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JANUARY 24-27, 2008
The cocktail reception, for the 2008 International Aid + Trade Event, was held inside a 44 ft. Pacific Dome at the PALEXPO in Geneva, Switzerland. It was a huge hit and it gave attendees a unique place to unwind, enjoy a drink, and interact with other members of the humanitarian community. Aid + Trade is an international platform that creates partnerships between aid agencies, UN organizations, business and government with the goal of providing coordinated relief to people in disaster areas all over the world.
We all wanted to help in any way we could! Thousands of pounds of food, Clothing, and medical supplies, along with a portable dome and heavy Equipment were loaded in trucks by enthusiastic people. Within days after Katrina’s devastation, a convoy of supplies from the people of Ashland, Oregon was on its way to the outskirts of Biloxi Mississippi. It’s amazing how our community pulled together!
Due to a family contact with a pediatrician in the area, we arrived at a Buddhist Monastery, Van Duc, just out side Biloxi within a few days and found ourselves busy immediately. Matt and his crane began work clearing wrecked cars and debris from the grounds and surrounding neighborhood. The four teens have been removing sodden sheetrock from the temple. Tess is supervising the distribution of donated supplies. Mauricio is managing clean up crews as well as taking photos. Our six generators are literally the only power available in the area. We raised the 44’diameter dome. Now we have a working “relief supermarket”, from which we are distributing 15,000 pounds of food and supplies, to about 500 families daily.
The plan is to work outwards from the Buddhist Temple and the nearby Catholic Church, so that the people of this ravaged area of Biloxi will have some sort of gathering place in which to regroup and move forward. The devastation is far worse than could have ever been imagined. There are literally only a handful of homes still standing in a several mile radius. Everything else has been reduced to splinters. Temporary housing is desperately needed!
