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Here in a nutshell, Gentle Readers, is the difference between a blog post and a Real News Report: If this were a Real News Report, it would begin with a long confident sentence similar to this one:
"Mr. J.B. of Yuma, Virginia, is leading a Houston Flood Relief Camper Drive, actually driving campers and RV's to Houston and loading them with supplies, starting in the vacant parking lot on Route 23 across from the Yuma Road in Weber City, Virginia, on Saturday morning, September 8, loading from 8 a.m. to midday; donations of vehicles, drivers, supplies, giftcards, and cash will be appreciated."
If this were a Real News Report, a Real News Media Company would be paying for a car, phone, probably a camera and/or crew, so I would have driven out to the B. family residence and to the churches J.B. says are supporting this drive, to confirm that I had a right to use real names and pictures. Instead of waiting until today to go online and post a tentative little story about what I heard, I would have pounced on the story like a cat on a mouse and started interviewing people right at the Duffield car show, where political types marched in the parade just ahead of the classic cars, and I would have had a quote if not a video clip from at least one Republican and one Democrat ready for you when this post went live...which might have been on Sunday or Monday. And if churches, social clubs, and elected officials agree with Mr. B. that this is a good idea, by now we'd be burning up Twitter with advance notice of the Camper Drive itinerary, and people would be loading on more supplies at collection points all through Tennessee and Arkansas.
This is, however, a lowly blog post. Nobody's paying for anything. I had to wait until this morning to start pestering the staff of our local elected officials for comments on the Camper Drive. Nobody's paying me to use prepaid phone minutes to call church offices, and the churches that I believe are backing the Camper Drive, according to what Mr. B. told me, don't do Twitter. All I can tell you about is my conversation with Mr. B. after the car show. And it'd be incompatible with the rest of the blog not to do that in a bloggy, cafe-conversation-style, me-me-me sort of way.
Anyway, long story short: While the rest of us were filtering through the reports of the #HoustonFlood and thinking, "Major economic damage, yes, oilmen can take care of their own, now what about Jane Doe?" and confirming that our friends were safe and dry, or not...this local gentleman connected with his friend and found that his friend's home had become unlivable. His friend was sweltering in a shelter.
His immediate response was, "Hey, I have this camper I won't be using this winter, if you need..."
His friend's response was, "I need the camper, and I know another family who need one, too."
His response was, "Right, so I can hitch the RV onto the van and drive both of them to Houston, starting, God willing, on Monday the 11th of September. That will give me time to load the vehicles with gas, water, cleaning supplies, etc., and recruit local support."
So...although his Thunderbird was the dream car of many people our age, and we are not exactly antiques yet, the car has been maintained well enough to qualify for a place in the Classic Car show at Duffield Daze. It attracted attention. Mr. B. was using that attention to tell everyone about his Camper Drive. So far, what I've been able to confirm is that a sign has been set up identifying the time and place for loading the vehicles, on Route 23, in the parking lot at the other side of the intersection where you turn onto the Yuma Road.
I have planned this post to the extent of identifying and numbering five thoughts.
1. Should anybody drive a thousand miles alone?
First of all, without being authorized to identify this man in real life...local lurkers recognize the man with the white Thunderbird, and may remember the Real News Reports about the crash in the other car...Mr. B. is not disabled, but the fact that he is walking, talking, and driving alone is easy to recognize as something people would claim as an answer to prayer. Our conversation was impeded by his hearing loss, such that he didn't seem to understand or answer some questions I asked. He did mention concern that the drive might become "rough," since disasters can bring out the worst in people.
Although middle-aged people are not "too young" or "too old" to do whatever we jollywell want to do, we are at an awkward age for road trips. Our parents may not be fit to travel, our children may be too young to drive, our friends may be too busy to go along, and so it may be hard to find a buddy for a long road trip. Modern technology can help a lot (see below). Still, nobody is ever going to be able to plan ahead and notify people in time about things like "I'm going to become sleepy on mile #500" or "I'm going to have a drastic allergy reaction after driving past a freshly sprayed cotton field outside Nashville." Even good drivers need a buddy in the passenger seat who can prod them to take a break or switch seats. My feeling is that taking a long road trip without a buddy is just "too stupid" for anybody, any age, any level of ability.
Well, even if the churches would continue to support an unmarried male and female on a long road trip, I'm not volunteering to spend a thousand miles (or more, to connect with supporters) in a van with a smoker. (Mr. B. is not a chain smoker, but he does have the habit.) But as I talked with him I kept thinking, "Some man from the church ought to go with him."
2. Should participants in this Drive come back empty-handed?
It's #TortieTuesday and although this post is long enough without throwing in animal pictures, my own Queen Cat Heather and our e-friends Mudpie and Abby have to remind people that floods leave a lot of animals homeless. Sometimes these animals still have homes, so rescuing them may be more "temporary fostering" than "adopting." As of today, I think I'll leave this thought for others to take up, mull, and discuss.
3. Are we feeding the Gimmee Monster, or are we respectfully trading services with friends who are willing and able to give something back?
Some people in the Appalachian Mountain Region just absolutely love any opportunity to make charitable donations, and let everyone know that the said donations are coming from "Appalachia." Maybe it even feels like altruism to them, although what I see in their faces looks more like "Yesss! I'll take that Daily Double for $1000, Alex!" However, for those who have campers, RV's, or trailer houses that just sit around all winter, may I suggest...Houston is not exactly a poverty pocket. Your friend(s) probably went there to follow the money. They probably have jobs, when (and if) their workplaces are open. Floods cost money, but eventually, after their homes are clean and dry, your friends are likely to be willing and able to pay rent on the trailer. They might actually feel better thinking of it in terms of an interest-free loan, rather than a handout. I'll stop this thought right here, too, and leave it for discussion between trailer owners and flood survivors.
4. Should this Drive exploit modern marketing technology to maximize support for hurricane-affected communities?
In the crisis moment of any natural disaster, the role of electronic gadgets is to break down. During the clean-up phase, however, they can be helpful beyond the wildest dreams anyone had even twenty years ago. If J.B. is active online, he's anonymous enough (which I fully approve) that I'm not finding him. However, the Drive could easily have its own Twitter account and receive up-to-the-minute Tweets about how many supplies could be purchased from businesses that are recovering from the hurricane, too, and need a cash infusion. (Or even a plastic one.)
I tagged #RonRamsey , Lieutenant-Governor of Tennessee, in the Twitter discussion earlier, because he retweeted the landmark photo that came up during a preliminary search, and also because...once upon a time, after Nashville was flooded, one of my late lamented sponsors wanted to sponsor Lieut. Gov. Ramsey's collection drive through Tennessee. Sponsor handed me $20, handed a few other people $20, and took me to a store to buy cleaning supplies and write about it for Associated Content...if this person were still living, this web site would not be heading every post with fundraising links today. A great big trailer was set up outside the Bristol Motor Speedway to start the collection...and let's just say I hoped the trailer stopped at lots of points on its drive through Tennessee, because our little shopping bags of cleaning supplies looked so pitiful in the vast echoing cavern of that trailer. And the young staffers packing things into the trailer looked competent to pack things in tightly, but...it is so much more fun to receive supplies fresh from a nice cool store, before they've jolted over five hundred or a thousand miles in a hot truck.
So...we want to support our own community of course, and local business owners may want to make donations, but local lurkers can also support businesses near Houston. We can even use the Internet to pre-purchase supplies from chain stores that have outlets in or near Houston, and physically load the supplies from sites nearer Houston, if that seems a good idea. Wal-Mart, Target, and other stores will let online readers buy things where they are and pick them up in Arkansas. Thoughts?
5. How big can or should this Drive get?
The Drive should not include scammers or "disaster tourists." I believe Mr. B. is sincere in his intentions of delivering two vehicles to one friend and one friend-of-that-friend. I can easily picture this Drive growing into a convoy of campers and trailers and RV's. How big do youall want to make it?
Some people who seriously believe in altruism are put off by the way American politicians...
A presidential visit to a disaster area is a major nuisance. Other local officials, whose visits require less security and protocol, are a mix of "disaster tourism" and real help: Yes, the politicians benefit from the photo opportunities, but the survivors who talk to them are likely to gain some status and economic benefit from it too. On the whole I think this tradition tends to be a win/win. It is certainly bipartisan--if politicians agree on nothing else, they can agree on the need to help disaster victims.
If you agree, re-share this post, especially with contacts in Tennessee, Arkansas, and eastern Texas, and let's find out how big the Camper Drive can get.
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