Generosity of People of Michigan is Greatly Appreciated

Over to first person. Political stuff can wait.

Twenty-four hours ago, I and several of my fellow Community Emergency Response Team members manned a telephone bank at the Michigan Department of Community Health and took phone calls from residents of Michigan who wanted to donate time, goods, skills and services and other non-monetary items to survivors of Hurricane Katrina.

The generosity of the people who called in was overwhelming.

One guy who called offered to bus five families to Michigan, pay for their accommodations, buy clothes and food for the families, and then pay the fare for them to go home once the outcome to this catastrophe became clearer.

Another man called from Cadillac and had a 53 foot-long trailer full of food and medical supplies to drive to Mississippi the next day.

A woman offered to do a jump-rope marathon in Battle Creek and give the proceeds to the American Red Cross.

Returning Iraq War veterans called and offered their services as combat medics, security people, drivers, engineers and a whole host of other duties that they had carried out in a war zone. That they would volunteer to go from one hell-hole into another was heart-warming.

And people wanted to donate money. They were referred to the Red Cross.

Medical professionals also registered with us and offered their services to help people in the disaster areas. I spoke to registered nurses, nurses assistants, EMTs, laid off firefighters, and others.

There were HUNDREDS of calls like the ones above.

Thank you, people of Michigan, for your kindness and generosity. And thank you, America, for doing the same.