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(Copied and pasted from my post on my auction board.)
Panama City is full of Katrina refugees. There are a lot of folks who are out of money with no place to go. They can't go home and no money left to stay in the motels here. They have set up a "refugee camp" of sorts for people such as this.
We sold dozens of generators today at the store. People were buying them 3-4 at a time and paying $600 each. We have been sooo busy with the unexpected influx of visitors. (This time of year, the occupancy rate is usually low to medium. We'll be fully booked for a month now.) We have done close to double our normal business since Sunday.
Anyways, I was helping this really nice lady and her son out to her car with her generator. She was probably about my age and she had a cajun accent. I asked her where she was from and how her town made out in the storm. The said she was from Southeastern Louisiana and she had gotten a hold of a friend who told her that every building in her small town lost it's roof, including the courthouse & schools. All the houses in her neighborhood were still underwater. She said her husband stayed behind to protect their house. No one has heard from him and she can't reach him. She tried real hard to stay strong, but just busted out crying and so did I. Stuff like this is so heart wrenching. I gave her a hug and tried to comfort her. It was so sad ya'll.
There are so many people here who can't reach their loved ones. I heard stories like this all afternoon.
Some bright spots... The little old lady added $200 to her grocery order to donate to the Red Cross. (We have a round-up your change program that allows people to do this. Boy, did she ever round up!)
The family of 3 little girls who brought their piggy banks in and dumped them in the Coinstar machine to donate to the Red Cross. It wasn't much, but it was all these kids had. The mom said it was their idea.
The endless convoys of power trucks, fire engines, ambulances, etc. from communities all over Florida and other states headed West to help out.
I have rethought my position on this hurricane thing ya'll. Next time, Dixie and I are packing up and leaving Dodge. This was my wake up call.
Wow! Sad stories at work today...
Smile!
Aug 31 2005, 01:45 AM
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heard about the incident in news yesterday 
