Just my opinion...
Churches were doing a pretty good job of getting supplies out to the people who needed them. The churches and its members know the community very well and they have a very good network between the churches for sharing information. Add to the above, going to a church down the street is far better than forcing people in need to travel miles to a centralized EOC.
If any readers here have been in NC/TN, and I am sure other southern states, you will find a church location every mile or two on any given road.
One day, I was trying to find a home for excess clothes and I was hitting every church. Nobody wanted them as due to the outpouring of support from surrounding states and communities. What the churches wanted was blankets, sleeping bags, and warm weather coats. It was in the high 20's low 30's at night and we even had 1" of snow early one morning. One of the churches I stopped at the pastor came out and chatted with me. He was studying for his Amateur radio Technicians license and saw my antennas and license plate which apparently screamed ham radio. Here were some of his comments...
> As a community, we do not need clothes anymore we need winter coats, blankets, and sleeping bags. Initially,
donations of clothes was fine however, some of the clothes sent was ridiculous like, swim wear, fancy ladies
underware, and used footwear. The clothes came in trash bags which was fine but it was mixed and many bags
did not say what was in the bags, e.g. children's, men's, women's, etc. clothes.
> Within 12-hours after danger of the storm had passed, every country boy with a ATV was on the road with a
chainsaw and clearing roads. Once the roads started to be cleared the same country boys worked their way
on to the mountains and into the hollers looking to see if they could help neighbors. The biggest need at first
was clean water. Once that was coming and being given out the next biggest need was shelter as many houses
had been washed away or had collapsed. Many a person was trying to keep dry and warm under a tarp flung
over a ridge line between two trees.
> Then good folks from surrounding states started to show up with their ATV's, which was a welcome relief to the
initial good old boys making it happen. Now these men could focus on their own situation.
> He went on to describe that by this time FEMA started to show up and tried to take over from the good old boys
and volunteers who were doing a great job. Rather than working with the locals FEMA exhibited an air of
superiority that put all that had been doing a great job for 10-days or so, off. The end result was FEMA was
ignored and when that happened FEMA's nose got out of joint and purposely took a back seat. Kind-a like, "you
want to do it your way? Great, we are going to just sit in this parking lot and collect your name and address for
assistance in the future".
> Last, there was a lot of folks, now without a home, that were staying in these churches. Some have been in the
churches since the storm had passed but many after a few days in the churches had moved on to family
and/other digs to alleviate the burden on the churches.
It was such a good chat with the pastor that I am going to reach out to him since I am home to see if I can help him with his Tech license.
Well I am rambling now. Got to get a move on. Sunlight is wasting.
More to come as I debrief myself.
