News and Community Outreach
Here you will find links to media coverage of Cooking with Class. You can also read about Chef Nanci's experience helping the survivors of Hurricane Katrina.

Recent Media Coverage of Cooking with Class

http://www.svcn.com/archives/lgwt/20050921/lgnews1.shtml

Carolyn Jung of the San Jose Mercury News...
Angel in an RV pays a visit to devastated area or Mississippi read more..

ABC News...
When the hurricane that was Katrina read more...

Carolyn Jung of the San Jose Mercury News...
Angel pays another visit to Mississippi read more...

Nation's Restaurant News
Top Chefs from the country flock to areas devastated by Hurricane Katrina read more...


Community Outreach:
Cooking with Class is heavily involved in community outreach programs. We are proud to support our local schools through donations of cooking classes, private dinners and chef lectures. For information on donations contact Nanci Wokas directly.

I had the great pleasure of being able to travel to Biloxi Mississippi directly after Hurricane Katrina hit. My experiences while there are some I will never, ever forget. I kept a journal and thought I would share it with all of you. Enjoy.

Dear friends and family –
Thought it would be interesting to document our trip and send it out – I’ll try to keep everyone posted as we go.

Prelude to the journal –

I was, like many others, glued to the news after Katrina hit the Gulf States. The exact moment I decided to try and do something can be traced to a news clip of a young mother I saw on the TV. I don’t even know where she was from but, the brief interview struck me hard – it was a profoundly sad moment for me. She looked exhausted and near heat stoke as she carried her sleeping young child – she cried and pleaded with the news crew to help her, she had no food, water or shelter. She cried out that her young child could hardly be woken up due to the heat and hungry he/she was feeling. The look on her face showed the clear hell she had gone and was going through. She was broken. I cannot even imagine what I would do if I were not able to feed my children or give them fresh water – especially in heat as high as 106 with outrageous humidity levels. To me, food and water have always seemed like my “basic rights" as an American. Which then made me think, “My God, this is the United States of America – this cannot happen here”. But indeed there it was staring at me from the television set day hour after hour….

I must say the wave of complete and utter disappointment I felt over the lack of government response to this horrendous and catastrophic event overwhelmed me. It not only became an act of humanity for me – it became a civic duty for me. I simply did not want these people to feel so forgotten.
The idea to go and try to provide help in the way of food was a no brainer – it is what I do best. But where to go, how to get there, what and who to bring became the hurdles I needed to jump. I resolved myself to knowing there was no way we could feed the hundreds of thousands of displaced residents. I decided my efforts would be best placed in trying to feed the relief workers. It seemed a good idea to provide them with the strength and nourishment they would need to continue their work of helping others.

9/11 – 9/13

This all began with a call to David Cohen – a local Chef I had become friends with. I told him what I wanted to do and he said “lets” go for it. He said he would begin calling other chefs and food vendors to see what kind of help he could come up with. My job was to find out where to go and how to get there.
I started by calling the Red Cross. I tried for 3 hours straight and could not get through to anyone who could give me information as to where I could go with food and chefs to set up a “mobile kitchen”. I then tried FEMA – I never got through to a live person after some 30 calls – nor did I ever get a return call. I decided to call the local ABC news station to see if they could provide me with any information or if they could put me in touch with a ground crew within the hurricane region. I guess the “Gods” were with me on this call because I got in touch with the news desk and spoke with a man named Carter. He could not believe what I was trying to do and took great interest. He promised to call me back with some sort of help. He called back within the hour and had the cell phone number of the president of the San Francisco Red Cross Chapter. I called immediately and got through - I told the gentlemen what I was doing and he said that unfortunately the Red Cross deals with shelters – not food. He suggested I call Second Harvest. I did and they said they could not accept my help nor any food donations due to the fact that they were currently overwhelmed with their owns efforts for support to the Gulf States. They suggested I send money. I went back to trying to get in touch with FEMA. I finally got a “live” person. I told him what I was trying to do. He informed me that I was not certified by FEMA and would not be given “clearance” for this effort. He said it was the job of FEMA to feed the people and any foods I tried to transport could be confiscated by FEMA. I could not believe my ears. Things did not add up – if it was they job to feed the people why were there so many people starving and dying of dehydration?

Carter, from ABC news, called me back to see how I was doing. I told him I felt that I was at a stand still and did not where to go from there. He said he would talk it over with his team and call me back.

In the meantime, David called me and said he had secured 3000 pounds of fresh meats from Bassin Farms. He also said that Leger Foods was willing to let us go through their warehouse and “take what we needed”. By this time I had also reserved an RV from Cruise America. They offered me a 10% discount on the rental because of my efforts. I also called Gene’s Fine Foods, Los Gatos Meats, and Willow Glen Smoke House Meats – all were willing to give substantial donations of food. My dear and sweet friend, Tami, began to collect money donations for gas and incidental for the road. She also called neighbors for ice chests, grills and BBQ’s. Our neighborhood is so awesome – everyone came through in some way or another. My doorbell began ringing. Neighbors and friends of neighbors were stopping by with words of support and money to help fund the cause. So we had transportation, lot’s of food, a crew and money but, we had no where to go.

Carter called me again and gave me the phone number of Melinda Drayton of the Alameda County Fire Department. He said he knew they had a crew in Mississippi and perhaps she could help. Well, she was crucial to the cause. She put me in touch with the captain of her crew in Biloxi. He said absolutely get down there and that help was needed. He said this kind of help was perfect in terms of what the “ground crews” needed. Unfortunately, he was due to come home after having worked 14 days straight – without a break. He promised to get me in touch with somebody there in Biloxi. The next day I received a call from Sgt. Eddie Irwin of the Biloxi Police Department. His words – and I quote, “Y’all get down here we need ya”. I explained what I would be capable of doing and said great – just get here. I asked if had had any specific requests – items we might be able to get that they could not. He chuckled a bit and said, “We can’t get anything there are no stores”. The one thing he did ask for was fresh eggs. He said not to worry about anything else they would be grateful for anything we could bring. So, now we had transportation, a crew, tons of food, a place to go to and most importantly “ground clearance”. It had been 2 days since I started this mission.

Sunday was such a hard and upsetting day for us. Just after receiving ground clearance my Mom called to tell us my step-dad, Mike, had been admitted to the hospital and was having emergency surgery. Al and I rushed to the hospital and learned he had a ruptured appendix. We sat with Mom in the hospital during the surgery. She didn’t know that we were planning on leaving within a few days for Mississippi. While we were waiting I filled her in on the details. My mom started crying. She couldn't believe this undertaking. She encouraged me to go in spite of Mike's illness - saying she and Lisa (my step-sister) would be here for him and that he would want us to go and help however we could. She assured me things would be fine at home and told me how much she loved me.

Upon returning home from the hospital we got a phone call from Al's Mom in Sacramento. Turns out Al’s Dad was also in the hospital due to some dizzy spells he was having – we couldn’t believe all this was happening! Al's brothers Randy and Matt were at our house during all this. They left immediately to go to Sacramento and take care of Mom and Dad Wokas. They too told us to go - continue on with the plan.
Well, the good news is that by the next day we learned that both Dads’ would be fine. Mike was very, very sick and would have to remain in the hospital for some time but were absolutely be okay. Al Sr. would be released from the hospital within the day with new medicines to help with a mild heart condition.
Being a bit superstitious I started thinking all these "road blocks" might be a message to avoid making this trip. I reflected back on the last 48 hours and thought My God, this is huge, what in the world am I doing? Everyone (family, friends, neighbors and co-workers) seemed to think we should continue with our plans and so….

We went into high gear late Sunday afternoon

Al and I were up and ready for work early Monday morning. Chef David Cohen delivered some bad news – he was not going to be able to make the trip nor were any of the other chefs he had lined up. That left Al and I to make the 2296-mile trip in an RV, set-up a camp and cook for what Eddie said was approximately 200+ civil workers per day, per meal. OMIGOD!

Needless to say, I started having panic attacks. I was so torn on what to do – if I said no at this point I would disappoint so many people. And what was I going to do with all these donations of food, money and supplies? I went into Al's office and burst into tears saying I was in way over my head. After calming me down Al simply stated that any help these people could get would be better, even if it was only two people. So we decided we had to go – we had come too far and promised too much to back out. High gear was given new meaning over the next 24 hours.....

Around 8:20 am my big brother, Kelly, called me to tell me how proud and excited he was of and for me. I told him I thought I was in way, way over my head and began to cry. You have to know Kelly. He said, “Big brother will find a way to get there and help.”

I started organizing the pick-up and deliveries of the food items. I called Gene's back and asked for every crate of eggs they had - they gave me 182 dozens eggs! By 10:00 am I had all the food and supplies I thought we could carry in the RV.

Just after 10:30 am Kelly called to tell me that not only did the President of Christenson Electric, give him the time off but also said he would send two others from the office and pay for their flights to San Jose. I was overjoyed – Kelly is an awesome man and such a hard worker. You always know this guy will have your back even at the expense of his own. He said he would call later with flight details - and he did. Their flight would land at 8:15 pm.

Al and I picked up the RV. I told Al how much food was coming and he just looked at me and said, "No, way is it all going to fit." He suggested a U-haul trailer hitched to the RV. I ran to U-haul while Al finished the RV paper work. I begged the U-haul manager for a trailer right there on the spot and asked for a discount. He gave me 50% off and the largest trailer they had on the lot - he also wished me well and said, "Thank you for doing this.". Al drove the RV to U-haul and had the trailer hooked up. Then he was off to Gene's to pick up the pallets of foods. When he returned to our house the trailer was already full with pallets of produce and a pallet of water Gene's threw into the mix. The inside of the RV had crates and crates of eggs all lining the hallways of the RV. Al and I started laughing at how much we already had. David called to tell me that Ledger Foods offered him a trailer truck loaded with goods to drive over for un-loading and re-loading into the RV and trailer.

I left in our SUV to pick up the meats that had been promised from Bassin Farms. I had no real idea of what 2000 pounds of meat actually looked like all together. With the seats out of my SUV the back was just about full. I then went to Los Gatos meats and begged for more. They gave me wild boar sausage, pork links, bacon, hanger steaks and hot dogs. The owner told me to drive over to Willow Glen Smoked Meats where they would give me more. I did - they gave me whole smoked turkeys and chickens, 300 pounds of pork butt roasts and more pork sausage. I estimated I had about 3200 pounds of meat in my car - every crack and crevice was filled with frozen meat. Then it hit me - how are we going to keep this cold for the three day drive? I called Tami and asked her to round up every ice chest she could find in the neighborhood and have it to my house by 5:00 pm. Then I headed so San Jose Ice Company. I showed up Johnny on the spot and asked for free dry ice. They were un-sure at first then gave in and opened the chest in which it is stored and gave me all I could hold. It was around 5:00 pm now and I had so much stuff in my car the car was lowered by almost a foot.

ABC news, NBC news and our local news stations begun calling me on my cell phone about every 30 minutes during this day for updates – they wanted footage of us loading and wanted to know what time we would be loading and at what time.

David called me to say that Ledger, his food distributor, had come through with 8 pallets of food for us. He was in a large refrigerated truck and driving to it over to my house. I was not sure how Al, David and I would un-load 8 pallets of food and 3200 pounds of meat and then re-load into a trailer and RV.

Our local fire station in Saratoga has some of the finest men in uniform you’ll ever know. I stopped by and asked for a hand to un-load and re-load our vehicles and the Beau, the captain on duty gave me an “absolutely”. Tami and Bob/Gina were rounding up friends and neighbors to lend a hand. I told everyone to meet at our house by 5:30.

I got home at 5:15, David rolled up 5 minutes behind me. Within 20 minutes the fire department, neighbors, friends and the media arrived. We took inventory of all we had and were overwhelmed and worried we had too much to carry and keep cold. Al had a brilliant idea. He went and purchase insulation. His plan was to use the insulation along with the dry ice to turn the U-haul into a refrigerator. He is such a genus.

Everyone went to work – the fire department set up a chain gang and began loading the U-haul. Neighbors began to load the RV with the dry goods, kids from the neighborhood started loading ice chests, another friend went to get us sandwiches and coffee – it was absolutely amazing.

The media filmed the entire process and we gave some interviews. By 7:50 pm we were done loading and packing. Bob went to the airport to pick up Kelly and crew. Al and I packed our personal belongings. I typed medical release forms etc. for Alex who was going to stay with his new Mom and “favorite” Dad – Paula and Phil Thoren.

Kelly arrived along with two of his co-workers, Laurie and David. I knew right away upon meeting these new people they would be wonderful on this trip. We all agreed the adventure before us would be life changing – but in a positive way. We finalized our plan of action and went to bed around 12:00 am. Our goal was a 4:00 am departure.

A channel 7 news team greeted me at 3:40 am. They wanted coverage of us leaving and an interview detailing our mission. We had our coffee, put in our last minutes items and said a prayer. We were off by 4:45 am.

Along the way we all agreed we wished we had thought to make a sign of some sort for the sides of the RV to let people know we were on our way to help the victims of Katrina. I called Saratoga Kinkos/FedEx and they referred me to the store in Flagstaff, AZ. I called and told them what we were doing and asked if they thought they could help us with some signage.Wi thin 20 minutes I had a call back and the store manage said no problem – they would love to help. We arrived in Flagstaff around 7:30 pm. We found the store and were thrilled with the new s. The designers did a great job. The signs read “BAY AREA CHEF RELIEF HURRICANE PROJECT”. There are two chefs at the top and an American Flag next to the Golden Gate Bridge on the bottom – really neat. The store would not take our money for the s - they donated them!

Between 3 drivers we made it to Albuquerque New Mexico – our halfway point at 3:00 am September 14, 2005. We were all so tired we decided to pull off into a rest stop and get some sleep. We slept about 3 hours and then went looking for a truck stop with some showers. We found a stop but were told they did not have showers. Kelly met one of the shop employees who was so touched by our story he offered us showers at his house in the back of the stop. He called his wife and asked her to get the shower ready for us. We were touched further by his generous offer when we arrived at his very humble home. I would venture to say that these people live just below the poverty level and here they were willing to help us however they could. His wife sells homemade Indian jewelry and when she would not accept money from us for the use of the showers we bought her crafts – which thrilled her, as she was very proud of her goods.

While traveling through Texas we had a blow out. Kelly was behind the wheel and he handled everything great. The outside dual tire on the passenger side was literally gone except the rim. We called Cruise America and they had us back on the road in under an hour!

It is now 10:10 pm central time and we are about 20 miles from Dallas. Our goal is to travel down to the north of Dallas and connect to hwy. 20 east, which will take us right into Biloxi. We are all feeling nervous and scared of what we might see and encounter along the way. We have been warned to stay clear of Baton Rouge and areas near New Orleans because of the amount of violence (read desperation) so our route will cut back to the north to Shreveport Louisiana where we will stop for a few hours rest. We expect to arrive into Biloxi sometime around 11:00 am Thursday September 15th.

Laurie and David have been wonderful travel companion – the kind of people you love instantly. We have had lots of laughs on the way and a few tearful moments as well. Their hearts are pure and I am so proud they are here with us.

Our biggest worry at the moment is that FEMA will confiscate our food. We were told several truckers carrying food items into some of the affected areas have been stopped by FEMA south of Dallas on interstate 10 and have had all the food taken over by FEMA. We even heard a story of an entire RV being taken from travelers by FEMA and travelers stranded! I do not think anyone will board this craft we are traveling in – again – you just have to know Kelly! Needless to say we will travel a different route to try and avoid this conflict.

So, this brings you all up to date. I know this was long and tedious to read. My follow-ups should be shorter and more frequent.
Big thank you’s to Tami, Bob, Gina, Bob, Barbara, Pam, Bob, Tina, Daniel, Amy, Jill, Anne, Tyler, Trevor and the Saratoga Fire Department for your great help loading us up! Thanks to Mike O’rouke – I got all the food items – you’re awesome. Many, many thanks to Paula and Phil for taking care of Alex. Thanks again to Tami and Bob for watching over the house and pets! We love you all!!

Nanci
Lisa, Tami and Gina – Please forward this to:
Pam, Barbara J. , Mike O"Rourke
XOXOXO

September 15, 2005 –

We were all so hungry (and for good food – no more fast food!) we stopped at a real Texas comfort food restaurant. We filled up on steaks and salad trying to get as much protein in our systems as possible. Tired and full we took off around 11:00 pm. We all decided it would be best to stop in Shreveport, LA at a KOA we read about. We are anticipating the conditions to be pretty rough in Biloxi so we thought one last night of sleep (well, 3 hours anyways) and hot showers in the morning would be good for us.

Laurie acted as co-captain as Dave took the first shift behind the wheel. Kelly, Al and I tried to rest. Laurie and I switched places around 1:45 am so she could rest and I could keep Dave company. While traveling down I20 we noticed hundreds of big rig trucks all heading south. Some were carrying huge generators, ATV’s, lumber, steel, earthmovers and bobcats. And so the re-building begins.

We stopped around 3:30 am Louisiana time at a KOA campground to get some sleep. We all passed out – except poor Dave. He has been going non-stop for days now. Too much adrenal in his system to let him sleep.

We woke around 5:45 and were able to make some coffee since we had power at the campground. We all took much needed showers and hit the road by 6:30 am. I had packed some cereal and milk so we had breakfast on the road.

Our neighbor Pam packed a care package for us. We went through it this morning and found great items! Ben gay, antacids, chocolate, mints, gum, vitamins, Chap Stick, hand sanitizer and naturally some great wines! It was so thoughtfully put together and we were all touched. Many thanks Pam!!! XOXOXO

Todd from the Saratoga Fire department has volunteered his time to come down and help us cook and organize. He was able to hitch a ride with Bob Comes, who was flying down some folks from San Jose to work with the financial powers of FEMA. They arrived into Mississippi with special permission to land at an air force base. Local church organizations were able to provide them with vans to travel to their destinations.

Todd arrived at our point of destination around 7:00 pm last night. He called me this morning to check in. He told me there are hundreds of displaced people there as well as rescue workers. He said the devastation was of such a great magnitude there were little words. Bob Comes said it was “jaw dropping”. Todd said the folks there were talking about a bay area chef coming all the way from California to cook for them. He said the food situation was meager. What little they have is being prepared by anyone who can at the moment they get hungry.

I feel really worried about the amount of food I have. There isn’t enough to feed so many people without taken care to ration it out. I hope and pray the expectations are not too high. I am so worried and feel I am in over my head with this – I keep telling myself a little is better than nothing. But if expectations are high – I may seem like a disappointment.

Our dear friend Michael Kerbyson is in Biloxi also. He and several other paramedics were dispatched out of Alameda County to help with the victims. Originally they were dispatched to New Orleans but were told they did not need paramedics to “bag bodies” and they would be of more help in Mississippi. Michael and I have been leaving voice mail messages. He said there are a lot of devastated areas but not to worry about violence and death – most of this has passed.

Today in the Dallas news it was reported that there are hundreds of water moccasins and cottonmouth snakes in and around the Biloxi area. It seems they too have been displaced. When the river and swamplands swelled with the rains from the storm the snakes and alligators moved into the neighborhoods – then the winds hit and houses fell. The rescue workers searching through the rumble are using extra caution since many, many snakes are slithering into the fallen lumber for shelter. The thought of this send shivers up my spine – I am so afraid of snakes!!!! I told the crew in the RV that if I saw one we would have to leave immediately to which they replied, “No, you’ll cook it up”! – Yikes.

We just stopped at the last Wal-Mart before our destination – I picked up all the carrots, celery, green peppers and packaged pre-washed lettuce I could find. My mind is churning up recipes I can begin to make upon our arrival. Gumbo, Chicken and Rice stew, grilled turkey breast (I have 200 whole turkey breasts), grilled pork lion, wild boar sausage, rigatoni with marinara, mashed potatoes and salad. I just do not know how far anything I have will go – no idea of how many people are there waiting for us. The parking lot was full of vans with church logos on them. I assume they are picking up goods to feed to victims living in their parishes’.

Laurie and I are becoming fast friends – she is a wonderful person with a kind and generous heart. We all know bonds are being created that will never be broken.

I miss Alex so much! I worry about him everyday. I am so thankful for Paula and Phil. Paula called last night and told me she went to his classes at back-to school – how awesome is that!!

Katie called last night – she is worried and excited for us. She will only be 6 hours away from us. The route from Jacksonville to Biloxi is Interstate 10 – most of which has been washed away. She really wants to drive out and meet us here but we said no - not knowing how dangerous it would be for her.

Okay – enough for now. I will log in later on today. We are about 2 hours away now.

Later – same day,

We are traveling on state route 49 and are about 85 miles from Biloxi. We are starting to see downed trees and a few houses with roof tiles missing. We saw one house with a tree right in the front room – roof completely smashed in and the roots of the tree exposed. The span of the root system must have been over 8 feet. There are very few power lines still standing. The small towns and rural areas we are traveling through look deserted and we are still an hour away. I feel so anxieties as to what we are going to encounter.

At about 20 miles outside of Gulfport we began seeing tons of tents and makeshifts shelters in school and store parking lots. We are seeing a lot of military vehicles, hummers everywhere. We are also seeing debris in trees – underwear, bags, trash, blankets and even a mattress. There are beds, dressers, sofas, toys, washer and dryer in yards thrown about in yards. We were all pretty quiet just taking in the landscape of our new surroundings. All of the sudden we heard a very load bang coming from the trailer. We pulled over and found the hubcap of the newly replaced tire wedged under the tire of the U-haul. It shredded the inside front of the tire. There was no place to get this fixed. We decided to continue on never reaching speeds over 30 mph.

My contact here in Biloxi is the most southern gentlemen you’ll ever meet. Eddie Irwin called us minutes after the hubcap incident asking where we were. I told him we were just coming up to I 10 and explained our situation with the trailer. He said to look for him on the side of the road just over the Biloxi River Bridge, said he would be there waiting for us. We limped along the interstate noting the all the trees where dotted with clothing, trash and billboards signage that had been shredded. Just over the bridge sat Eddie – waiting to guide us in - so with police lights flashing he guided us into downtown Biloxi.
You just cannot believe how bad this town was hit. Houses are littered with debris, stripped of roofs, trees are down, and cars are parked in driveways with trees or roof slabs on top of them. People are putting cardboard box pieces in front of their homes with notes that read, “Please help – no power” or “FEMA WHERE ARE YOU?” Another home placed a sign over a pile of boxed things and a sign that read, “Please don’t take this – we still live here”. Then there are the red or orange sign reading CONDEMNED.

We arrived to the Police/Fire Department camp. The camp, now our home for the next few days, is located in a Catholic school playground. There are military trucks and tents everywhere, there are medic tents set up and canopies scatter around the yard with cots lined up in them for the military’s and relief workers to sleep – it is about 4:45 pm and I would guess the temperature to be somewhere around 105 with humidity around 100%. There are men trying to rest in these areas and I feel amazed there are still in full uniform – I have on shorts and a short sleeve tee-shirt and I am soaking wet after being out of the air conditioned car for 20 minutes.

I have to stop here for now – more later about my tour.

Love to all –
Nanci

Today is Saturday – 2 days since I have written in this journal. So much has happened in the short time I have been here that I could probably write for days. I am going to try and recall images and stories as best I can.

I left off with our arrival to this camp – Eddie Irwin a sergeant here at the Biloxi and my contact since this started gave me a tour of all the facilities. The school gymnasium is filled with food and/or supplies of every kind. Breads, canned vegetables, dry pasta, oatmeal, cereal, soaps, bleach, peanut butter, jelly, tea, coffee, cases of salt, pepper, soups, grits, flour, sugar, water (tons and tons of water), juice, Gatorade, rice, tons of food just scattered about.
He took us on to the kitchen. The kitchen is a bit of a mess – by no means is there are sanitary standards being adhered to. There are volunteer workers all over. There is an old stove, oven, dishwashing station, aluminum countertops, work surfaces and sinks. There are pots and pans of industrial quality, sheet pans, hotel pans and enough utensils to make for a good working kitchen. The cafeteria has several tables and the crew here has set up soda and water stations. All and all it is set up pretty well.

Eddie had us park in the outside playground area of the school. There were 15 or 20 policemen standing by ready to unload our RV and trailer. The camp was able to get a huge refrigerator trailer. It had power via a generator. Irwin jumped in the truck and extended his hand out to me to pull me up. There were boxes and boxes of hot dogs, hamburger patties, chicken patties, sausage links, soup base, crawfish, shrimp, gumbo base, and ice pallets. Everything was frozen. I start taking an inventory of what they had. The policemen, Al. Kelly and David started a chain gang and began unloading our trailer. As the meat came up into the truck I started organizing our meat locker by creating piles of like kinds – chicken piles, hot bogs piles, hamburger piles etc.

I have to say I was pretty amazed at how much meat we actually brought with us. All in all we unloaded about 3200 pounds of meat. 600 pounds of pork shoulder, 700 pounds of chicken, 400 pounds of turkey breast, 500 pounds of assorted sausages, 500 pounds of steaks, 300 pounds of pork sausage links and 400 pounds of whole smoked turkeys and hams. We also brought an entire pallet of fresh produce donated by Genes Fine Foods – apples, oranges, lettuce, tomatoes, celery, carrots, and the most welcomed item of all - 125 dozen fresh eggs. Irwin had requested eggs saying they had not had eggs since the storm. Aboard the RV we had 100 pounds of rice, 50 pounds of onions, fresh butter, 125 pounds of fresh cheese, dry pasta, canned marinara sauce, canned tomatoes, a case of salt and pepper, 15 boxes of Mrs. See’s Lollipops, 40 boxes of fruit roll ups, 4 cases of corned beef hash, chicken soup base and 75 pounds of pancake mix. Yes, we were crowded during our drive here.

After un-loading Kelly and Al got the RV hooked up. The police brought us over a generator so we would have power. In the meantime, I started in on the gymnasium – I decided to turn it into a grocery store. I was reminded of my sister and I when we were little and played store for hours on end. We would get groceries from our kitchen and put them around the house taking care to create aisles of canned goods, dairy etc. Same principals in the gym – canned goods were sorted by type and lined into aisles. These aisles were 100 feet long. We ended up with aisles of water, canned veggies sorted by type, breads, pastas and dry mixes, flour, sugars, soups, spices and diapers. In another area of camp there was a tent filled with paper products, plates, utensils, napkins etc. Next we went into the kitchen. There were a group of volunteers there preparing the evening meal. We stood and observed. We met a sweet lady named Donna who seemed to be the one to have taken charge of the kitchen. She explained to us the procedures they had been using thus far and stated while the methods they were using were crude there was never time to change it – they just got the job of feeding these 700 – 1000 people done 3 times a day. They all looked tired. Many of these volunteers had lost their houses to Katrina and still here they were helping others.

Donna asked us to take the breakfast shift. Meal times run from 6:00 am – 9:00 am for breakfast, 12:00 pm – 3:00 pm for lunch, 6:00 – 9:00 pm for dinner and 12:00 am – 3:00 am for late night meals. She said we needed to keep food coming for at least 3 hours per shift due to the schedules of the firemen, policemen, military police, soldiers and search and rescue crews. All are working 24 hours daily.

I asked what people were carving and what they were enjoying the most. I wanted to be prepared to continue to prepare foods they liked. She said they are happy with anything they can get. Breakfast usually consists of grits, pancakes, grilled sausages, and canned fruit. They have not had any fresh butter here since the storm. Some mornings they cook up some liquid eggs from a carton. Basically – they cook whatever they have on hand.

I assured Donna we would take the morning shift. I told my crew (Kelly, Laurie, Al and Dave) we would need to arrive in the kitchen no later than 3:30 am in order to ready by 6:00 am. It was now 10:00 pm. I took a look in the refrigerator, gym and food storage areas to get ideas for breakfast. I decided on grits, pancakes, fresh scrambled eggs, baked ham, grilled sausages and fresh orange slices. I also found some canned orange juice.

We went back to our camp and Kelly began to gather chairs, a table and a garbage can for our site. I got the RV organized by making up beds etc. By 11:30 pm we were ready for bed. We all bunked down but I don’t think any of us really slept.

Dave’s alarm went off around 3:15 am. Al, Kelly, Laurie and I got up and dressed. Dave was not feeling very good and stayed in bed. We went over the kitchen and were surprised to find a group of volunteers already there and cooking. I guess there is a 12:00 am to 7:00 am shift. They were already preparing breakfast. We introduced ourselves and said we were they to help. We were met with a great deal of resistance. No one seemed to want to talk to us or let us know what we should do or what was being done. Finally a lady named Tammy pulled me aside. She told me in a very firm voice that the people there were employees of the City. That many of them had lost their homes and everything they owned. Her voice was quivering as she spoke. She told me they were doing everything they could to hold on to their jobs and that our being there may very well threatened the only jobs they now had.

I understood the hostility we had been met. I assured her our mission was to “help” not take over and that we were able to bring food and supplies to them and our goals were to do whatever we could to help.

After my talk with Tammy things seemed to calm down somewhat. I assured her over and over again we just wanted to help – not take over. I asked her for direction and then just sort of laid low and waited. Finally, a fellow by the name of Michael told me how he had been coming into the kitchen every night and making pancakes. He started around 3:00 am and used a small skillet to make the cakes, three at a time. You can imagine how long it took him to prepare 500+ hot cakes a night. I told him I was chef from California and I had come down to help do some cooking for the relief workers. He said he had heard the commander speak of “an angle from California” coming with food and help. He invited us to jump in wherever we could.

Kelly and I began the process of sanitizing the kitchen. I bleached the floors, countertops and sinks. Kelly got the dishwasher station worker – power sprayer, sanitizer and drying area. We washed pots and pans started a bleach bucket for soiled kitchen towels. I got the pilot light lit on the old stove and scrubbed the burners down. We took out trash and fitted the bins with plastic garbage bags. I showed the volunteers how to properly wash the dishes – hot soapy water – a quick rinse and then a dip in a small amount of water mixed with bleach. The water here in Biloxi still has not been cleared for cooking or drinking. After our cleaning we all got some breakfast and sat with the group of volunteers and ate with them. We listened to story after story of homes being lost, neighbors who had not been located, and families separated from loved ones. It was very sad.

It was 10:45 am and I was exhausted. We were told we had to go to the medic tent and get our shots ASAP so we headed over there and got a Hepatitis A & B as well as a tetanus booster. OUCH!

I decided to get some things ready for dinner – knowing we would have to start at least 3 1/5 hours early. I went out to the food freezer and brought out 25 whole pork shoulder roasts and 20 whole boneless turkey breasts. All in all this was about 300 pounds of meat. Al and I took them into the kitchen and laid them out to defrost. Can you believe they were still frozen!!? Al’s idea to insulate that trailer ice was great. I took a shopping cart (Eddie borrowed these from the local market just after the storm) with me into the gym – our new local grocery store. I collected industrial sized boxes of; mashed potato flakes, rice, red beans, gravy, green beans and corn.

My evening menu was going to be mashed potatoes with gravy, red beans and rice, green beans, corn, marinated and grilled pork shoulder roast, grilled turkey breast and fresh green salad. I placed everything in the kitchen to prepare later. There was a church group coming from the north to prepare a catfish fry for lunch. We went back to the RV to rest.

Our RV has air conditioning – thank heavens!! It is about 107 today with humidity in the 90’s – absolutely draining. It is so hot outside that the inside air can only bring the room temperature down to a balmy 80 or so degrees. I lay down and tried to take a nap – I kept telling myself I was going to need all my energy for my first dinner of 700 people.

Al and Kelly went out for a ride with Eddie. They wanted to see the effects of the hurricane out towards to water. We agreed to meet in the kitchen by 3:00 pm to start dinner. I slept. It was so nice. To sleep with the RV not moving is a great thing!

We met in the kitchen around 3:00 pm and went to work. Al and Kelly stared the outside grills. I started boiling bottled water to make potatoes, we filled the serving areas with hotel pans and hot water, opened canned goods and emptied them into hotel inserts to be later submerged into the hot water pans. Laurie did dishes and cleaned up after all of us – she also got us cold wash cloths from the medic tent and kept them on our necks to keep us cool. The kitchen was about 110 degrees and I was working over the hot stove. Al and Kelly were outside cooking all the meat. It was hot – you cannot imagine the heat. We were all soaked with sweat.

At about 5:40 people started coming into the cafeteria. There were police and firemen, military personal, medics and a few civilians. They looked hungry and tired. We were not ready.The meat was taking way too long – some was still frozen in the middle. I started to panic. I had all the other food out and hot but no meat. I kept running outside to see if it was ready but Kelly was concerned it was too raw in the middle. I took some of the pork off had Dave start slicing it in the kitchen – it was rare. I threw on a sauté pan and began sautéing the meat and then adding it to the hot hotel pan. By 6:05 we had enough to start serving those already in line. The turkey starting coming in as well. Dave carved all that meat up – about 300 pounds worth. We kept all those serving pans filled until 9:00 pm.

The most wonderful thing happened to me during this first meal. I was so moved by how appreciative these people were. Almost everyone entered the line with a smile on his or her face. Everyone remembered their manners – saying please and thank you to each and every one of the volunteers helping to serve. One gentlemen from NYFD made a point to come back to shake Al’s hand and say thank you. I was overwhelmed with the generosity of people’s hearts and the human spirit. We were at the tail end of serving this meal and it looked as if we had done it – we served about 700 people in the course of 3 hours. I walked outside. Kelly was there. I just burst into tears. I sobbed uncontrollably on his shoulder for a long while. He just kept telling me how proud he was of me and how much he loved me and what a great job we were doing.

Al came out next and smiled at me and said, “They all love it!” Naturally, I started crying again and it was his turn to hold me.

At 9:00 we began the clean up portion of our shift. It didn’t take us very much time at all. The next crew came in around 10:00 and helped us out. Michael from the night shift suggested we sleep in the next morning and he would do breakfast again. He said he liked doing it and had it down by now. We were all pretty relived since it was now 10:30 pm and we had been up since 3:00 am.

We went back to the RV and all road the high we were on. Kelly, Laurie, Al and I just kept reliving the job we had just completed. We walked over to the Biloxi Fire department and asked if we could use their showers. They are pretty funny guys over there. Before they would let me in they wanted to know what I was making the next day and would I give them extra large portions. I promised everything for that shower!

When Al and I went to bed that night I asked him about his drive around town – he said it was unbelievable. Casinos split in half, homes piled on homes, car upside down and on roofs. He could not imagine a storm of this magnitude.

The next morning we met up with Mitch Roberts - a policeman with the Biloxi department. He told us Eddie had the day off but that he would be happy to drive us around the Biloxi or Gulfport areas. This time I was able to go along. Kelly and Al rode in the back of the patrol car (Al said it was his first time in the back of a patrol car … hmmm.) I got the front so my view wasn’t blocked with the bars in the back windows.

About a 1/8th of a mile east out of the parking lot from which we were staying was the ocean. I had no idea we in such close proximity. The gas station next to us, a BP was completely leveled as were homes, stop lights, stores, anything that was a structure of any kind was down. Splintered if it was wood, shattered if glass or crushed if metal. There were downed trees everywhere – on top of cars, houses, stores, trucks and across streets. The trees that were standing were filled with debris like; fast food signage, clothing, blankets, sheets, life jackets, towels, bags, trash, tires and even a few mattresses. There were washer, dryers, refrigerators and toilets scattered around the highway and beach area.

The floating casinos of Biloxi were no longer floating. They were now on shore – some over a mile away from their mooring sights. The Casino Magic was literally split in half. The slot machines were hanging from the open side of the casino, suspended by their wiring in the wall. Chandeliers still hanging were swaying in the breeze. We could see a table with a bottle of beer standing upright on it in the middle of a room. We were seeing a crosscut version of this casino the wiring from the slots machines were all exposed – there were millions of wires hanging out from everywhere. It was really very eerie.

Mitch narrated our drive through collapsed neighborhoods. He told us how things looked before to give us some perspective on what we were seeing now. We saw a huge ocean barge on shore that was being guarded by a security company. There were boats in and on houses. Neighborhoods were completely wiped out – now just standing piles of rubble. The highway 90 bridge had collapsed and was in several pieces. Mitch took Al and Kelly below the bridge sections to a bus that had been crushed by the fallen bridge section. Below the bridge stood the old bridge brought down by hurricane Camille in 1969. There was a beautiful mural painted on the bridge. The mural showed the ocean resort town of Biloxi. It depicted a town full of life and beauty. Al said it was amazing.

Piles and piles of rubble lined the streets. Mitch said it was exactly where they storm had landed it with the exception of the plowing of the streets to open them up for the residents. Only residents and government officials are allowed in these areas. There is a very strict nightly curfew – no one is allowed on the streets from 8:00 pm – 6:00am.

As we drove through neighborhoods we saw signs posted saying, “DO NOT BULL DOZE”. Apparently these folks have not had time to sift through the rubble in hopes of finding some item reminding them of the life they had.

Mitch told us that they are many bodies within the massive piles of rubble we are seeing. He said it would take weeks before all the rubble can be sifted through to retrieve the human remains. The process for retrieval was so crude it seems inhumane to me. Huge cranes are brought in and piles are lifted into the air and dropped over bins. There are spotters below whose job it is to watch for bodies as the debris falls into the bins. When a body is identified the spotter yells. Rescue teams are then dispatched into the bins for collection of the body. There is no other way – the piles of rubble are too large to handle manually. I feel really sad – it is so overwhelming. We headed back to our base camp.

Pam Dunnet, a wonderful neighbor sent several boxes of See’s candy lollipops. We returned there were several military trucks and hummers. I decided to give a box of lollipops to each of the MP’s to deliver to the kids out on the streets and in the shelters they come in contact with. Many return the next day and tell me how much the kids love them.

For dinner tonight we have several pounds of hanger steaks (very, very tender cuts of beef sort of a cross between a fillet and a New York) – they guys around the camp have heard we have steak and they are so excited. Everyone around here has taken to calling me the “angel from California” – sometimes angel or just California for short.

Today’s dinner is hanger steak, grilled chicken, rigatoni with marinara sauce topped with mozzarella, fresh sautéed carrots, green beans, peach cobblers, fresh salad greens and tomatoes slices. Kelly, Al and I prepare the meal with little troubles - we already have this big meal planning and preparing thing down!

I have been so proud of Al. He has really stepped up to the plate. He has been working so hard. He and Kelly run the BBQ area. Al runs back and forth from BBQ area to kitchen with foods to be cooked or foods that have been cooked. He jumps right in during clean up and watches out for me lifting things too heavy. He has been great.

We have made so many friends here. In the medic tent is Doc Brian and his family; Hope his wife and his four adorable children. Also, there is Chris from Ashland, Jennifer from Boston, Donna from Pennsylvania, and hundreds of others we will never, ever forget.

On Sunday people started talking about Rita – since we have no TV or radio here we had no idea about this new hurricane. They said it was due to hit the Gulf States sometime around Tuesday. There was talk of evacuation.

Mitch came around in the afternoon and asked us if we wanted to go out with him again. This time we would visit Gulfport. A group of volunteers from Florida were coming up to handle lunch today so we had the afternoon off. Mitch picked us up around 11:00 and we drove our to Gulfport. Kelly wanted another disposable camera and asked if they were any stores opened. Mitch knew of a few. There were no cameras or film to be had in the area. The newly re-opened Wal-Mart was completely packed with people. The lines wee 30 deep at every checkout stand. The cameras and film aisles were empty. We drove to a small gas station. In the parking lot sat a pick up truck with a small family in it. Mitch was overjoyed to see the passengers. I guess these were friends he had not heard from since the storm. He knew they had lost their home but had no idea if they had survived.

We took off down the coastline and saw much more of the same as yesterday. House and neighborhoods completely gone. We went to a rather upscale neighborhood called Eagle Point. These homes were on the waters edge. It looked like a war zone. Military personal shifting through rubble, civilians searching through what was once their home and boats and cars scattered about the areas.

While driving down the road a group of construction workers ran up to the patrol car and said they had spotted an alligator down on the beach where they were working. Mitch pulled over and in his southern drawl asked us if we wanted to see a gator. I said NO – Al and Kelly said yes. They won. Next thing I know Mitch is fishing in and around this small body of sewage water using a rake handed to him by one of the workers. Boom – there it was about 4 feet long. Its jaws clamped onto the rake and Mitch lifted it into the air. He placed it down onto the small portion of pier that we were standing on – well, they were standing on – I was thirty feet away screaming, “Put it back!!” Mitch had Kelly hold that flat part of the rack down on the alligator head while he grabbed onto its tail – Kelly said, “This thing is strong!” Mitch grabbed hold of the back of the head and picked the gator up. He told Kelly to hold onto the tail and then reached into his pocket and got his patrol car keys out. He threw them up to me and told me to raise my right hand. He deputized me right there and told me I was driving. He and Kelly got into the back seat with the alligator lying on their laps and Mitch told me to drive west. I could not believe this was really happening. Al was laughing so hard – not believing what we were doing. I drove out onto the costal bi-way and was told to take a left at the light (which was not working!) The were cars blocking my turn so Mitch told me to put my hand out and stop them – Since I was in a police car they did and I made the turn. We headed up to a small canal about 4 miles from where we started. Al let Kelly and Mitch out of the car with the gator and then Mitch tossed it out in to river. He turned to us and said, "There, back where he belongs.” Kelly, Al and I burst into laughter – no way that just happened!
More later….