We'll tumble for ya

One of nice things about having a few thousand refugees in a city of decent size like Birmingham is that needs get met. Sunday afternoon at the civic center helped me relax a little over the situation with the evacuees because I could see first hand, not through the television camera, that people are being taken care of to the point where the extra folks, like me and K, were having to get creative with our volunteer efforts.

Fortunately two friends of K's, Cliff and Russell, were smart and proactive in figuring out an unmet need -- laundry service. I will hand it to these guys for being clever enough to find something these people needed and getting the operation off the ground. The folks in need put their dirty clothes in a trash bag with their name on it and volunteers would sign out laundry with an estimated time of return. We did about 10 loads and saw everything from a onesie that would have fit Baby Ben all the way to big man-sized t-shirts. It gave us the scope of who has been affected by this event -- all shapes and sizes.

A couple of loads of laundry were from some of the kids trapped at the New Orleans Convention Center with their mother. Karen recognized their names from helping them the night before as they came off a cargo plane from Louisiana into the Birmingham Airport. Their mother was at UAB hospital with her two youngest children, leaving the older three without a parent and completely dependent on the Red Cross staff to care for them. It was tough sorting those clothes and knowing what they went through while wearing them. That was some ripe wet laundry and how could it have not been since these kids, ages 5 to 10 probably, spent the entire week in them.

There was the whole event right there in front of us in those small wet smelly clothes. What we had seen on television, heard on the radio and read about was on our back deck in a couple of trash bags. The reality of the situation definitely got a lot closer, but also the realization that there was something tangible that we could do and that moment was a microcosm of what many of communities sheltering evacuees around the country have realized. We actually can help. It doesn't undo the mistreatment of these people by their government, but it does give them hope for a new life and a new start and, most likely, one that could be much better than what they had in the slums of New Orleans.

We went to Big Lots, bought some nylon laundry bags for everyone whose clothes we washed and some really good smelling detergent because everything really needed it. One man didn't want to turn over his dirty laundry because that was all he had, but he reluctantly did so. After Cliff and Russell finished their day at the civic center, rumor had it that the mighty Junior League of Birmingham swooped down from the precious skies of Mountain Brook and took the operation from us city pigeons. That was probably the best thing to happen to the evacuee laundry service since those ladies have some pretty serious time on their hands (and probably some very expensive front-load, high-capacity washers to boot).

I definitely think there is no such thing as too many people wanting to help so for now, we begin our work and school week with eyes and ears open on the next opportunity to help. Jason next door heard from our neighbor Nancy about a family coming up here who lost everything and will start from scratch with an apartment in the city. We were betting in our five block radius, we probably have enough to give them a good start with extra chairs,clothes, televisions, bookshelves, stereos, VCRs and sofas. The 205 area code is definitely not a bad place to be for a displaced person in need of a new start.

I don't write any of this posts to pat myself or any of us on the back, only to describe what is going on in the aftermath of last week's colossal tragedy for those who are not here to witness it. We are as grateful to help as these evacuees are grateful to be embraced by a kind and caring community. I have never been prouder of my state. We might not be the most progressive in the lower 48, but we sure have a big heart.