Off to the beach……

It’s been a very busy week and I am just now getting a chance to wash some clothes and get packed for my trip to the beach. Barb, Pat and Donny are already down there and I leave in the morning after I get some important work done.

Yesterday I went to an all day “Ready Houston” hurricane preparedness conference. I’m still learning about what we need to do to become prepared. One of the most interesting speakers was Dr. Neil Frank, who is a weather man for one of our TV stations. He used to be the head of the National Hurricane service headquartered down in Florida. He is such a knowledgeable person and a great speaker. I learned a lot from him.

One of my other favorite classes was about the national 211 service that is in 38 states so far. It was commissioned by the government in the year 2000 and it is headquartered from the United Way office right here in Houston. They have operators available 24/7. I had no idea that it was even available. One of the new features of the service is to pre-register people, with special needs, so that the county knows where they are in case of an emergency. If you have no car or you don’t have a way to leave when a hurricane comes, then they will arrange transportation for you. This service is free and they answer questions for any number of problems. They will give information about where the comfort stations are along the evacuation routes and will tell you where you can get gas, food, ice and lodging. This service is not just for hurricanes, but for people wanting almost any kind of information. I am truly amazed by what I learned yesterday.

One of the other classes that I attended was about the Harris County Citizen Corps. The national program has several programs and you can go take a look at them on their website at: www.citizencorps.gov Their Harris county group helped handle the Hurricane Katrina evacuees in the Houston Astrodome and Reliant stadium. They handled 33,000 people and had only 24 hours to pull it all together when Houston volunteered to help. It was a sight to see.

Another website you might be interested in taking a look at is: www.weking.net If you live in the Gulf Coast area this is a must see. Fred, it may be helpful for you too, over there in Florida.

Happy Fathers Day to all you “Dads” out there. I miss my dad a lot and wish he were still here with us.

Well, tomorrow I’ll be off for my trip to Galveston. I’ll report back in when I get home. Have a good week everyone.