Northwest Arkansans Work To Feed Katrina Survivors
Last updated Friday, September 2, 2005 10:47 PM CDT in News
By Jeff Niese
The Morning News
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GULFPORT, Miss. -- A package of flour packed onto a semitruck in Springdale earlier this week became breakfast Friday for Maurice Taylor and other refugees.
Northwest Arkansas donations are feeding between 8,000 to 10,000 people a day at the Gulfport Church of God.
The line starts at 8 a.m. People wait 15 to 20 minutes for pancakes, sausage and water. The water is important as the temperature creeps up to 100 degrees. No one has power.
"I can't cook anything," said Taylor, whose house is without power. He's trying to keep some food from going bad with ice, but isn't sure how long it will last. It would be tough for him to get a meal if it wasn't for the church, he said.
Members from Victory Family Worship Center in Springdale cooked meals, handed out water and organized the mountains of food and supplies delivered in the last few days.
"Unless you live here and go through it, you can't totally understand all of it," said Alan Hardcastle of Springdale, a member of the church.
Friday's food service came out of cooperation between the two churches and the Oklahoma City-based Feed the Children.
Beans, bread, crackers, pickles, and dozens of other types of foods are stored on palates, under a tent and next to the temporary kitchen. A U-haul with more food was expected late Friday as organizers stress they need more.
Hardcastle said he came to Gulfport out of a sense of need. It didn't take long to find it.
Bricks, trees and utility poles clutter streets. Trees with a circumference greater than some automotive imports lay uprooted and tossed aside on nearly every street. Fifty-foot tall utility poles rest against houses and recreational vehicles.
Katrina has forced many Mississippians to wait in lines. Motorists rushed to gas stations after rumors a gas truck was on the way. Vehicles lined up for blocks starting at 4 a.m. Friday. Lines surrounded a few banks that were open as well as the emergency food kitchens.
About 750 miles of power lines were down Friday. About 5,000 power poles need to be replaced and an additional 2,000 need to be repaired, said Col. Joe Spraggins, director of the Harrison County Emergency Management Agency.
"Help us find a way, some way, to get the (food, ice, water) through with more expediency to the people," Spraggins said during a morning news conference when asked what he would tell President Bush if he could.
"We need it all," he said.
A search of 350 sites this week turned up 17 dead bodies, he said.
Katrina spared few houses. A tree slammed into Taylor's house, and he knows has a hole in his roof. He got off lightly.
The neighborhood surrounding the Church of God was already poor. Paint is faded and chipped on single story homes.
"Some of these people probably didn't have any (food stored)," said Gulfport resident Jim Fullilove, who lives near the church.
"Ice is what people need the most right now."
Tiffany Brewer, 29, of Fayetteville and Stacy Whetstine, 16, of Cave Springs arrived in Gulfport on Friday morning with Hardcastle. Whetstone left her 9-month-old, Bradley, at home. The three plan on working at the church for the next few weeks or "for as long as it will take," Brewer said.
Brewer's 10-year-old son, Jarod, wanted to join her in Gulfport when she told him about the emergency trip.
"It's in my heart this is what we are supposed to do," she said.
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