St. Bernard Parish : The Idiot’s Guide to Disaster Relief
Rich Weinroth
Lunch that day was really overstaffed, which is always nice and I got to work on another project organizing all of the sanitation and cleaning supplies and the Dish Pit. It sounds more glamorous than it was. It took the whole day partly because it was a huge job nobody else would do and partly due to the fact that I learned the hard way how easily a forklift can get stuck in the dirt. I found great humor in the fact that I got so filthy organizing cleaning supplies. I had just gotten into the lukewarm solar heated shower when I heard groups of volunteers calling out, “Circle!” over and over again and when I was finally as dry as you can ever get in the Deep South, the entire site was a ghost town. I got to the Dome just in time for my first Circle.
All the tables had been moved aside, and the chairs arranged in, yes-you guessed it, a circle. A really big circle, though I’ve since seen much bigger. Once everybody was seated, introductions would begin. Apparently, Circle is the Bi-Weekly Town Hall Meeting.
photo by Jennie Clutterbuck
Hi, I’m Stephanie from Boston and I’m so glad to be here.
Hi, I’m Sunny from Pittsburgh and I need volunteers for a project, see me after Circle... and I love you all.
I’m Benja and we need volunteers for Peace Patrol.
I’m Jess and we need breakfast prep volunteers. Nobody wants to wake up that early, but it’ll be fun.
I love you all.
I’m Laura and I’m from Montreal and we’re in need of a strong back in inventory.
I’m Turtle and I’m from Virginia and we’re making a beer run for a Flippy Cups Tournament...
I’m Katie from Idaho and I’m glad to be a part of this...and I love you all.
And so it goes, throughout the seventy or so people in attendance.
Smoke Pit Jon, Ike, Kate, Dusty and Dustin, Myscha, Katherine, Jason, Julie, the Other Julie, Tony, Nathan, Jenny, Gabe, Nate, Mark, Goat, Nathan, Spook, Beirin, Babs, Keith, Mario, Jimmy, Jeff, Doug, Megan, Talia, Kelly, Lauren, Theresa, Heidi, Bread, Skinner, Pat, Mamma Sue, LuLu, Lali, Kiki...there are so many great names forgotten.
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