Hope prevails...

Hi all, an update on all of us here in flood central. Water was finally restored to the town of Hope after 6 grueling days. Thanks to the National Guard for hanging in here and supplying fresh drinking and bathing water for everyone. Slowly things are getting back together. There are huge piles of debris from houses and the stench from the now dried mud is well....Swampy. Fema has opened an office and folks are starting to apply for money to get back on thier feet. Speaking of which I am going to update you on "our" adopted family. I will introduce them as Rose and Damon only to you. I met them at the McDonald's this week pushing a shopping cart with all they had left. I took them to a hotel and have been working with them to get them back on thier feet. Rose is a single mom, has been since Damon was born. They lost just about everything in the flood when thier rented mobile home flooded with 18 inches of water. Yesterday I took Rose to the Red Cross and was able to secure her two more nights in a hotel, we also got vouchers for food and filed for unemployment since her employer was also flooded and closed leaving her with no job. We went to her house and we bagged up all thier clothes in garbage bags and took them to the laundry mat to wash and dry them. I have to tell you the condition of the house shocked me. I have been through lots of hurricanes and suffered some myself but this was total destruction. You could see how high the water had been with marks on the walls, mud covered everything. We weren't able to salvage much other than some pictures high on the walls and some kitchen things. I have contacted some people I know and we are working on securing her an apartment for next week. She is a proud lady and despite her loss she was helping her neighbors salvage items yesterday afternoon. Several of you have asked how to help and I am thankful for that, email me privately at cnsmele@yahoo.com to get my address if you would like to contribute towards getting this family back on it's feet. With such tough times for everyone out there it makes me proud that you want to help, and I am glad I can help. Enough for now, I promise a horse post next!
Happy trails....