corner remain unchanged; coffins that dislodged during Katrina remain unburied; and, yes, there are those still living in tents 3 months after the storm. How can it be that in the wealthiest nation on the planet with an infrastructure and resources unparalled by any other country we still have people living in tents and squalor 3 months after Hurricane Katrina? I certainly do not have the answers; but, I assure you, I am seeking the answers from those who should have them. With that being said, let me tell you about Thanksgiving where Katrina made landfall.

I re-traced my route of September, flying into Atlanta and renting an SUV - actually, bizarrely, the exact same SUV. (How's that for kharma?!) At any rate, I again made my camp in the Old Train Depot in Bay St. Louis. While the Army Corp of Engineers is now gone, the wonderful doctors and nurses of the Loudoun Medical Group are still there administering free health care to all who walk through the door. They are truly an inspiration and a model for the greater medical community. It was great to see some of the same faces from my first "tour of duty" in The Zone. It was an odd reunion of sorts - again joining individuals with whom I had formed fast and solid bonds while working in extraordinary conditions and times. This time, however, there were some new faces as well - most notably, my niece, Emily, and her boyfriend, Joshua, who joined me to help in Pearlington on Thanksgiving. Ed, a college student from Rice University drove from Houston to help; and, Albert, who has been working in The Zone for the past 2 months, joined efforts in Pearlington as well. I was deeply touched by the selflessness of these young adults who chose to spend a holiday in a disaster zone when they could have been eating mom's turkey and stuffing and pumpkin pie in the comfort of their own homes.

I found Thanksgiving Day to be somewhat surreal. There was a somber tone to it - a quietness of people and place - perhaps, a remembering of holidays past and friends lost. There was most definitely activity at the Old Train Depot. As many of you may have seen on TV, Rotary International and 2 other groups sponsored a county-wide Thanksgiving dinner on the grounds of the Depot. Roughly 3,000 people gathered. However, folks in Pearlington wanted to stay in Pearlington - with their friends and families. That is their community. Many extended family members came and took their relatives away for the holiday. It was a nice break for some. These people are still living in survival mode some 3 months after Katrina made landfall. The folks that were left were either elderly or alone, for the most part. So, on "Turkey Day," my helpers and I loaded-up 2 SUVs with 50 dinners and drove from FEMA trailer to FEMA trailer distributing a bit of holiday cheer. (FEMA coincidentally delivered a large load of trailers just prior to Thanksgiving - While these people lived in tents for almost 3 months, FEMA made certain the trailers arrived just before the 1st holiday post-Katrina.) I was struck by how many people were going along as though it were just another day - BJ mucking-out his elderly parents destroyed home, giving us a toothless grin of thanks for the turkey and stuffing in the styrofoam take-out box; Butch, Billy Ray, and the boys clearing-off a neighbor's debris-filled yard; the woman working inside her trailer, only the company of her dogs on Thanksgiving Day; and, the Vietnamese shrimpers on their battered boat heading-out to sea to cast their nets - all working or perhaps just getting-through the day, as every day.

After the meals were delivered, we headed over to the Earl's tent. I and my 4 helpers had been invited to join Toby, Yvette, and the kids for Thanksgiving dinner. The FEMA trailers are small, so they had created a dining room underneath a donated tent. They dug through the rubble of what had been the site of so many holidays past and salvaged some dining room chairs for the occasion. Using their limited resources, they went to WalMart and bought a roaster, so they could cook a turkey for their guests. Underneath that old, battered tent, Yvette had laid a table fit for a king - aluminum containers filled with turkey, oyster stuffing, melartons with shrimp and crab, rolls, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, and pumkin and apple pies for dessert. A church group had come through and donated turkeys and supplies for Thanksgiving dinner. Yvette stretched her "Thanksgiving in a box" farther than anyone could have imagined. It was the most beautiful spread I think I have ever seen. We gathered round and Toby, in his deep Southern bass drawled, "Angela, would you say grace?" Truthfully, I don't really recall much of what I choked-out in prayer that day other than I know I thanked God for bringing the Earl family through the storm. The thing is - they're still in the storm of survival each and every day in the muck and mud of Pearlington. And, yet, they are truly thankful to be alive and together.
While most of the country crowded into shopping malls the day after Thanksgiving, Josh, Emily, and Ed built hand rails on FEMA trailers for the elderly, re-organized the clinic supplies; and Josh even cleaned-out the bathrooms at the clinic while I bought supplies and transported Randy to and from the clinic (and purchased his meds thanks to donations from some of you.) On Saturday, also thanks to the donations of some of you, we went to Big Lots and WalMart in Slidell, LA and bought pots and pans, blankets and towels, sheets, drinking glasses, soups and stews, and flatware to get 3 elderly gentlemen, 1 couple, and 1 family the bare necessities for their FEMA trailers. Just as we were about to deliver the goods, the heavens opened and the rain returned to Pearlington, Mississippi. Katrina removed all the grass and topsoil when she blew through; and, on November 26th, what was left was churned into a thick, black butter of mud, muck, and mold. We were covered in it by day's end. While we could leave and clean-off, the people of Pearlington were left to live-in that toxic stew. However, one little creature was not left behind - not this time.

I met a little rat terrier puppy during my first tour of duty in Pearlington. He survived Katrina and had been "rescued" by a neighbor who had him tethered in the front yard 24-7. The little fella's water and food bowls were always empty; and, on that Saturday when the heavens opened, we found him outside, shivering, filthy, and cold. Without going into too much detail, suffice it to say that little Zeke now has a new home. Many of you have emailed me asking how you can help. I will be returning next week to Pearlington for the Christmas holiday. Thanks to the generostiy of management at LifeBrands in New York City and the continued interest of Suzanne and Reggie Lybrand in Newnan, GA, another truck loaded with Christmas gifts for children and adults as well as food will roll into Pearlington. Needless to say, there are still long-term needs and issues for this tiny "forgotten" hamlet deep in the Mississippi pines. Since my return home, I have (as promised) been walking the halls of high places - and, I have gotten a response. I can not give much detail at this moment; but, there are some things in the works that will potentially be able to truly help the people of Pearlington long-term. And, I hope - expose and prevent this type of neglect from ever happening again. I will update you in the days ahead as I can. If you wish to donate money for the Christmas trip, you may send donations to me at:

Angela Cole
PO Box 115
Tivoli, NY 12583

I assure you each and every penny will go directly toward supplies for the people of Pearlington and I will follow-up with you and tell you exactly what your donation purchased. One of my very special friends in Pearlington is "Preacher Man." He is an elderly, retired Black man whose hunched-over shoulders have no doubt borne the weight of the world throughout his 80 some-odd years on this earth. When we went to visit Preacher Man at Thanksgiving, he looked-up, closed his eyes, and began to sing. From his deep, gravely, tired voice flowed the words, "Oh, Lord, come to me, Oh, Lord come to me" and he sang and he sang - verse after verse. Even the birds stopped singing and gave the stage to the elder patriarch. I can not promise that I'm going back with the Lord God Almighty; however, I can promise that I am returning with real reinforcements this time. I have not forgotten and neither have so many of you. I will let you know the outcome as soon as I can.

In Peace and Justice,
Angela J. Cole, MPH, RN


Tags: Pearlington MS