I've been incredibly frustrated, like many countrywide, wanting to help with the Katrina disaster, and not being able to find a way to do so. Today I went to the Armory to try to invite a family to our house to do laundry, make calls, take showers, and eat Labor Day picnic with us, but no one had arrived via bus or plane. In fact, the buses can't find refugees to take!
I had imagined a fantasy of taking the kids to buy a cheap outfit from Target, toiletries, etc.. John accused me of wanting them to be my dolls. I don't think that's the case. I just feel like we have so much, far too much, more than we need, and it is so easy to making a lasting useful intervention right now.
I'd very much like to offer our house to a small family for a couple months, but John is not ready for that. It seems manic to be this generous, considering we only contributed money to the tsunami effort, but these people are nearby - within driving distance! It's so obvious what they need, so clear-cut.
After putting my name on a piece of paper, I checked to see whether the church was doing anything, but they are closed on Mondays. So, I went to Target.
I have been planning to ship supplies to a Baptist church down in the disaster belt (because you know they're all working overtime) so I went in expecting to get a box of toiletry supplies. Then I realized that shipping is by weight, not size, so I filled up on women's feminine supplies. I had a whole cart of tampons and pads! I bought out all the tampon multi-packs at Target! Heh. I looked like quite a woman, let me tell you.
I poked around and finally found a Baton Rouge church talking about local relief efforts. Churches in the area are distributing toiletries and clothing from:
St. James Episcopal Church Mission Center
208 N. 4th St.
Baton Rouge, LA 70801
(225)387-5141
My billion tampons will be shipped there. I figure even if they are full up on need for the refugees, they can use them for general mission to poverty.
Before buying the world dryness protection, I first went around to each of the clothing sections to calculate how much someone would need to purchase a basic set of clothing at Target. Here's my results:
TARGET Minimum Prices
Avg Woman
6 pair socks 5.99
shorts 12.99
pants/jeans 27.99
belt
bra/5 undershirts 10.99
tshirt/5 layettes 7.99
light jacket 29.99
shoes 18.99
6pr. Underwear 7.04
nightclothes 19.99
TOTAL 141.96
Lg Woman
6 pair socks 5.99
shorts 12.99
pants/jeans 19.99
belt
bra/5 undershirts 16.99
tshirt/5 layettes 9.99
light jacket 29.99
shoes 18.99
6pr. Underwear 30
nightclothes 21.99
TOTAL 166.92
Avg Man
6 pair socks 3.99
shorts 8.99
pants/jeans 17.99
belt 12.99
bra/5 undershirts 8.89
tshirt/5 layettes 6.99
light jacket 14.99
shoes 19.99
6pr. Underwear 15.98
nightclothes 8.99
TOTAL 119.79
Lg Man
6 pair socks 3.99
shorts 10.99
pants/jeans 19.99
belt 12.99
bra/5 undershirts 11.98
tshirt/5 layettes 6.99
light jacket 14.99
shoes 18.99
6pr. Underwear 17.98
nightclothes 14.99
TOTAL 133.88
Baby
6 pair socks 5.99
shorts
pants/jeans
belt
bra/5 undershirts
tshirt/5 layettes 9.99
light jacket 11.99
shoes 5.99
6pr. Underwear
nightclothes 9.99
TOTAL 43.95
Sm Boy or Girl
6 pair socks 6.99
shorts 5.88
pants/jeans 3.99
belt
bra/5 undershirts
tshirt/5 layettes 3.99
light jacket 7.99
shoes 12.99
6pr. Underwear
nightclothes 12.99
TOTAL 54.82
Girl
6 pair socks 3.99
shorts 5.9
pants/jeans 7.99
belt
bra/5 undershirts 5.99
tshirt/5 layettes 4.49
light jacket 9.99
shoes 12.99
6pr. Underwear 3.99
nightclothes 14.99
TOTAL 70.32
Boy
6 pair socks 3.99
shorts 10.48
pants/jeans 8.99
belt
bra/5 undershirts 5.99
tshirt/5 layettes 5.99
light jacket 9.99
shoes 12.99
6pr. Underwear 9.98
nightclothes 9.99
TOTAL 78.39
This helps me quantify a bit what a person needs to get back on their feet after just having the clothes they're wearing. It helped me put in perspective what a job it is to rebuild a wardrobe, too. I'm not sure what to do with this info, until the Armory transplants arrive.
I think what's so compelling about this situation is that there's a break with past reality, and in some ways the baggage is absent that adds such complexity in dealing with people's day to day struggles. It taps a bit into my childhood fantasies of being poor, wherein poverty was merely a function of not enough stuff, not a mental or opportunistic place. When we imagined ourselves as destitute as children, we'd acquire clothing, food, supplies, and move from poverty to princess along that route. In some ways, for many of these folks, it really is as simple as that.
Posted by argus at September 5, 2005 08:00 PM