Emergency Communities

April 2007 Update #2
Emergency Communities
April 2007

Check out this great article about us in the New Olreans Times-Picayune!

April 2007 Update
Emergency Communities
April 2007

EC is preparing for the Diamond Summer Camp and Photo Project! We are gearing up for a summer camp program at the Diamond FEMA Trailer Park - where 450 trailers are packed together in what is basically an American refugee camp. The children have very little to do, and they need our help. We are also going to have a "photo project" for the kids: "Emergency Communities has been working with the children of the storm at the Diamond FEMA Trailer Park in Plaquemines Parish, and will soon have a photography workshop available to them. It’s called the 450 Photo Experience, and will be kicking off in Spring 2007. The workshop will be conducted by Eduardo Mayen and will provide education on the art of photography and hands-on experience in taking photos, to allow the kids to express their life after the storm in photo. Prints of the children's work will be displayed and available for purchase in exhibits to be held in San Diego and Los Angeles in summer 2007, with proceeds benefiting the children's continuing education and Emergency Communities efforts to provide recovery assistance to the residents of these disaster stricken areas. Prints will also be available online. Stay tuned for more information and visit www.450photo.com."

February 2007 Update
Emergency Communities
February 2007

Our site in the Lower 9th Ward is now open and going strong! Working in the heart of the disaster zone, EC is now serving over 300 residents a day from the Lower 9th. We have fixed up a destroyed church into a fun and colorful community space, where residents can come and do their laundry, eat meals, watch movies, use the internet and phones, all for free! We are all extremely excited about growing this site and finding new and creative ways of helping the resilient people of the area.

November 2006 Update
Emergency Communities
November, 2006

Our site in Plaquemines continues to flourish! We are now serving a “Meals on Wheels” program to the Parish. We have also teamed up with Save the Children to work in a FEMA trailer park near our site. Hundreds of children live in this cramped park with almost nothing to do. EC volunteers are now going to the site and working with children to create a more fun and hospitable environment. Our meal programs, and gutting programs, also continue to grow. Come volunteer!

August 2006 Update
Emergency Communities
August, 2006

Katrina One Year Anniversary In a celebration of the strength of the people of the Gulf Coast, Emergency Communities will be holding a Katrina One Year Anniversary Party at its site in Violet, LA. We will be featuring local band Vavavoom, and movie and music superstar Hilary Duff will be on our serving line to help feed residents! If you are in the area, come to Camp Hope in Violet, LA at 5:30 pm, this Tuesday, August 29th, for free food, music, and lots of fun!

July 2006 Newsletter
Emergency Communities
July, 2006

The Future of an Emergency: by Mark Weiner
R.I.P Made with Love Café and Grill, Dec 2005-June 2006

New “Hope” for St. Bernard Parish by Jason Burwen
Looking ahead with Camp Hope, and looking back on the Made with Love Café and Grill.

Plaquemines Parish: No Choice but to Rebuild by Chris Sheard and Mike Agresta
One residentâ€™s efforts to bring his family back to the parish where he was born and raised!

Check out this great article about us in the Washington Post:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/07/AR2006070700421.html

June 14, 2006 - Plaquemines is cookin'!
Plaquemines Parish site is up and running! Emergency Communities is proud to announce the opening of another major relief operation - right in Buras, Louisiana, where the eye of Katrina made landfall. After extensive research, support, and set-up, we have a fully operational kitchen and community center. Our first day, June 1st, we served 8 residents. On June 12th, we served 200. As residents find out about our efforts, they are coming and hanging out, eating, and talking with us. Some have already brought us shrimp and oysters to cook for the community. We are all very excited to support the people of Plaquemines Parish in their efforts to return home. Please help us by volunteering or donating. Relief is just beginning for this devastated community, and we need everyone's help in this.

June 8, 2006 - EC continues its work in St. Bernard with a new kitchen!
At long last, the Violet Kitchen Camp of Hope is cookin'! The government of St. Bernard Parish asked Emergency Communities to feed their thousands of volunteers that are coming down here for the summer. The volunteers, from organizations such as Habitat for Humanity, Americorps, and others, are out gutting homes everyday, and need good, nutritious meals to live on. So, Emergency Communities is providing just that. At the same time, we are feeding the residents of the local community, which allows the volunteers and residents to intermingle and eat together, while we all work together on the huge project of rebuilding St. Bernard. Like in everything else, we need your help! Please help us by volunteering or donating. Thanks!

June 2, 2006 - The Made with Love Cafe is closed.
The Made with Love Cafe, our first major project, has closed. But fear not! We are just moving down the road to Violet, LA, also in St. Bernard Parish, where we will continue feeding residents. As our first project, however, it will always remain in our hearts as one of the most powerful experiences in our lives. The people of St. Bernard welcomed us so graciously, and the volunteers of EC worked so diligently, that what was created was something never before seen. In the end, we served 185,000 meals, distributed thousands of tons of goods and clothing, gave first aid and homeopathic care to 2,000 folks, provided $1.3 million in offset debt reduction to the Parish's FEMA bill because of our volunteer hours, and gave out millions of hugs! To the residents we served - you are the strongest and most loving people we have ever met. To the volunteers who served - you are nothing less than heroes.

Project Update
Emergency Communities
April, 2006

April 18, 2006 - Fundraiser Alert! Nashville, TN - Come see "Tsunami Echoes: Katrina Cries" on April 22 and 23rd in Nashville, Tennessee. There will be a performances from the Glenn Frederick Repertory Dance Theatre as well as much more. Details here:

2400 Blakemore, Ave

Nashville, TN

7:00 pm Saturday April 22, 2006

2:30 pm Sunday April 23, 2006

Tickets: $10-$25

Purchase online at www.mollyguard.com or at the site on day of performace

April 11, 2006 - Emergency Communities is pleased to announce that we have been asked by the United Way and the Plaquemines Parish Unmet Needs Committee to begin a relief operation in Plaquemines Parish in Southern Louisiana. Plaquemines Parish is the location that was slammed by the eye of Hurricane Katrina, sustained fifteen levee breeches, and sat under water for more than thirty days. After the water was pumped out, Hurricane Rita destroyed it again. The southern region of the Parish, where EC intends to build its operation, has almost no services - no food, grocery stores, laundromats, showers, or community space. By May 1st, we hope to provide all of this and more. We intend to be in the Parish through the summer. Please support our efforts by volunteering or donating.

April 9, 2006 - Fundraiser Alert! A fundraiser will be held in Portland, OR on April 25th to support our efforts on the Gulf. It will include music, gumbo, a slideshow and volunteer testimonials. Please email [email protected] for more info.

April 25 6:15-8:45

Sacred Lotus Center

3758 SE Milwaukie

Portland, OR

Project Update
Emergency Communities
February, 2006

Dear Friends,

I am writing from the "office," a large blue tent in a field behind the Emergency Communities relief kitchen in St. Bernard Parish. Due to the ingenuity of our volunteers, we somehow have wireless internet access. This is our first attempt at a mass e-mail to all those involved, so I apologize if you receive this more than once. An update to you guys is long overdue.

What started as a couple conversations only 12 weeks ago has turned into a mind-blowing success. Our relief kitchen, the Made With Love Cafe and Grill, situated right outside the Ninth Ward of New Orleans, is now serving over 1,300 meals each day. We have a full distribution center packed with clothes, shoes, groceries and toys for the community to shop for free. We have a "Rejuvenation Station", offering first aid care and herbal remedies, as well as free massages and haircuts. Local bands come and play every week. Our food continues to be the best in a fifty mile radius.

On Sunday night, we threw a Super Bowl party that brought together people from all over the area. We are gearing up to be the most colorful group in this year's Mardi Gras parade. Other relief organizations are turning to us to help feed their volunteers, and we've begun the process of helping rebuild a local playground for the children. And of course, volunteers continue to pour in to help from all parts of the country. All of this is possible because of your help. We appreciate everyone's support so much.

Many times we look around at what has become a huge relief community center, and wonder where all of this came from. It came from all of you, and we thank you for that. Of course, the relief effort is still only beginning. Out of 65,000 residents pre-Katrina, only 8,000 have returned to St. Bernard Parish. We continue to work with other organizations to make sure every family's return to the parish is as safe, warm, and comfortable as humanly possible. If you would like to continue to help, you can always volunteer or donate at www.emergencycommunities.org.

Also, for all of you New Yorkers, I am going to be speaking this Saturday at the NYC Grassroots Media Conference, on a panel called "Stormwatch: The Struggle for a Renewed Activist Media after Hurricane Katrina". The panel will take place at 4:15 pm at the New School University. Other panels will be going on throughout the day, so if you are at all interested in grassroots media or the media response to Hurricane Katrina, please come.

Register and info here:
NYC Grassroots Media Conference
Sat February 11th, 2006
New School University 65 Fifth Ave at 13th St
www.nycgrassrootsmedia.org
10am-6pm
$20 Adult, $5 Youth (21 and under)

Again, we thank all of you so much for the support. We are going to continue to build this relief effort for as long as it takes. We are already in the planning stages of how to be an effective first response team to the next disaster. Please feel free to contact us at any time. Thanks!

With love,
Mark Weiner & all of us at the Made With Love Cafe and Grill St. Bernard Parish

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December 9th NYC Benefit a Success!
Thank You for Your Support

Emergency Communities is opening a kitchen and community center in St. Bernard's Parish on December 2nd. The Parish is located right outside of the Ninth Ward in New Orleans, one of the most devastated areas of the disaster zone.

The Benefit concert/slideshow at San Marcos Restaurant and Bar in lower Manhattan on Friday, December 9th raised more than $2,000 in donations thanks to all of your support! If you weren't able to make it out this time, please check back often for news on upcoming events which are likely to include live music, great food, and a slideshow/video presentation and lecture of what we are doing on the Gulf.

Please send us your contact information if you are interested in receiving news about upcoming events!

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