this brought tears to my eyes... happy tears...

[Houstonia]

This is from the "Dome Blog" off the Houston Chronicle website. [url]
http://blogs.chron.com/domeblog/[/url]
It is impossible for me to volunteer this weekend, but I am hoping to put in some effort perhaps Monday (Labor Day) or next weekend. I imagine that after things settle down in the city, then they may need volunteers. Still, I wish I were there...

September 03, 2005
Houston steps up

As you can see by earlier entries posted by Chron.com's Weekend Editor Laura Haynes Weisman, I spent the afternoon volunteering at the George R. Brown Convention Center.
Courtesy Greg Boncimino
Bucket brigade at the GRB.

I went with my wife, oldest daughter and a friend. We started out at the Houston Food Bank, which was overwhelmed with volunteers to the point that most of us were turned away. A coordinator told a crowd of about 100 in the parking lot that there might be something for us to do at the GRB.

At the convention center there also were more than enough volunteers, and they asked us to either unload trucks outside or come back later. We were then asked to stay and help evacuees pick out clothes.

The convention center has been divided into areas for sleeping, eating, registration, medical needs and distribution of basic goods. We worked in this last area, which resembled a sprawling thrift store.

There were literally hundreds of tables piled with clothing, diapers, toys, towels, toiletries. A constant stream of goods was brought in, taken to a sorting area, then distributed.

The distribution area was partly encircled by a human fence -- volunteers who formed a line around the perimeter. Sometimes they'd be pressed into service to pass goods along to a sorting station.

When I first got there, I wandered around looking for something to do. Initially, it felt disorganized -- but I think that was really just me not understanding the processes. I eventually found myself next to a stack of diapers, occasionally being asked pass them from one station to another.

A word of caution: If anyone ever throws a case of baby wipes at you, be prepared -- they're heavy!

Another volunteer filled me in on the drill. Evacuees are brought into the hall in a registration area, where they are given fresh clothes, allowed to take showers and given a plastic badge to show they'd been through the sign-in process. The clothes they are wearing are tagged and taken over to the Hilton across the street, where they are laundered.

The evacuees find a place to sleep in a giant room filled with air mattresses. From a distance, it looks like a sea. The room is softly lit; it's soothing.

They are then brought into the distribution area. There were enough volunteers that many people had a "personal shopper" who helped them find what they needed, and sometimes carried bags.

As they enter the distribution area, they walk a gauntlet of volunteers who hold baby strollers. Parents who don't have a stroller are offered one, and everyone applauds as the evacuees pass. They are treated like heroes.

My daughter stood in this line with a box of toys, making sure each child was handed one as he or she came in.

"I made sure each one of them laughed," she said.

The evacuees are clearly exhausted. Most of them came from the hellish confines of the Superdome, and the relief and gratitude they feel is palpable. There are a lot of smiles.

For the volunteers, the work is hard, but also gratifying. Every now and then, some of us lock eyes and a phrase is repeated:

"This is amazing!"

No. This is Houston.

[Downdraft]

When this is all over there is going to be lots of talk about what New Orleans did wrong. I sure hope there is just as much talk about what Houston did RIGHT. God Bless you Texans!