Sally Ann in Biloxi
Posted by Bill Molesworth
Bruce welcomed Vince, no I mean Neil, Evandale, one of our new members, who has worked on Disaster Relief all over.
Neil said, first, his most recent trip was a 25th anniversary trip to the UK and he is pleased to report they had a great time.
The Salvation Army was founded in 1855 by William and Catherine Booth who decided to take the Church to the poor as the churches of the time were reluctant to accept the poor into their buildings. The first service in Canada was in 1882, though there is some debate as to where, maybe Toronto. It came to Midland in 1885 - 120 years of service.
The Army is now in 109 countries, working in 175 languages with 15,000 churches, 17,000 officers or clergy and a million soldiers. The motto is Heart to God, Hand to Man.
Locally, since Neil has been here, the Army has served refreshments to the firefighters and others at the SPCA, at Ste. Marie and the house on Hugel.
Things changed for the Army with the Manitoba flood - they started to focus on disaster relief and since have helped during the Ice Storm, the Swissair disaster, and the Okanagan fires. Internationally they have worked on Sept. 11, the Tsunami, Katrina, the Pakistan Earthquake and the Mumbai Flood.
Neil worked at the incident command centre in Biloxi helping with finance and statistics, mostly in a cubicle. He had pictures showing the devastation - no family had been able to stay in their house. The storm surge was 28 feet and the land is flat so the destruction reached far inland - pictures of boats half a mile inland, gambling barges sitting on top of houses. There was no infrastructure left - a bridge with its decking stripped off.
The Army took over a warehouse and was distributing up to 17,000 meals daily through canteen trucks. Then they took over a stadium - the Yankie? - and pitched tents for meals and camping.
In response to a question, Neil said that in New Orleans over 90% of the damage was due to levee damage, but in Biloxi it was all storm surge. Not only was stuff pushed inland, stuff was dragged out too in the aftermath - cars ended up way out in the gulf.
Neil also worked at ground zero for two weeks and said he had no after effects that he was aware of, though the fire and police officers who were there on the day certainly were.
Alison offered the Club's thanks for his talk and for his efforts on behalf of these deserving people.
The Salvation Army was founded in 1855 by William and Catherine Booth who decided to take the Church to the poor as the churches of the time were reluctant to accept the poor into their buildings. The first service in Canada was in 1882, though there is some debate as to where, maybe Toronto. It came to Midland in 1885 - 120 years of service.
The Army is now in 109 countries, working in 175 languages with 15,000 churches, 17,000 officers or clergy and a million soldiers. The motto is Heart to God, Hand to Man.
Locally, since Neil has been here, the Army has served refreshments to the firefighters and others at the SPCA, at Ste. Marie and the house on Hugel.
Things changed for the Army with the Manitoba flood - they started to focus on disaster relief and since have helped during the Ice Storm, the Swissair disaster, and the Okanagan fires. Internationally they have worked on Sept. 11, the Tsunami, Katrina, the Pakistan Earthquake and the Mumbai Flood.
Neil worked at the incident command centre in Biloxi helping with finance and statistics, mostly in a cubicle. He had pictures showing the devastation - no family had been able to stay in their house. The storm surge was 28 feet and the land is flat so the destruction reached far inland - pictures of boats half a mile inland, gambling barges sitting on top of houses. There was no infrastructure left - a bridge with its decking stripped off.
The Army took over a warehouse and was distributing up to 17,000 meals daily through canteen trucks. Then they took over a stadium - the Yankie? - and pitched tents for meals and camping.
In response to a question, Neil said that in New Orleans over 90% of the damage was due to levee damage, but in Biloxi it was all storm surge. Not only was stuff pushed inland, stuff was dragged out too in the aftermath - cars ended up way out in the gulf.
Neil also worked at ground zero for two weeks and said he had no after effects that he was aware of, though the fire and police officers who were there on the day certainly were.
Alison offered the Club's thanks for his talk and for his efforts on behalf of these deserving people.