The word is getting around the school about my initiating this giving to Slidell High and reaching out to additional schools in St. Tammany parish.  I've reassured Bill that we all intend to make things happen and keep things happening until they are truly up and going!

Bill said that 1486 students showed up for the first day of school, down from 1900 plus.  He expressed his concern over how this will affect the government funding.  He shared with me that their school system is financially RUINED and BROKE..

Classrooms to the left of the main entrance, the parking lot and 'yard'

How can this be?  How can our government not be POURING money into ALL of the school systems/districts throughout the entire hurricane affected area?  This is beyond my comprehension and I ask someone who is more into the research and getting questions answered to find what is going on and write a diary, which I will readily recommend and pass along to everyone on earth.

Bill has asked his teachers to be prepared to work WITHOUT PAY...WTF?  First they lose EVERYTHING and then because again the government fails, they may well not get paid.  If there is enought to make payroll, there is NOTHING else left with which to pay for school repairs, books, desks, computers, supplies...you get the idea.

This isn't just in Slidell, this is in all the parishes of Louisiana and no doubt throughout the areas hit in Mississippi.  It is wrong and I would ask those that read this that are good at making waves with the government to do so.  I just don't have enough hours in a day.

IDEAS/INFORMATION/CONTACTS...just a beginning.

"OtherDoug" and "Stationwagon" have been working together to get suppliers for respirators, tarps, protective gloves for cleaning and various building implements.  Contact them for that information PLEASE.  They have great information on who to contact and for what items. We will also be posting updated contact/shipping information at: ePluribus Media Community.

GIFT CARDS.  I spoke with Bill about the concept of gift cards for teachers and students in demoninations of $50-100 each.  He thought it was a great idea.  So here is what we thought...think school supplies and where they can be bought ( i.e., Staples, Sam's, OfficeMax, etc) for the teachers.  For the students think school supplies and personal items (i.e., Target, Wal-Mart, Staples, etc) Note:  the teachers do have some internet access.

Just be pro-active and do this.  Get a nice greeting card, write a note of encouragement, heck send a photo of yourself, or if a few of you pitched in, send a 'group' photo along with the gift card!  Put in your contact information if you wish (think SNAIL mail and phone numbers), then put gift card inside of the card and mail it off.  If you have several to send please keep them separated and put them in a PRIORITY MAIL POUCH and send them. You get 100% reward for your 'donation' and you can monitor it!

Hallway of Salmen High School

ADDRESS ANYTHING SENT TO SLIDELL HIGH AS FOLLOWS:

William Percy, Principal
Teacher (or "student" if it is for a student)
SLIDELL HIGH SCHOOL
1 Tiger Drive
Slidell, LA 70458

NOTE: Please distinguish if it is for a teacher or student.  You can also send boxes of things this way as well, if you would rather BUY school supplies and ship them.

SCHOOL UNIFORMS

Why are these important?  I have copied Bills' email to me that I just received a couple of hours ago which will show the urgency of this request below.  They want all the kids to feel the same.  Many of these kids DON'T have anything and with uniforms they will be...well, uniform.

Tomorrow I hope to contact LL Bean and Land's End to see if they will give them a better deal on Khaki pants given they are having a difficult time finding them locally.  I will update ANY information on this I receive at: http://scblues.blogspot.com as well as at: ePluribus Media Community

So, think of a gift card for kids to these stores as well.  I am certain that the faculty will assist the kids in ordering the pants on line and I will verify that with Bill tomorrow when I speak to him.

IF you send a gift card to assist them with getting a polo shirt and/or khaki pants...put on the card you send (or the box you send with polos/khakis) STUDENT UNIFORMS.

Other supplies can be sent to the high school as well at this point in time. Again, reflect on the labels (in address) what it is so they know for distribution please.

FROM BILL PERCY

We have been working on student needs and issuing school supplies that we have received. AS we suspected, our biggest needs are for school supplies and clothes (school uniforms). Our school uniforms consist of cotton khaki pants and dark green, gray, or white shirts (polo style). One good thing about uniforms is that three or four sets are all that they need as far as clothes for school. Everyone is in the same thing so no one feels left out or different. We have local vendors who sell the uniform shirts with the school logo, but the logo is not required by the school system. Students may wear shirts without the school logo. Large sizes are particularly hard to find and many students who can afford to purchase the uniforms are telling me that they are having trouble finding them locally. In assessing the needs we are discovering that in many instances we have several families in a single house. One of my counselors said that they found several cases of 15-25 people in a single home. Some are living in the garages of friends or family. The FEMA trailers are coming and many are going to be able to park those trailers on their property. We have many teachers and other employees who are hoping for trailers. We distributed about 200 school supply kits today and will do more tomorrow. We think that we have about 300 students whose families were really devastated by the storm. Almost all of our students, faculty, and staff were displaced for several weeks and most were without electricity and water for a few weeks upon returning home. Our students are happy to be back and they are unbelievably resilient. We played football Friday night and it was great. There was a lot of joy on the part of our students. It was good to play and it was good to win, but it was really wonderful to be together again, doing something normal. We are having a pep rally on Friday afternoon. All the spirit groups will participate and I think that it will be great for the kids. It will definitely be good for the principal!

billy

I am completely overwhelmed by all of this, not only on the level of what NEEDS and MUST be done to truly help ALL the victims of this disaster, but by the the outpouring from AMERICANS that I see daily.

My days lately have been 20 hours long, 7 days a week.  I wish that we could help all of these folks immediately or wouldn't it be lovely to wave a magic wand and have it 'all better'.

Be that what it may, I continue daily to contact the press and talk to anyone who will listen and get as many involved as I can.  I've been asked to write an Opinion Editorial for my local newspaper and need to do that tomorrow.

I keep telling myself that I must continue this fight, the victims need voices of other Americans to spread their stories and struggles.  We cannot let them be defeated...my exhaustion at times is overwhelming, but then I think...'we can't leave them behind'.

To everyone who has helped here with ideas and actions...THANK YOU.  For those at ePluribus that have reached out to me and dealt with my need for assistance on the diaries...THANK YOU.

One last thing.  If you would like to call Bill Percy, the school number is: 985.643.2992.  PLEASE let them know that you were referred by me (Barbara Schulz of California) and remember that phones are still spotty at times and that this is a VERY busy and hectic time for them. PLEASE limit calls to asking specific questions regarding supplies/uniforms at this point.  His assistant is Ann Grineau.

By next week we will be involved with the Superintendent of St. Tammany as I will be speaking to him and setting up additional connections school system wide.

For continual updates:  ePluribus Media Community

In Peace

Barbara & Tirawa