Hurricanes Katrina & Rita

Like many others, I watched with some interest as Hurricane Katrina gathered steam. I had learned from living in Key West during Hurricane Andrew that it’s always a good idea to pay attention to where the hurricane may turn; especially important given I lived in Northern Florida.

I watched in horror as the levees broke, flooding the lower parts of New Orleans, especially the 9th Ward.

I wasn’t comfortable with feeling powerless; so I decided to help in the way I best know and can best contribute … get on the phone, reach out to large corporations, and rustle up some donations. Thus began a year and a half journey ….. You can read more about how I got involved and what happened throughout my journey.

What I gained through this journey is invaluable on a personal level. The stories I heard, the trust people put in me, the ways people were helping … was so uplifting, so inspiring … I feel lucky to have been able to contribute in the ways I did. That way was through logistics …. procuring supplies …. securing and eliciting donations for groups including monetary donations … developing a transportation system for managing the transport of approximately 2,200 animals over a 9-week period, sent to various pre-screened groups in multiple geographic areas of the United States and into Canada. I developed some lifelong friends and found my soul reawakened.

My favorite highlights of how I was able to contribute are as below, or you can read the full summary in PDF here.