Sisters and Brothers IN WAVELAND

I'm writing an article on Pearlington, Miss., and a coupe who are helping there, and I want to get a bit of good PR for Rainbow before nationals. (I write for a Colorado paper, www.highlandsranchherald.com)
I need to chat with a couple folks who have worked with Waveland Cafe VERY soon.
Real names are needed, too, altho I will write "Tree, who answers to Bob Smith when away from Rainbow" sorts of things.

Please, this might be the best chance for good Rainbow PR.
use the e-mail button or PM, please.
mil gracias
dm

 

awesome! and thank you!

 

Heron,
you freaking rock!
dm

 

the article:


03/03/2006
Couple returns to their roots to offer aid
By: Robyn Lydick , Staff Writer

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Nell and Royce Nation live in Highlands Ranch, but their hearts remain in Mississippi. So when Hurricane Katrina devastated their hometown, they had to return to help.
The Nations are members of Calvary Baptist Church at Hampden and Monaco as well as University Baptist in Hattiesburg, Miss. They own a second home about 40 miles from where Katrina came ashore Aug. 29.
Nell Nation was a sales manager for KKTV in Denver for years, and she applied her past in sales, soliciting donations and bodies to help this tiny town which bore the brunt of the storm wall, the wall of clouds that create the eye of a hurricane. The storm wall is the site of the strongest winds in a hurricane, and Pearlington, Miss. was on the western wall of Katrina. Waveland, Miss., eight miles east, was on the other wall.
Pearlington is coastal and sits on the Pearl River that divides Louisiana from Mississippi.
The Nations are volunteering with their Baptist church, part of a small army of volunteers organized through churches and independent of the government and Red Cross.
On the other side of the destruction is a ragged band of hippies, members of the Rainbow Family of Living Light, who run New Waveland Cafe, a kitchen and distribution point for whatever necessities they gathered: from clothing to candles and pet food to hot meals, including Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners. Other volunteers provide medical care, all free.
Nation said almost every home in Pearlington where about 1,700 people live, was destroyed in the storm.
Eight people died.
Most people are still living in tents. The lucky live in trailers provided by the Federal Emergency Management Administration.
"FEMA has fallen on its face," Nation said. "I spent hours on the phone with them trying to get a tent for a woman who had her first tent destroyed in a rainstorm. I had to give her social security number, and I said I was calling on behalf of this person."
FEMA agents told Nation they could not talk to her, that they must speak to the person needing assistance.
"Well, fine, I said, but she's 70 miles away and I'm on the only working phone for miles," Nation said.
Nation has spent five months appealing to FEMA for displaced Pearlington residents.
Now, both FEMA and the Red Cross have moved on.
The Nations returned Monday to Charles B. Murphy Elementary School, the only building believed to be structurally sound in the community and the epicenter of relief efforts in Pearlington. Volunteer workers sleep in two large classrooms which are outfitted as dorms - one for men, one for women.
Otis and Ruby Mitchell, 79 and 73, respectively, are living in a complex of trailers provided by FEMA. Otis lost a leg after a stroke in 1995. They waited three months for a trailer.
"Ruby explained that the tangerine trees had survived Katrina but their house had not," Nation said. "She gave us the address of their home, which we promised to see. Except for the garage and porch, which were totally destroyed by trees, the remainder of the house looked pretty good. However, it was at least 30 feet from its foundation and is destined to be bulldozed."
Marshall Collins, Sr. survived the hurricane along with his son and two others he coaxed into the attic of the church.
"Collins said they were trying to get out of Pearlington when the water kept rising," Nation said "He'd never experienced anything like it and hoped to never see it again."
Nation is awed by the resilience of the community.
"When driving around the streets of what is left of this small town, it's difficult to understand how these folks can maintain their optimism, but they do, she said. Theyre eager to restore their homes and town back to normalcy. Church members from across the country are helping restore normalcy, some with the strange bedfellows created in times of crisis. A church contracted the kitchen activities at Waveland to the Rainbow Family. Joshua Pickering, of Wiggins, Miss., lives 30 miles away from the two towns. A graphic designer for Harrahs Casinos, he lost his job six months ago. In the aftermath of the storm, his home was without power. He ensconced his wife and two children (a third was born Nov. 12) with his father-in-law in Texas and headed for Waveland to cook and help however he could. He is a proud Rainbow and is considering the trek to Colorado for the National Gathering in July. The National Gathering has been in Colorado twice before. The small, predominately white town reacted with open arms to the hippies.It came down to good people, Pickering said. Not who is or isn t a dirty hippie. We had a small Utopia going on. When I first got there, the refer truck was running low on diesel, and I was worrying about all that food spoiling. Suddenly, someone runs back and asks if we need diesel because there was a lady offering diesel to whomever needed it. That was divine intervention. In fact, dirty hippie is no longer an insult. Its now said with a smile, a break Pickering hopes will last longer than peoples memories of the hippie kitchen with the geodesic domes, the Tornado Lounge, and drumming. We created more than a mere kitchen, Pickering said. We created a place to hang out and meet people. Like Nation, Pickering finds fault, and lots of it, with FEMAs planning. No matter where Hurricane Katrina hit, we knew it was going to hit somewhere, he said. FEMA should have been better prepared. When I first got to New Waveland, we didnt see a lot of FEMA, but the Red Cross brought by tubs of food at the end of the day and that saved us, Pickering, known as Heron in Rainbow circles, said. They also gave out $500 per person, up to $2,500 per family, so yeah, we think a lot of Red Cross. They set up a kitchen in Wiggins the day after the storm. New Waveland Cafe has pulled up stakes and is feeding people in Louisiana. Another Rainbow called Mama Kaboom started Second Helpings for the Waveland residents. Pickering is back home. So are the Nations, in a sense. They will continue to do what they can as long as Pearlington needs them. To help in Pearlington, contact the Rev. Mary Hulst, Calvary Baptist Church, 6500 E. Girard, Denver, 80224-2812. Hulsts telephone is 303-757-8421. Volunteers cover all of their own expenses so all contributions go to residents.

 

uhh.. the story is above, bro. but thanks.