Thinking about victims of Katrina

We are visiting friends in Marquette, on Michigan's upper peninsula. (No map today, in respect for their privacy.) Our friends are prominent members of the community here, and gave us the grand tour of the town last night, followed by dinner at the most excellent and historic Landmark Inn.

We spent most of yesterday morning, plus a few hours last night after our visit ended, glued to the TV watching storm coverage. We keep wondering if there is something we should or could be doing (other than cash contributions) to help. We have enlisted with the Red Cross as disaster operations volunteers, but our scheduled training is still a month away, and, by policy, there is nothing they can do with us until we have completed the training.

It is likely, of course, that the cleanup from Katrina (and ongoing sheltering of victims) will still be well underway when we complete our training in early October, but that seems like an eternity from now. In any case, we are trying to keep our post-training schedule open and our plans fluid.

From here, we will be heading east toward Sault Ste. Marie and the Mackinac Strait.