As I always say: “It’s the first time you don’t want to experience when it comes to something bad happening to you in your life.” This is true. Think of a housefire, It’s the first one you don’t want to experience. An earthquake, a hurricane etc etc.
It is the first time you don’t want to experience. Now it’s not the actual; disaster itself you should be thinking about because that you can’t help, if it’s a natural disaster that is. So it’s not the disaster it’s the part of NOT being prepared that you don’t want to experience. Imagine for a moment your town or region of the country, get’s hit with a Blizzard, and you experience a power outage but yet you don’t have any batteries for your flashlight, or a generator that can run a small heater and light and tv. Or perhaps you take a road trip but yet you don’t have a spare or a jack or flares or a blanket etc.
Being Disaster Prepared means to be Prepared for anything. As the American Red Cross Says; Be Red Cross Ready.
Click on the lkink to take you to the American Red Cross site where you can download their Preparedness Checklists. Click Here
Text the word HAITI to 90999 to donate $10 to the American red Cross
Here we are again getting pounded by snow. Thick, heavy, wet, SNOW. If I was younger I would of been out there in a snow ball fight, maybe even building an igloo. When I was a kid growing up on 47th Street in Pennsauken, New Jersey, we got snow like this all the time. Always a foot here and a foot there.
Bear with me over these next two paraghaphs as I know the owners, it is good info and I recommend
I was taking a walk today out speaking with some of the residents of Merchantville, New Jersey. I started off at my buddy Sammy’s pizza shop. Sammy and his wife are good people. I actually met Sammy year’s ago, just ran into him one night at old friends pizza shop in Philadelphia. If your ever in Philly, you gotta check it out. My old friend Ronny knows what he is doing. He’s a very intelligent business owner that puts out a great product at a fair and reasonable price. His place is called Little Sicily II on Columbus Blvd, in the WAWA plaza next to PENN-dot. (Phone 215-465-8787 Click Here for address, map and directions)
Now back to Buzzy’s Pizza of Merchantville, NJ (Phone 856-662-2222 Click Herefor address, map and directions) Good food, good prices and they the lottery as well. Anyway I went in and saw Sammy sitting there watching some TV and soon as I brought up this snow, Sammy spoke up and we started speaking about the economy. He was saying that these times are hard enough for small business owners but then coupled with this Nor’easter Snow Storm that is pounding us, well it is just leaving local businesses, Out In The Cold. Now don’t misunderstand Buzzy’s Famous Pizza does quite well for an independent shop. Sammy is very fortunate and has a great customer base with an extreme high percentage of repeat business. They are friendly, they get to know their customers by their first name and remember their favorites.
All businesses in this region are hurting right now. This region of the U.S. pays one of the highest price per square foot rates in the country. New Jersey is amongst the TOP most expensive states to live in and to operate a business in.
Anyway I am way off my topic, let me get back. (happens all the time)
So I first ran into Angel, who was shoveling away. He had the right idea, although it wasn’t done snowing, he was shoveling. This way it isn’t as hard as when you wait until the end, especially when the snow is as wet as it is today. I was speaking to Angel and I asked him what his thoughts was about the homelessness situation in America. He has along the same thoughts as me. Angel stated that the government needs to take a more active role in this crisis. He further stated that; “The government is only helping out the wealthy. For instance the big bank bailout that is now giving their executives multi-million dollar bonuses.”
How does something like this happen? How is it "We The People" lend our tax dollars to a huge conglomerate which happens to be a bank, in fact, the Bank of America. Now from what I understand they bought some company, Merrill Lynch, for $50 Billion Dollars. Now Bank of America allegedly didn’t investigate the deal properly nor did they disclose the financial situation of Merrill Lynch to BOA shareholders. The shareholders of BOA filed a lawsuit against BOA stating what had occurred. Now Merrill Lynch had just taken a 4thquarter loss of $15+ Billion dollars, but they were being bailed out and bought out by Bank of America for as I stated previously $50 Billion Dollars. Now right before that deal closed, Merrill Lynch executives were paid bonuses estimated to be worth $3 to $4 Billion just 3 days prior to sale.
Now Bank of America had to go to the government and get a loan for $20 Billion Dollars to help absorb the 4thquarter $15.31 Billion Dollar loss that Merrill got hit with.
So let’s put this in perspective. Bank of America bought a company for $50 Billion that just lost $15 Billion and during which they paid their executives $4 Billion meanwhile BOA doesn’t disclose to it’s shareholders but then runs to the government for a loan of $20 Billion.
All this time and there are people sleeping in cardboard boxes and living in sewers and under bridges.
Let’s put the icing on the cake. BOA pays back the loan, jacks up the fees on all their customers credit cards (the same taxpayers that lent them their bailout money) then or should I say now they are paying their execs Billions of dollars as well. Let’s give a big thank you to our government for looking out for us. Oh yea and all the people in the refrigerator boxes.
The government may have Social Services in all the states, but I will tell you right here from experiencethay are so mismanaged it is pitiful. We could hire top level execs to manage the Board of Social Services and pay them the million dollars a year each and our system will not only run better and more efficient., but it’s budget would lower while helping twice as many people. These state workers in those jobs are a joke. The managers have no business experience and don’t even have a clue how to even keep a database of vendor’s updated let alone setting up a budget and training.
Seems as though I went off on a tangent again. I get so sick to my stomach when I think about how are government offices are being run. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t like the government anyway, I don’t believe in it, I believe in God. We get ONE vote and my vote goes to my Father in heaven. God set up these offices of government in the days of old and He used to fill them with personnel back then as well. But He hasn’t done so since 570 B.C.Prior to that there was one time God let the people choose and that was with King Samuel. God warned that he was not the chosen and they even knew through the oil test, but they wanted to have it their way and God let them. It is like the thing with satan, he gave him the world for 6,000 years to prove he (satan) can do better, but as we see, he couldn’t. Satan’s time is almost up, soon we will have God’s Kingdom on Earth as it is in Heaven.
Down the road a bit I ran into a nice young gentleman by the name of John. A refined and sophisticated man, you can tell he is an educated person. John was out there shoveling away his driveway and he said to me: " I have never seen anything like this before in my life." That is when I knew he was young because, as I explained to him, when I was a child it snowed like that all the time. I as a child even witnessed snow before thanksgiving day. We used to build igloos on the front lawn. We had a plastic mold to put the snow in to make a snow cinder block. Pretty cool. Now that I think back, I miss my Big Wheel too. I mentioned to John my thought of the changing seasons. Which is: I think that if the Earth was going to last for a while longer that someday winter will be in August and perhaps it will snow. John laughed and he said : "Yeah you know that Global Warming thing…." That’s when he gave me a laugh, we were in a blizzard, talking about snow and he, the educated guy, brings up Global Warming. LOL
I got into town and I was snapping off some pictures of the dollhouse in the center of town. I call it the dollhouse but really it is a storage shed that keep different tools and supplies in for the winter season. So walking by me was a guy by the name of Kevin. The best conversationalist of everyone this day. He had lot’s of thought on the homeless situation in America. We spoke for some time and went into speaking of the different Social Services Agencies and their workers. HE is a nice demeanor and I think he was holding back a bit when we spoke of the workers, but he brought up just as they do, “their caseload.” We both agreed however that it depends on a worker’s mood that day on whether or not you get any help out of them. The way I see it if they actually had management and I mean true management that would evaluate their performance’s and train them to be better and more efficient and also started firing some, then perhaps they would get it together and quit taking a 15 to 20 minute break after each case they sign up and perhaps they would start paying attention to the applicant’s so that they are better able to determine their needs.
I, as you know, I don’t like government workers, mostly state until I got a Social Security Determination Adjudicator by the name of Mary. She was the nastiest person I have ever spoke with in my life, from our very first phone call. I must have spoke to her a dozen times and out of which there was maybe three times I was able to actually talk to her and she was okay. I remember the second time that we were conversing in a humane manor, I straight up asked her why she was so nasty to me from jump. She blamed it on her case load. They all do. They knew when they went to college for social working that the pay was mediocre and the case loads were intolerable. So if they weren’t going to be happy with their job, then why not do something else? God didn’t say: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you, unless, you have a high case load." I know for a fact that he didn’t say that.
Well I didn’t say much of anything but I do want to say that it is nice to get out and talk to the neighborhood from time to time.
May God bless you.
Get you FREE Copy of The American Red Cross Winter Storm Checklist CLICK HERE (Right click then Save Target As)
Donate to the American Red Cross by texting HAITI to 90999
That’s right, you are reading that title correct. A little bit of snow and the whole state shuts down. All the stores, malls and transportation brought to a SSCCCRRREEEAAAMMMMIIINNNGGG HALT!!
I couldn’t understand, I was out in that wonderful, fresh, crisp, clean air all day. I didn’t want to have to come back into the house. I was out in the neighborhoods visiting local business and neighbors and waiting for a bus to take me to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. When I woke in the morning and saw all that snow that was on the groung as well as what was still falling from heaven, my mind went into overdrive. All I could think bout was all the poor homeless people that were probably stuck in the freezing cold. Shelters can only house so many and there are only so many shelters. With a shelter it is first come, first served. They are just like any other business , they have an Occupancy Rating from the Fire Department. They cannot go over that limit.
PEOPLE AFFECTED BY DISASTERS NEED YOUR HELP. YOUR DONATION TO THE AMERICAN RED CROSS DISASTER RELIEF FUND ENABLES THE RED CROSS TO PROVIDE SHELTER, FOOD, EMOTIONAL SUPPORT AND OTHER ASSISTANCE TO VICTIMS OF DISASTERS. THE AMERICAN RED CROSS RELIES ON YOUR SUPPORT TO MEET THE NEEDS OF DISASTER VICTIMS. TO MAKE A CONTRIBUTION, CONTACT THE AMERICAN RED CROSS TODAY. YOUR HELP IS URGENTLY NEEDED. CALL 1-800-RED CROSS OR VISIT REDCROSS-DOT-ORG. THAT'S 1-800 RED CROSS OR RED CROSS DOT ORG.
That’s right the Associated Press has reported that amongst the major concerns, the lack of latrines has entered the top three. The need for water and food for over one million homeless has been there since the earthquake first hit. Now over two weeks into this ordeal a new threat has developed and that is the lack of toilets. At present there are on average one latrine per 2000 people.
The homeless has crowded into the capital city of Port-Au-Prince leaving no empty spaces and no place to dig for latrines. Unicef is on site and trying to coordinate water and sanitation. As of Saturday they are digging latrines for approxiamately 20,000 people. They are expecting about 1,100 squatting platforms for the camps in which they will be partitioned off with sheets of plastic for some privacy.
Enclosed herein is a small picture gallery that I have assembled from the NewsRoom Blof of The American Red Cross to see all of
Donate to Haiti Relief
their pictures a link is provided after the full gallery of 30 pics. See below and click on “Read the rest of this entry” for the gallery located on this site. Consider daonating to the American Red Cross for their efforts of helping our neighbors in distress.
Post-Katrina Storm Disorder and Recovery in South Mississippi Over Two Years Later
Abstract:
This (embeded) commentary describes a Katrina survivor and provider’s dual perspective two years post-Hurricane-Katrina. Highlights of the impact on individual, family, community and regional levels, and on social, economic and mental health levels are identified. This includes discussion of “Post-Katrina Storm Disorder,” the plight of the poor and near-poor and of the immigrants, a cognative reframing intervention for disaster relief agency workers, as well as helpful clinical strategies, impact on religious and spiritual beliefs and a modified “six stages of disaster recovery.” Finally, positive developments are elaborated concerning changes in personal priorities, life in a FEMA trailer, metamorphosis of the University of Southern Mississippi Gulf Coast Campus, the role of volunteers and resident self-help and personal life commitments.
If you are like me, I always have an interest in the post-disaster affects on a community. I myself have been involved in helping victims of disasters numerous times. I was a volunteer for my local American Red Cross Disaster Action Team. I have helped victims of mostly housefires in the local area. Our team would actually be dispatched to the scene by request of the fire chief. We were with the victims as the disaster occured and we would simply help them to secure shelter, food, and clothing immediately. We would then meet up with them the next day if our services were needed further, or perhaps refer them to the local chapter.
There was a time whereas I had the opportunity to work on what is called a National Disaster. This is a disaster of such magnitude that a State-of-Emergency had been called by the Governor or the president. When working on a National Disaster, you live on scene for a minimum of two weeks. It is this type of volunteer work that you get fully immersed in the disaster and it’s affect on the community. This type of volunteer work is the hardest to be a part of and to be able to work the long 16 hour days. The one National Disaster that I was involved in, my chairman and I was first on the scene. It was in New Jersey and many towns had been flooded by the Atlantic Ocean and some surrounding bays. We had our work cut out for us, much of the scene was still under five foot of water.
I know of a man that lived with his fiance’ in a home that they rented in another state. The relationship was not working out for him and while he was trying to salvage the relationship the home went up in flames with him in it, the others escaped fine. He was burned 65-75% of his body. He was in a coma for just over one month and he went through 4 surgeries for skin grafting. He had to re-learn how to walk again and laid curled up in a hospital bed for over eight months ending in a nursing home. One year and eight months later he still has open wounds and has chronic pain. While the man laid in his coma, his fiance’ cleaned him out of his insurance, money and belongings and furnishings that survived and a motor vehicle.
Unfortunately for him their was no recourse available because everything was jointly established. Although she did not work during their entire period of their relationship nor did she contribute to the bills they still put all in joint accounts for the most part. It was found out by him that while he was in the coma she was in bed with other men, no doubt looking for her next victim. When he first was brought out of the coma she visited and even stayed for like 3 or 4 days on the first visit and about 3 on the next, he was in a hospital over three hours drive away from where they had been living. She actually helped in him re-learning how to walk, however, during that last visit he discovered text messages on her cell phone which then he knew of her escapades. They talked a few times by telephone but the calls were growing further apart. He was moved to a location that was only 15 minutes were their supposed new house that she picked out for them was located. She led him to believe that he would be going back son as he was released. She didn’t visit and the phone calls stopped after he had asked her to take money from his account and go and buy him some clothes. He never heard from her again.
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Billions are being sent to Haiti, Will it make it and will it be used properly?
It happened in New Orleans, it happened in Iraq and it will probably happen in Haiti as well, especially since we have experience in Haiti. What you ask? The disappearance of our tax dollars. In Iraq over $800 million dollars of our money disappeared in just days out of a guarded storage facility. In New Orleans, fraud was widespread and the Housing Authority as well as FEMA reported hundreds of cases of fraud. One person embezzled 900k. A Mississippi Mayor and his wife were arrested and indicted on 16 counts of fraud for more than 220k and the list goes on and on and on.
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As I always say: “It’s the first time you don’t want to experience when it comes to something bad happening
to you in your life.” This is true. Think of a housefire, It’s the first one you don’t want to experience. An earthquake, a hurricane etc etc.
