Slow and Steady

Today is day 20 of my time on disaster. It's amazing how a day off can actually make it harder to go back to work. Last week when I had off on Sunday, going back to work on Monday was the toughest thing to date. Even though I was working 12 hour days seven days a week, I never had a chance to realize what I was missing because we were completely consumed with work. Of course that one day acts as a tease as to how much you miss having a day to relax and have fun.

This week at the call center, the volume of calls continues to decline. It makes for some long days at times, but often I can find something to do. I'm not sure how much longer our operation at the call center will continue; I would say the end is in sight. That doesn't necessarily mean I'm closer to returning to St. Louis, but I could be moving on shortly to other ventures in Mississippi or Southern Alabama. It would be a nice change of scenery, but I have to say I'm starting to get anxious to be back in St. Louis. Of course, whenever it is that I return, I'll make sure to take some time off and probably head to Green Bay for a weekend before re-immersing myself in my job with AmeriCorps.

Tomorrow, I'm going to have another day off and I'm really looking forward to relaxing, watching some football, and probably going for a swim at some point. With tomorrow off, my teammates and I plan on letting loose a bit tonight, and we'll have some company from a group that's coming from Southern Mississippi (not the college). I think we've all done a good job of keeping our wits about us, and not getting to a point where we couldn't stand one another. Hopefully we can maintain that these next few weeks.

I hope everyone else is doing well, and I'll hopefully be seeing some people back home in the not-so-distant future.

Down in Bama

I'm going into my third week down South. Things haven't been terribly stressful yet, but that may change by Monday. Our team has been doing very well with very little supervision from our Executive Director who has been focused on the operation we have going in Mississippi. It's made a somewhat difficult at times to try and figure out how to run our operation with so little direction. The good thing has been the people that we're working with here in Alabama have been awesome. Not only have they really supported us, they are going out of there way to make sure we feel welcome and appreciated.

Southern Hospitality has truly been displaced by some many people we've met down here. There have been two volunteers who have made dinners for our group, a Church that made us dinner one night, and one of the women in the Governor's Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives brought us snacks for the call center.

Speaking of the call center, I'm the supervisor for the Alabama Volunteer and Donations Hotline. My role mainly consists of training new volunteer operators, helping operators with questions and tough callers, and keeping up-to-date on any new information that should be passed along to our operators. I've also helped out with matching the donations we're getting to organizations and shelters that need the items. Since we haven't been dealing with many callers who were victims of Katrina, I haven't had a lot of opportunities to hear some of the stories these people have. I have had occasion to talk to many friendly voices on the phone who are looking for a way to help, and I've found that just being polite and taking the time listen to anyone on the phone is most of the time enough for them to be friendly back.

Of course, yesterday we were hit with our largest obstacle to date when we were given the role of taking calls from displaced persons looking to relocate to the interim housing that will be setup. Besides leading to tons of last minute planning and problem solving, the potential for a huge increase in call volume means that we won't get a day off this weekend. I think all of us were frustrated because a day off was finally in sight and quickly snatched away from us. It's now been 20 days since the last time I had a day off from AmeriCorps. It seems longer, but as Adam, my roommate keeps saying, each day we work, we're one day closer to a day off. I guess that's the optimistic outlook that we'll have to have in order to stay focused on our task.

So while it's been plenty of long hour days, so far things have been relatively quiet. Of course, this is a disaster so everything can change at a moment's notice.

Katrina Assignment

I wanted to get to this sooner, but this week has been so busy, I never really had time to blog, and I don't have internet set-up at my new apartment yet. I'm sure most of you have heard that I'll be heading down to help in the relief effort with Katrina. I'll be going to Montgomery, AL on a team with 6 other people, including my new roommatem, Adam. We'll be doing mostly volunteer and donation coordination at first, but may do some field work in the coming weeks. Our assignment will most likely last until the middle of October.

This week has truly been a whirlwind, taking care of both personal business and Corps affairs. Each day presented different challenges and tasks to get finished, but by the end of the week I was able to relax a little bit knowing I had taken care of all the majors things that needed to get done. We've been working all weekend packing out at the office as well as getting a crash course in volunteer and donation coordination. Now we're just waiting around to get the final things in place before we leave, most likely later today. (AmeriCorps has definitely taught me the hurry up and wait approach to traveling.)

Needless to say I'm very excited for this opportunity to help in a region that has totally been devastated by Hurricane Katrina. I'm as prepared as I can be to face the mental, emotional and physical challenges that await, but I know there are some things I won't be able to prepare; I'll just have to keep my mind straight as best I can and use this experience as a way to grow as a person.

I'm bringing my laptop with me, and our team will be stationed out of dorms at Auburn in Montgomery so I should be able to update my blog periodically so everyone knows what's going on with me, and I can relay some personal stories that I hear from people who have been victimized by Katrina.

Know that I'll be thinking of my friends and relatives back home while I'm there and that I'll be safe. If you have time, you can e-mail me at tgweiss@uwalumni.com.

I hope everyone else is doing well.