Still in Buras, LA

We are still down here in Buras, LA...living in the open-air remains of the YMCA, cooking and cleaning at this community center. Emergency Communities is a group formed to address the longer-term needs of a community hit by a natural disaster. If you've ever been through one, I'm sure you know that the Red Cross is long gone, in fact, I'm not even sure if they ever made it down this far at all.

What they have set up here is a distribution center; a soup kitchen that serves three hot, home-cooked meals a day; free laundry; and free internet access, among other things, but the main idea is that this is a community center that belongs to the community of Buras and the surounding towns. The doors are never locked. Well, actually, there are no doors. Or walls. Anyone can hang out here at any time. Music is always on, or people are playing instruments. There are also a lot of long-term volunteers here - people that stay months and months.

Yesterday a woman I met at a community fair on Saturday came in to drop off some supplies. When she found out that I would be leaving this week, we started talking about the unmet needs of the community and what I could send down here, after I got home. As she was leaving, she called over her shoulder, "Tell everyone...we still have two to five years to go."