Katrina stories that touched your heart

Today I had to drive to Detroit and listened to talk radio most of the way. I heard some amazing stories about how people have given of themselves and their possesions to help others. If your heart has been touched by the generosity of a stranger giving to a victim of Katrina, please share......

On the radio I heard that Detroit has about 150 people from the hurricane area staying in a hotel and the Detroit citizens are providing everything they need. What really amazed me is that people are giving the victims each a HOUSE......yes, that's right a house! And the man in charge said that they probably had enough to give each family one. I don't have the entire story, because I started getting static. They had to ask people to stop bringing items to the hotel because they didn't have anywhere to put it. They requested gift cards so the evacuees could purchase what they need.

Daisygirl

Daisy, thanks for starting this topic. This is amazing. I hope we hear about it on some of the television networks. I'm thinking Oprah will do a couple shows about the blessings that are pouring out of this tragedy. Wouldn't that be a plwasure to watch?

I bet Oprah does do a show about Katrina blessings, but she probably could do countless shows if she included all the people who have given.

Daisygirl

I just read in our local paper this morning that there will be about a dozen children from Mississippi and Louisiana relocating to this area to go to school here for now. The province of Ontario has lifted its "foreign-student fees" and taxes to enable the children from the hurricane-hit area to come here and go to school for free. The dozen children who are enrolling now are going to be living with relatives in the area, but residents are opening their homes to take in anyone else who wants to come.

My area is supposedly taking in 1500 of the evacuees. I think a lot of them have family in the area.

I watched on the news the other day of a nat'l guardsman who shared his sandwich with a puppy stuck on a roof. While the puppy ate, he picked it up and took it in the truck with him. Several newspeople wanted to adopt the puppy and asked about it later. It was reported that the guardsman adopted it and gave the puppy a good home. That touched my heart.

Yes, the dogs are another very disturbing aspect of the flooding and I'm certainly relieved that more are being rescued. I heard that a rescue group in a midwest city (I'm hormonal and can't remember) is filling a truck with donations such as crates, food, etc. and taking it down.

Daisygirl

What touched my heart was the stories of all the firemen from all over the country going to assist the hurricane area- especially from the NYCFD

Pattyann, that got me also. When they were interviewing them (from NYC) and they said we are just repaying the favor, I nearly burst into tears.

On Monday our store(Salvation Army) was closed due to Labor Day. Tuesday morning, I was there at 8:30 to open the store. I could hardly get in the door! The front was FULL of Donations for Katrina. We had to get 3 trailers to pull it all to the main center.

I remember (among other things) 3 cases of shaving cream and for a moment it made me think of the men affected by Katrina. I had been thinking of the women, children, elderly and animals but the cases of shaving cream gave me a moment to think about all the men...

What filled my heart was when a gentle frail elderly woman passed me a check for five dollars and said it's all I have to give right now but please make sure it gets to someone in need. I assured her that her donation was going to make a big difference in someone's life. Her eyes lit up and she said, "yes, it will, won't it?" We both shared a tender moment of heart love. May God Bless her.

chick

Yesterday, I was in line behind a woman that had several small children. She paid for her food items with food stamps. Before she finished bagging her items, she walked over to the Katrina Relief barrel the store had set up, dropped some items in there, includeing a 12pk of tissue.

The people that don't have to give are giving in their own special way. I was overwhelmed by people 'trying to show me that they cared' since I they know that I'm a native. They brought items overs for me to send to my direct source in La. By noon my living room area was just too full. Several women came to help me package it up. They were so excited that they were able to help in some way. That brought happy tears to my eyes as we talked and looked at items (especially the tiny baby items) and wondered how the recipients would like the nice things given from the heart.

sugaree

A corporation with heart and I'm sure there are many more as well but the one I am speaking of is Red lobster....The owner, CEO was down in the area looking for his employees, they have many restaurants down there. It seems they have there own plan for there employees,they will continue to receive full pay and all be relocated and given a home to live in with an amount of money to get situaed and then be given their jobs back in other restaurants Red Lobster owns. Now this is a corporation with a heart....I understand Wal-Mart has one as well and is doing some wonderful things besides giving countless millions of dollars. Every single Animal rescue organization is down there trying to and saving animals. They are organized and really making a difference. They announced last night however that the animals not rounded up soon will have no cnahce at all for survival. The ones that arrived here by plane are so terribly traumatized, like innocent children they have no idea what happening. God Bless the rescuers and ALL the good people helping with whatever they can do or give...

This makes me want to eat at the Red Lobster. They will reap the benefits of their grand gestures.

Anyone heard what Wal-Mart is doing?

Chatty, are you involved in caring for those animals? I know you take in pets for the shelter.