The Houston Carleton Club wishes to inform alumni or parents who have evacuated to the Houston area that they stand ready to help. If you need assistance, or wish to volunteer to assist, visit the Houston Club web page at http://apps.carleton.edu/alumni/clubs/houston/ or contact the club chair, Mary Watson '66, at: MWatson@twu.edu

From Danny Patterson '78, Mobile, AL, sent just after the hurricane.

THE PROBLEM:
I am sending this to as many as I can. I am blessed to be able to have access to a network and to reach out on behalf of so many who are much less fortunate. My family here on the Gulf Coast are all fine. Paulette, Betty, Terry, Dreu (you all know him), James, Maria and my nephew Edward, are fine. We sustained minimal damage to our home and no personal injuries. I am heavily involved with the relief efforts in south western Alabama, just 20 minutes from where we live. Travel another 40 minutes to the west and you will be right in the middle of Biloxi, Mississippi. Just at the second exit off Interstate 10, you will come to Division Street. It is on this street that 2 friends of mine have lost their lives. Mr. Rainey was in a wheelchair and could not escape in time. It is on this street that CNN has been showing Mr. Harvey Jackson and his plea for help as his wife lost her life. For the last 4 days I have been up and down this street looking for those who are still lost and trying to bring water and food to them. THERE IS NOTHING LEFT..... The 20 foot wave of water that came from the Gulf of Mexico totally engulfed more than 8 blocks completely filling up wooden houses to the ceilings. I witnessed a coffee table hanging from a ceiling fan. As the water receded, it brought everything it could out with it back to the Gulf in most cases leaving only concrete slabs and debris.

QUICK HELP SOLUTION:
I am setting up a relief station outside on Division Street. I need money to buy more food, water, and basic hygiene needs. I am traveling back and forth from Mobile and gasoline is outrageously high and hard to find. I have my personal generator that I am using to give us some light in the early part of the evenings and to run some fans. The American Red Cross, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) are all tied up looking for lost or seriously injured victims, the other survivors are the ones who are in need of this immediate help. If you plan to send anything to the American Red Cross or Salvation Army, that is fine, but if you want to see it go to work immediately and directly, then send it to this address:

Lighthouse Community Development Corporation
9890 Tom Waller Road
Grand Bay, Alabama 36541
FED Tax ID: 69-0001167
501c-3 Non Profit Tax Deductible
(251)958-1752

Some of you are overseas and you have asked how you can send something via internet banking. Stay tuned, I am checking on this next week. None of these folks want to be in this condition, and for the last 4 days, their eyes tell it all, so on their behalf, I will thank you in advance for whatever you can do. Please hold me personally accountable for the management of your contribution. Please help me use your extended network of friends....Many thanks to those who I have heard from.....Thanks,

Danny K. Patterson
Mobile, AL 36609
(251)340-1947 Office
(251)454-4438 Cell
(251)340-1963 Fax
dkpatter@us.ibm.com