09/17/05: Inside help

Kendall headed down to Reunion Arena this afternoon with her son Jake and 15 rolling duffels. As she pulled into the main parking lot, she was a little discouraged; due to business and family committments, we haven't been able to distribute as many bags as we would have liked during the week. Also, upon arriving at the arena, she noticed that the beauty shop was not in action; this was an area where we'd had a lot of luck getting our bags into hands that we knew would really need the bags - women and children.

She decided to take a new and brazen approach. After our luck last weekend with the volunteer worker who had called us and met us down there to go into the arena and bring out families who needed the rolling duffels, Kendall decided to approach security. There's a security table set up outside the arena, to check everyone who enters the arena, presumably to ensure that people coming inside aren't carrying weapons or whatever else has been deemed contraband. You may recall that on one bag dropoff, we overhead the security person commenting to someone who had just received a bag from us that "they put all kinds of good stuff in here for you."

She introduced herself to the security worker, who immediately recognized who she was and what she was doing. There were also a couple of volunteers there, from both the city of Dallas and a major relief organization that I won't name but you know who I mean, who responded positively to our project and knew of us. They were thrilled that Kendall was there. The city is trying to move the evacuees out of the shelter and into housing in the city, and many evacuees were leaving today for new digs.

Kendall was told of an older gentleman who was exiting as they spoke; he had nothing but trash bags in which to carry his belongings as he departed. Kendall got him a bag.

The volunteers ran into the arena, down to the floor where the families were living, and brought families out to get bags. One family had nine children and nothing to keep any of their things in - Kendall gave them three bags. They were immediately put to good use, I'm sure.

Meanwhile, as volunteers were bringing families out, Kendall was allowed to drive her car around curbside to unload the bags. Not only that - she also suddenly had more much appreciated help! Two national guardsmen and a police officer came over to the car, did a full unload, and protected the rolling duffels as they were being distributed.

After Kendall distributed the 15 bags, she drove home, loaded up 15 more, and drove right back down to the shelter, to once again meet up with her new onsite crew.

The city of Dallas workers took pictures of the effort, and commented that they may want to add the story to the city's website. The volunteer workers from the-agency-which-must-not-be-named make a comment that they had to be a little discreet about what we and they were doing; despite the incredible positive feedback and help we've received, we were still working outside the system of the gargantuan agency, and did not want any problems. Well, that wasn't news to us. We've been doing that since day one, and it's certainly been a concern. But we've worked around it, and not allowed any silly red tape or standard operating procedures to get in our way.

As usual, Kendall was asked if she had more bags, and if she could come back again. We'll be heading out again on Sunday, after a run to buy more bags, as soon as we can get there. In closing, Kendall wants to pass on her good feelings about the day. It's easy to get discouraged about what we're doing, in part because of the red tape that we're avoiding so that we're not shut down. But every time we make a successful run like Kendall had today, it's incentive to keep going and keep helping.

TOTAL ROLLING DUFFELS DISTRIBUTED AT REUNION ARENA TO DATE: 116