UPDATE: Friends in New Orleans

This update is courtesy of Sue!

Just a quick update to those of you who specifically asked me to keep them updated. Things have been quite busy and the generosity of our community is incredible. We were able to send Deborah and her Son Gian in Baton Rouge clothing (and give some to local relief efforts as well) and a little money for their immediate needs. Annette also has received some as well. We have a few EBay items to sell that will provide enough support for them both to move the remains of their homes to where they are now living (or end up living). They were both extremely touched and reluctant to accept any gifts but I explained to them that people really feel the need to help and they each could use a little help in these tough times. They both benefited greatly in spirit as well as the security of being able to pay the bills from people's generosity. The both say thank you from the bottom of their hearts. Annette is here in Buffalo and increasingly, it's looking like Deborah and Gian will be here soon as well. Annette was able to go back into her apartment in Metairie and retrieve some items last week. Her second floor apartment only had one broken window. A neighbor of Deborah also managed to get a pass to get back into her neighborhood last week so she gave him her key to look at her place. After wading through water all around the neighborhood, unbelievably her house was also dry. They are both some of the few lucky ones and sometime in the future will be able to get their belongings.

I've heard from all kinds of people who are doing wonderful things to assist people of the gulf area- Sandra Fink, a graduate of Creative Studies is working with her local church in Rochester to bring some families to that area and her and her trained therapy dog are planning to travel to the area to assist rescue workers. She has family in Hattiesburg where Katrina made a direct hit. I'll continue to keep in touch with her to see what the needs are from her end but at this time she says the generosity of the people of Rochester has been overwhelming. Another friend of mine, Debbie Chesna from Alden anticipates traveling down with an environmental company to work in the area so I've asked her to keep me updated as well. My former principal in New Orleans is now a councilwomen in New Orleans so I will write to her and tell her to let me know if there's anything we might do for the children of New Orleans in the future. We're still waiting to get word from our friend the US Marshall to see what he knows about rebuilding efforts and ways to help. Thanks again and I'll let you know when the complete set (1967 to 1995) of the Journal of Creative Behavior's goes on EBay through the generosity of Marci Segal!
Sue