After the storm: stories of heroes and hope emerged in the wake of Hurricane Katrina's destruction.

helping hands

In the days following the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, people simply wanted to help. From a quiet start with 10 volunteers, a truckload of water, and two truckloads of supplies at the Christ United Methodist Church (CUMC) gym in Jackson, a distribution center supported by churches, organizations, businesses, and individuals across the state and by volunteers and donations from more than 30 states and 5 countries evolved to provide critical supplies to Mississippi's hurricane relief shelters.

Seventeen days into the operation, the equivalent of more than 350 18-wheeler loads of relief supplies and inventory had been received, sorted, and distributed to more than 57 south Mississippi shelters. The shelters were supported or run by organizations including Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, Episcopalian, non-denominational, and Seventh-day Adventist churches as well as the Red Cross, Federal Emergency Management Agency, National Guard, Salvation Army, Timber Creek Camp, and Gateway Rescue Mission.

The initial donation came when Caroline Aderholt, wife of Alabama Congressman Robert Aderholt, called her friend Leisha Pickering, wife of Mississippi Congressman Chip Pickering, the day after the hurricane hit. Aderholt asked if the Pickering family was safe and what they could send. Water, Pickering replied. Later that day, a truckload of water arrived in Jackson, and Aderholt promised that more aid was on the way. Pickering told Red Cross officials at the Mississippi Coliseum that she had water, but they said they lacked a way to distribute it. They could only store it in a warehouse miles away. Pickering called her friend Scot Thigpen of Jackson with an idea of how to efficiently unload and distribute the supplies. Thigpen and Pickering, along with Jeff Redding and Mary John Johnson of Jackson, began to work toward a goal of creating a clearinghouse to help supply shelters in the Jackson area.

Pickering began making requests through local media for volunteers and donations. By Friday, September 2, requests for supplies were coming in from shelters across the state. Donations also poured in. As the operation gathered momentum, project leader Thigpen saw a need for a more formal organization to handle the workload. Redding coordinated inbound shipments, while Bill Walker managed the inventory in the CUMC gym. Lisa Cronk provided expertise in organizing the workflow and necessary order forms.

During the first week of operation, local businesses donated valuable equipment such as pallet jacks, doilies, forklifts, trucks and drivers, shrink-wrap, and boxes. The number of volunteers averaged between 200 and 600 a day. On September 9, the distribution center, having outgrown the space at CUMC, moved to a former Winn-Dixie building a block away.

"Certainly none of us have anything to do with trucking, warehousing, or distributing," said volunteer Betsy Cox. "None of us. Folks wandered in who did have that experience and lent that experience." For Cox, it has been a family affair. Husband Robin has also been heavily involved in the center's daily operations. "It's just a group of people working together to serve others."

Thousands of people responded with donations of food, water, medical supplies, diapers, and other much-needed items. Rusty Holcomb identified critical needs to the media. Volunteers and local trucking companies donated tracks and even fuel when it was in short supply. Essentials were delivered to shelters by every conveyance, including box trucks, pickups, trucks towing horse trailers, vans, and 18-wheelers.

The spirit and enthusiasm shown by the volunteers and the outpouring of donations have been overwhelming. Several truck drivers made deliveries from other states and then immediately volunteered to deliver supplies to shelters farther south. One woman making a donation said, "I don't have any money, so I used my food stamps to buy this food." A.C. Harrell from Zachary, Louisiana, and Bobby Gordy of Brandon delivered many loads despite detours and downed trees in the roads. Jaye Abarr, a resident of Powell, Wyoming, formerly of Crystal Springs, formed the Powell Valley Hurricane Relief Fund and raised more than $7,000 in 10 days in a town of 3,500 residents. Abarr then drove for more than 30 hours with her friend Betty Davenport and delivered a trailer full of supplies.

Recognizing the long-term need for an efficient disaster support center, a non-profit organization named Helping Americans Needing Disaster Support (HANDS) was established. The HANDS distribution center is still in operation, and relief efforts are continuing. A mobile clothes unit is planned to deliver new clothes to hurricane victims. The distribution center still needs volunteers and donations.

The emphasis of Christ United Methodist Church has shifted, according to Johnson, to providing work teams in affected areas, hosting evacuees, and resettlement.

Through the contributions of many, a community, state, and nation have joined together to make a difference.

Donations may be mailed to HANDS, P.O. Box 16449, Jackson, MS 39236-6449; to volunteer, call 601/914-7139.

recipe for relief

On television, Cat Cora may be considered an "Iron Chef," but in real life, the Mississippi native has proven that she has a heart of gold by stepping into the kitchen to help feed hurricane victims on the Gulf Coast.

Cora, who earned a degree from the University of Southern Mississippi before entering the culinary world, was inspired by last year's tsunami tragedy to form Chefs for Humanity, a coalition of culinary professionals focused on supporting "any group of people in a country in need of humanitarian relief." No one could have predicted that the group's first major project would involve Cora's own home state.

But there she was, only a couple of weeks after the storm, dishing out much-needed meals from the Bayou View Elementary School kitchen in Gulfport with other chefs, volunteers, and television personalities. "A hot meal becomes the one thing to look forward to," Cora said at the time, as her team served some 2,000 helpings of jambalaya, fajitas, and other dishes each day.

Chefs for Humanity now seeks to lend assistance in other ways, including restaurant rebuilding, farmer's markets, food education programs, public awareness, and fund-raising. The group is also planning a special Thanksgiving meal for the area's tent cities.

The first female chef on the Food Network's "Iron Chef America" remains committed to the needs of those in the Magnolia State. As she said while visiting the coast, "The Mississippi coast was Katrina."

For more information, see www.chefsforhumanity.org.

cause celebre

Jason Alexander donned a "Phantom of the Opera" mask and sang. Soap opera stars answered phones. And Ray Romano sparked laughs in a crowd that had not seen much to laugh about in recent weeks. These celebrities and several dozen others all spent an October evening on the University of Mississippi campus in Oxford participating in a gala fund-raising concert for hurricane relief.

The event was put together by Mississippi natives Sam Haskell, former worldwide head of television for the William Morris Agency, and Lanny Griffith, CEO of lobbying firm Barbour Griffith & Rogers, LLC, in Washington, D.C. Proceeds targeted the Mississippi Hurricane Recovery Fund, established by Governor Haley Barbour, and a similar fund in Louisiana, the Hurricane Katrina New Orleans Recovery Fund.

Many concert participants--including Morgan Freeman, Faith Hill, and Sela Ward--have ties to the Magnolia State. A few of the other high-profile performers included singer Brian McKnight, comedienne Whoopi Goldberg, and actress Doris Roberts. The concert was broadcast live on local television stations and nationally on MSNBC.

To contribute to the funds benefitted by the "Mississippi Rising" concert, see www.mississippirecovery.com or www.foundationsforrecovery.org.

live from the pass

Instead of simply reporting on the tragedy, ABC's "Good Morning America" (GMA) has become part of the story of recovery along the Mississippi coast by pledging to help rebuild anchor Robin Roberts' hometown of Pass Christian.

The morning news program is both documenting and aiding the long-term recovery effort by partnering with the Salvation Army and the Corporation for National and Community Service, both of which have sent teams of trained volunteers to the town. In addition, program guests like Sheryl Crow and Geena Davis have donated items for a special celebrity auction to support the Pass Christian project.

"This town will never be the same," Pass Christian chief administrative officer Malcolm Jones told GMA. "But it will be better."

For details on the Pass Christian "adoption" project, see www.gma.abcnews.com.

beyond the sea

Eight Atlantic Bottlenose dolphins who had been washed to sea from the Marine Life Oceanarium in Gulfport were rescued from the open waters in the weeks after Hurricane Katrina.

The hurricane completely destroyed the Oceanarium, which had been home to 14 dolphins, 27 sea lions, and 25 exotic birds. Biologists and trainers with the facility's sister organization, the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies (IMMS), had already transported six dolphins to hotel swimming pools for refuge before the storm hit; the remaining eight were placed in a 30-foot-high tank that had withstood 1969's Hurricane Camille, according to Oceanarium officials. But the tank was submerged by Katrina's storm surge, and officials said they believe the dolphins and several remaining sea lions swam out into the Mississippi Sound.

When the damage was assessed in the days after the storm, the evacuated dolphins were transferred to facilities in Florida. Even as some of their own homes were destroyed, Oceanarium animal trainers turned their attention to finding the missing dolphins and sea lions. Several of the sea lions were found "on back porches, under houses, amid debris piles, and keeping cool in neighboring bays and swimming pools," officials said.

The dolphin rescue effort would prove more difficult. Trainers feared that the mammals would not be able to survive in the wild, so they were relieved when the eight, swimming together, were located by aerial surveys on September 10. The trainers first fed the dolphins from their boats and then captured two a few days later by coaxing them onto large mats in the water. Eventually, all eight were recovered and reunited in emergency holding tanks supplied by the U.S. Navy before being temporarily relocated to another aquariums. Plans are already underway for the rebuilding of the Marine Life Oceanarium, which was established in 1956.

Contributions to IMMS' animal-care and rebuilding efforts may be sent to IMMS Disaster Relief, P.O. Box 207, Gulfport, MS 39502. For more details, see www.imms.org.