Vineyarders Join Nation in Aiding Hurricane Relief
By IAN FEIN
Vineyard Haven neighbors Laura Kimball and Ashley Brede planned to
spend a good part of their Labor Day weekend selling lemonade outside
their Skiff avenue homes. But when news spread of the devastation left
by Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and across the Gulf Coast region,
the pair found a new focus for their end-of-summer stand.
Katrina's Wake: Devastation of Hurricane Touches Life on
Vineyard
By James Kinsella Gazette Senior Writer
Devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina may delay the delivery of
the new Steamship Authority ferry Island Home for six months or more.
But the likely postponement of the new $30.5 million ferry for the
Vineyard is just one of the ripples reaching the Vineyard in the
aftermath of the hurricane, which authorities now say may have left
thousands dead in New Orleans and beyond.
They are two of the most accomplished and respected scholars both in
the nation's elite collegiate circles and in the African-American
community, but on Wednesday morning Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Dr.
Charles J. Ogletree Jr. were preoccupied with one thing - going
fishing.
Vineyard Residents Who Helped Vividly Recall Battered Region
By TOM DRESSER
During the eight years that former West Tisbury teaching assistant
Jill Dresser (who is my daughter) lived in New Orleans, the common
refrain she heard was that it was a doomed city, a bowl that had sunk
below water. Potholes were frequently seen gushing up water. Rain storms
quickly became momentary afternoon floods. And there always was talk of
The Big One.
The anguished crying went on and on, echoing within the walls of the
Old Whaling Church in Edgartown, where hundreds sat in silence.
On the screen at the front of the hall, a mother was walking away
from the grave of her five-year-old daughter, who drowned when the
levees outside New Orleans broke last August 30, sending the swollen
waters of Hurricane Katrina pouring into the streets of the mostly
black, mostly poor Ninth Ward.
Youth Group at Federated Church Returns from Mission to Aid New
Orleans Cleanup
By MARK ALAN LOVEWELL
A large area in and around New Orleans remains devastated after
Hurricane Katrina brought high winds and a storm surge to the Gulf Coast
in August 2005.
A group of high school students from the Martha’s Vineyard Public Charter School will return to Biloxi, Miss., to continue their Hurricane Katrina relief work. The students will be traveling Jan. 6 through 12 to work with the Restoration Point non-profit organization.
More than two years after Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast, volunteers still are cleaning up and rebuilding areas ravaged by the hurricane.
Skip and Mary Ann Danforth of Chatham, through the United Methodist Committee of Relief, have been leading such groups of volunteers, returning to Louisiana four times. They will be leading another group from Jan. 27 to Feb. 2.
The Federated Church of Edgartown is sending volunteers on a 10-day mission to New Orleans in November to continue the rebuilding work the church youth group began last December.
With the passing of the second anniversary of Katrina, and with so much left incomplete, inadequate, or non-existent in this still-ravaged area, the volunteers feel called to lend additional physical, emotional and spiritual support.
V igilantly we awaited news on what would happen when the full force of Hurricane Gustav hit New Orleans, almost three years to the day that Hurricane Katrina struck with brute force. This time there was better preparation. Most residents evacuated the city. Many were assisted with transportation that the local government provided in advance. New Orleans was forced to watch and see if the tenuous levees would be strong enough to hold back water.
