PG’s Big Adventure
My friend, who I have called “PG” for so long on this blog, was the subject of a long piece in the Fall 2006 St. John Fisher College alumni magazine, Collegium. They have graciously given me permission to reprint the article, and her real name is so disclosed. She gave me permission to use her name long ago but I chose to give her a measure of privacy on the net.
Like many graduating seniors, Bunny Dugo ‘05 wasn’t entirely sure what her future would hold for her. She had committed to ten months of service with AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps (AmeriCorps NCCC), but Bunny didn’t know which U.S. communities she would be helping.
Her answer came when Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast. AmeriCorps NCCC was among the first to respond to survivors’ needs with over 50% of its members deployed to the Gulf Region. There, Bunny and fellow members worked on disaster relief, education, environmental projects, and public safety in partnership with state and local agencies. Her first assignment was on a cruise ship that FEMA contracted as a shelter for hurricane survivors. Through November and December, the volunteers lived and worked in the shelter coordinating a GED preparatory program, an immediate needs distribution center, teen and pre-teen centers, a mail room and social programs for adults and children. “I personally focused the majority of my efforts in the Special Needs Rooms,” said Bunny. There she led the acquisition, organization, and distribution of clothes, hygiene items, coats, work gear, and baby supplies. In her efforts Bunny enlisted the help of the entire Fisher campus through coordination with Sally Vaughan, Director of the St. John Fisher College Service Scholars Program.
In March her second Gulf Coast assignment took her from Camp Algiers – a FEMA tent city for volunteers and residents – to Ocean Springs, Mississippi. There, AmeriCorps NCCC performed a bit of everything from volunteer coordination to mucking out homes and dry walling structures.” Bunny says that she will never forget what she saw during her first assignment at the end of 2005. “Vans were knocked through brick houses; homes were moved completely off foundations; clothes were strewn about in trees; televisions were floating in the water; houses (when not completely flattened) were missing their front walls. It was as though we were looking into doll houses… Even large casino barges washed ashore, one blocking the entire expanse of highway 90.” She feels that many areas are seeing improvement. “The central part of New Orleans is bustling. I could no longer see the black line that had previously painted the buildings in the city, indicating the water level when Katrina hit,” she noted. “Only about a quarter of the houses just east of New Orleans still had blue tarp roofs.” IIn Mississippi Bunny was pleased to see that more businesses were operational in March than in December. “Before we couldn’t find an open business with a restroom - no McDonald’s, nothing. We used what we think was the only bathroom in the area, a port-a-potty in a wrecked Wal-Mart lot. This time around we stopped in a clean, fully functioning Wendy’s restaurant.” Unfortunately, there are some areas that haven’t seen great improvement. “Little has been done to repair the houses in the poorer neighborhoods or rebuild the 9th ward, where the devastation was most immense. Most of the news coverage, financial assistance, and volunteers went to New Orleans, leaving the 9th ward and Southern Mississippi still devastated.” The bridge from Gulfport to Ocean Springs remains a symbol of the power of Hurricane Katrina. “It collapsed into slabs piled like dominoes.” As Bunny says, “Large strides have been made, yet there is much more to be done.” Understanding the plight of the region is a challenge. “I feel connected, yet distant, because I will never truly understand what it was like to endure Katrina and its consequences.” She has found inspiration in the countless stories told to her by residents. “I met an inspiring family in a shelter in Mississippi. They helped me coordinate the needs center, and the eleven year old daughter initiated a 250 mile trail ride fundraiser to benefit the library in Gulfport. They barely survived the storm their in Jackson, MS home, which is inland and, they thought, beyond the reach of the hurricane. The mother and daughter huddled under a mattress in a bathtub while the father secured the barn and weathered the storm there.” Another family Bunny met in December had been living in the back of a semi tractor trailer because they were unable to find shelter elsewhere. “I am continually amazed at the strength of the human spirit,” Bunny noted. Regardless of what may come after her last trip with AmeriCorps NCCC in July 2006, it is certain that in the months since Katrina she has been able to touch the lives of many of its victims, and they, in turn have touched her life. 
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[...] PG’s Big Aventure With Americorps on the Gulf Coast. [...]