Rainbow after relief...

For those that don't know me, I am a Rainbow Warrior, and try to live my life learning and leading. Many would call me a hippie, I say, wrong generation, that was my mom. I'm more of a bohemian, redneck, gypsy...In other words, I'm a wandering funny looking artist who's not afraid to spit in a crowd...Well, I'm going to begin my story back a lot two years ago, just after my birthday...Two days after one of the best birthdays I've ever had, Hurricane Katrina hit, and hit hard...For days I cried and agonized over the helplessness I felt, at which point I began signing up for taking in families, and going down to help, but every deadline for me to be contacted, came and passed...Finally in the beginning of October I began hearing of fellow Rainbow family/warriors that had come down and began a relief kitchen, I knew the great spirit had kept me back for some reason, and this was it. I would be doing more than passing out towels or tooth brushes, not that that wasn't important too, but I had a skill that could truly make a difference...I could cook...and well...For years I have traveled across this great land and in our travels, have come across many down and out, and have fed the homeless for years, not to mention, kitchens we've run in many of rainbow gatherings...I have cooked and fed almost a thousand people alone, so I knew I could go down and throw down...Well after some fan dangling I managed to get two friends to join me, one of whom was donating a car and fund the journey... So for two whole weeks, I packed up and left my family to go live in a tent and feed and give a hand to so many that had lost so much...I knew before I left, that my life would never be the same...Boy how little did I know...My first four days, it took everything I had not to cry continually, for all that was lost...I had stepped out of America and into a shattered third world country...There are not enough words to explain the pure devastation...I landed at ground zero Katrina, and it looked like a giant child had thrown a fit in it's toy box, and left nothing but broken Lincoln logs and pixie sticks...At a certain point I began to be aware how no one felt they could smile...So that soon became my next task...Make 'em smile...So as I cooked all day, I played most the night...Getting people up and dancing,laughing...telling jokes, and dressing funny..what ever it took to make them realize that there would be a time again that it would be ok, to feel ok...By the time I returned home, we were already planning to return as a family...It took just over a month to pack up and slim down...what we couldn't carry, we gave away...So our journey began...Leaving Indiana in an ice storm...After helping set up another relief kitchen in Chalmette, we returned to Mississippi, to begin our non-profit organization called, Camp Second Helpin'...A relief family community center, per say...We were open to public for twelve hours a day, seven days a week serving two hot meals a day to public, plus we housed volunteers going down to help with the rebuilding...I won't go into what all we offered, you can goggle us if you'd like to read more about the project...Needless to say...We ran successfully for eight months serving with honor those that needed an extra hand as they found their feet and began rebuilding their lives...An honor, I can find no words to express that I have been given the gift of spice...the gift of teaching my children to reach out and help other, even when they can't yet help themselves...the gift of sorrow, for that will never fade...the gift of life as I watch the land be reborn...the gift of the many faces I've made smile, and the stomachs filled...the gift of community...I could continue, the list is endless, but then it would take us away from the path I'm recalling...After the doors closed and all of our money spent, we found ourselves in a rut, a depression per say...What next, we knew not, and so we sat...Taking the winter to sleep the hours we missed for so long, and hunkering down and basically shutting house...Well as the weather warmed and July grew near, I began to get a feeling...there was somewhere I was suppose to go, something I had to do...Then a friend came over, a local young man of seventeen that had worked with us for two months, and invited me to the gathering, and it instantly clicked...that was it...Two days before we were due to leave his engine went south and we had to scramble to prepare ours for the journey to the mountains of Arkansas...Ron had to stay home and finish a job, and tend our animals, so it was just me and four kids...10, 12,14,& 17 off on a 15 hour road trip...We chased the rain and it chased us, the whole way there, but at sunset there appeared a double rainbow and the most spectacular sunset treating us as twilight began to set in...After a blow out and a few other unexpected items we pulled into the gathering with sixteen cents to my name...but it was all good, cause I had a half a tank of gas, and it was a down hill trip to the closest walmart where I could pick up the money Ron had wired to me...And I was HOME..so no sweat...We had no problems with the police like many others, and it only took little bitty ole hundred pound me to get four kids, and almost four hundred pounds of gear and drum, up and down a muddy mountain four miles into Kiddie Village...Where I managed to set up our camp good enough that after a week of rain, that we were still dry inside...Unfortunately, our buddy didn't have to same luck and discovered the rainbow moat many a morning...After trudging after the kids for a week in the rain and mud, I knew that I could go on to do whatever I put my mind to...I now see which path to take...Many blessings came our way while we were there, but my greatest gift was the gift of humility...There were people I'd met that had been following our work, and people that remembered me for music I've sung, and people I worked with my first time down, and even many of the people that came down and worked with us...I've realized that no matter how big, or little we think our world is...we can still make a difference in so many ways...I am so greatful that I was given such an chance to give...to know pure joy through the eyes of those I meet...I didn't feel puffed up and hot shit, because of the recognition, but humbled, and blessed, that somehow I mattered...Something I'd felt I'd lost after we closed down camp...Just as we choose the right path, we are sent many test, and trials, and I am now sure I'm strong enough to stand whatever comes my way...So I began my journey on rainbow relief, and found relief in rainbow...What blessings have been shared with me...

Life after volunteer work...

Many things have happened since the last time I wrote, I guess you can say that I've been walering in a bit of self pity. As you can probably tell we never reopened, each site kept falling through, so we decided to work on heading north and regrouping.But after volunteering for so long, no one wants to pay you, they expect you to work for free. We have been struggling to find steady work, but it's been sporadic, until now. This morning Ron started a good paying long-term painting job, so our goal is now in sight. I know that I should have felt better after all we have done down here, but we ended up in the middle of some drama mommas, and life began to feel oppressive. No one in my family could go outside without someone trying to pull us into some kind of drama, which I don't need more of(three kids are dramatic enough). It took me a long time to figure out why I was here, just what was I suppose to learn...Then after a heated argument between families, the owner of the land in which we are staying, lent us a movie. the Celestine Prophesies, and I soon realized...I needed to learn how to give to others, without letting others take my own power, and energy.Lesson learned...Now I can look to the future, and quit letting the now get me down...There's too much to look forward to!

A New Year for Camp Second Helpin'

Hello everyone, and Seasons Greetings from the sunny gulf coast…
I bring exciting news along with well wishes…
As of January 1st. Camp Second Helpin’ will be relocating and reopening with many new and exciting changes…
We will be located at St. Claire's on Beach blvd. in Waveland, Mississippi and now we will be able to offer dorm style housing for volunteers coming down to rebuild with the ability to house between 200-250 people, along with an industrial mobile kitchen, things are looking very good…. We will still be a community center open to the public, but now we will be able to work towards offering more things to the public, such as a food bank and a free clothing outlet. I would like to thank all of you that have not forgotten us, and special hugs to those that have contacted us about coming down, or passing info on to those that are interested in coming down.
We have had many exciting inquiries as of late…for those that would like to learn more about our non-profit family community center you can check out our web site (which is in the process of getting revamped) at:
http://web-publishing.org/katrinarecovery/index.php
Or if you have any questions you can reach Ron-administrator at 228-342-8834 or me at 228-239-6338 we would love to see some Good Hearted, Hard Working Brothers and Sisters come help bring hope and happiness into the lives of people we may never have reached before…Rising from the dust will come a tribe of Rainbow Warriors lending a hand and leading the way to a new world…Lets grasp this opportunity to truly make a difference…
…Much Love Family… Momma KaBoom

Winter Holding...

Wow, as of December 5 we will have been down here for a year...And the changes have been many, you can actually drive down 90 and there are many places open again...Even K-mart finally reopened...At this time we are in a holding camp but we have Wonderful news, as of Jaunuary we will be moving to St. Claires right on the beach, at that time we wil have decent housing for volluteers not just for our community center, but also for rebuilding too...We have enjoyed our break but are looking forward to reopening...

A Look through Momma KaBoom's eyes

A Look through Momma KaBoom's eyes

We’ve been here 9 months now and it’s been one hot Summer that is for sure, but thankfully no severe weather as of yet. But I’m not here for small talk; I want to make a plea. Our building fell through, yes this is sad, but it’s far from the end of our journey. We are working on funding the building of a building for the community center that is why I write today. To make a plea, to all of you wonderful people that have been following our journey, if each of you made a small donation because as you know, every dollar helps, we will be that much closer to actually building. I am sure you hear of all the progress made in New Orleans, just last week they said on the news that 700 restaurants have opened again since Katrina. Waveland is still so wiped out, with 90% of it’s residential, and commercial buildings, just destroyed. Look at any number of fully functioning communities that have community center, or food kitchens, why? Because there is such a need even with a sound structure to support those going through hard times. For the people of Hancock County there haven’t been such a strong need for community support since Camille. After the storm it took people from all parts of the country to reach out and lend a hand, but we all need to continue to do this even in small ways. That’s why I make this plea to you now, if you could donate just a dollar, what a difference it would begin to make in giving this community want it needs and deserves. Just think, you could help make the difference.

Please keep in mind that no amount of carrying signs, marching, meditation, prayer, signing petitions, or voting will ever carry as much power as helping one person gut out her ruined house, or feeding a single mother at the end of another stressful day of red-taping it to a Fema trailor. This is a chance to extract yourself from our traditionally divided and materialistic American culture, shake off the stagnant mundane, and participate in true community building during a time of suffering and hardship. We are a registered Non-Profit with the state of Mississippi (see Link) https://secure.sos.state.ms.us/busserv/corp/soskb/Agent.asp?3157996You May donate VIA our Paypal account o­n paypal to: webmaster@web-publishing.org / firelight10101@yahoo.comATTN:Camp Second Helpin
Please help if you can... $1.00 or $10.00 sent by enough people can make a HUGE dent in our operation cost. Send this plea out to everyone. We are in Waveland and making a difference!

Family in Waveland MS.

In October 2005 a group of volunteers from Bloomington Indiana left the comfort of their homes and worked in Waveland MS. My wife Spring (aka Momma KaBoom) was one of those wonderful family members that worked in the New Waveland Café. Upon her return we made plans to return to Waveland and work in the Café. Unfortunately it had left for New Orleans before we arrived. We joined them in Chalmette (New Orleans) and helped with the building of that Kitchen (Emergency Communities). The Family was asked to come back to Waveland and so we did. To date we have been working in Hancock County since December 11 2005. Our efforts still continue as we have evolved into a community center. See our progress at: http://web-publishing.org/katrinarecovery/index.php

Or View our Bloomington Indiana website for the Family:http://web-publishing.org/Bloomingtontribe/index.php Read about our progress, look at our pictures, join the sites and post your comments, but above all be active. It will be several years before this is all over with.

Well, first I'd like to apologize for taking so long to update, but due to heat and Nationals, we have been short handed and extremely busy, with major shifts happening...

...All for the good...

We are beginning a two week break...Before we move into our new building...
We will still be in Hancock county, but in Bay St. Louis, At St. Augustine’s retreat...
We will have a new Vulcan kitchen, an auditorium, and dorms...
We have also acquired a bus to put together the mobile community kitchen, and refurbished Vulcan gear for that...We really could use some Hard Working, Family Minded People come create the community center that we will be leaving for Hancock county...
It is so beautiful there...With lots of grass, and Beautiful trees, including a small orchard...
It has been such a blessing to see people asking about us online, that we're not forgotten...
Anyone interested in joining in the efforts, give us a call: 228-342-8834...
...It would do my heart good to see some 'old friends'...HINT-HINT......