Love
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Relief Report on Hurricane Victims in Florida, USA
By the Florida Relief Team (Originally in English)
Florida recently experienced a devastating and unusual series of hurricanes beginning on August 13, 2004, when Hurricane Charley, one of the most powerful of such storms in history, passed directly across the state. Then, to the surprise of scientists and weather forecasters around the world, three more major hurricanes struck Florida in quick succession, culminating with Hurricane Jeanne on September 26. The region had never before experienced so many severe hurricanes in one season so local residents felt much anxiety and confusion during this time.
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Our compassionate Master, concerned about the victims' welfare, asked local initiates to go to the affected areas to determine the people's immediate needs, emphasizing those who had lost their homes and telling the volunteers to determine whether everyone had places to stay, whether they were being provided for by the government or other organizations, and what we could do for them.On September 27, we divided into three teams, drove to various parts of Florida within Hurricane Jeanne's path of destruction, and discovered that the most severely damaged places were beach communities and mobile home parks. People who had left these areas prior to the hurricane returned to find their homes either partly or completely destroyed. The more fortunate were able to stay with friends or relatives or in hotels, but many were forced to seek refuge at shelters provided by the American Red Cross.
We sought to bring Master's love to unfortunate victims, but the Red Cross does not allow other groups to visit their shelters, while access to damaged beach houses was closed off by the U. S. Army to prevent looting so the only victims that we could help directly were those living in mobile home parks.
After speaking with victims, we learned that the most urgently needed items were tarps to cover damaged and leaking roofs. So on September 28 equipped with enough tarps we split up into teams and began providing aid to victims in Polk, Highlands and Indian River Counties, and along the coastal areas north of Miami.
We first stopped at a migrant workers' community in Polk County, gave the victims tarps to cover their roofs, learned that they needed water, food and household supplies and then left to purchase the items. By the time we finished shopping, it was too late to go to sleep so we drove back to the community, meditated in our cars for an hour and a half until sunrise and then distributed the materials.
On the next day, September 29, the relief team drove to a mobile home park in West Palm Beach. As we neared our destination it began to rain, and when we arrived, the rain strengthened, so we donned raincoats. We then went door to door offering the supplies to the residents, who happily accepted the gifts, being especially thankful for the much needed tarps. Many were very touched to see the care shown by the initiates, who worked happily despite the rain.
The relief teams then met up and traveled to another migrant worker community in Indian River County near the coast, where a Catholic mission was being used by the government to distribute relief supplies. It was there that we met a most remarkable woman named Angelina, the director of the mission. Unlike other government and church officials, who asked us to fill out forms and distribute supplies under the authority of designated local churches, she immediately called the families waiting at a government table to the parking lot to collect relief items directly from our cars.
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Angelina even stood in front of the waiting line, handing out sample booklets to the recipients in the middle of her church! It was an incredibly powerful moment. The migrant workers who received the goods were very pure and immediately accepted Master's love. Moreover, many thanked us with deep sincerity in their eyes, but this exchange of love could not have occurred without the help of the saintly mission director.
On September 30 and October 1, we decided to concentrate on the many mobile home parks in coastal Fort Pierce, where Hurricane Jeanne's strongest winds had struck. There were seventeen such parks in the area, each with a dozen to over a thousand homes so we again divided into three teams.
By that time, plastic tarps to cover roofs were also being provided by the Army, but they were not available immediately as victims had to apply for them by filling out long forms. Meanwhile, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and other groups were setting up relief stations, where people could drive up to obtain water, ice and other supplies. However, at one such station people had to wait hours in long lines. So when we arrived offering free tarps, food, water, mosquito repellant, other daily necessities and most importantly, Master's love, the recipients felt deeply grateful and moved that there were other human beings who cared for them so much.
Since the electricity was still out in the majority of the mobile home areas, we could only visit a few mobile home parks during daylight hours. So we retired to an initiate's house nearby and continued working the next day. The owners of the house said that the electricity had been restored just moments before we announced that we were coming, giving them just enough time to prepare food for everyone. It seemed that Master had known we were hungry and tired and decided to arrange a place for us to eat and rest.
The next morning, we again split up into teams and continued the relief work. In one devastated area we offered relief materials to a beautiful grandmother taking care of four lovely grandchildren. Although the family was very poor financially, they were rich in love. The grandmother graciously accepted the supplies, making sure not to take more than they needed. She was deeply touched by our help, calling us "God's angels." When asked if she wanted anything else, the grandmother smiled and said, "In light of everything that's been happening, we've learned to separate our ‘wants' from our ‘needs'."
Later, after visiting the assigned areas, the teams met up at a huge mobile home community for the elderly that contained over 1600 residences. The inhabitants were very happy to see us and gladly accepted the supplies we offered, being especially elated to receive water and ice because the FEMA truck that normally delivered these supplies had not come that day. One of the ladies managing the site said that the items were a God-send because we had come when they truly needed help. It was obvious that the recipients felt Master's love very strongly for they showered the brothers and sisters with love. They were also very curious about the spiritual aspect of our group and continually asked about how they could contact us. Then, amid numerous hugs and sad farewells, we reluctantly departed.
The next day, after seeing electrical service being restored to more and more areas, and workers from FEMA, other groups and the Army increasingly helping the victims, the initiates decided that their work was completed.
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Looking back over our week of relief work, we were left with many fond memories of loving encounters throughout Florida. The 2004 hurricane relief project was a wonderful opportunity to share Master's care and concern with our neighbors, providing another reminder of Her endless compassion for suffering beings everywhere. Moreover, the work was especially meaningful for us because of the great blessings that Master bestowed on Florida in recent years while residing here. It is surely no coincidence that Florida experienced this dramatic "karmic cleansing" during the first Golden Year of our planet's history. We are forever grateful to Master for giving us this precious chance to develop our compassion and become imbued with God's grace.
Formosa | Mainland China | India | Russia | Grenada | Jamaica | the Domincan Republic | Florida, USA | Panama | Japan | Expenditures for Global Disaster Relief Aid by The Supreme Master Ching Hai, September and October, 2004
