The Big Easy...

So I've been working for the American Red Cross.

I'm not lookin' for a pat on the back. Truth is, I'm embarrassed to be a part of the whole affair. If you're one of the people who had their life turned upside down by Hurricane Katrina, or Rita...or both...you might get me on the phone.

I'm working the call center.

We're the people distributing the immediate disaster relief aide, to as many people as possible. I sit in a room with about 600 other souls, trying to help. The Red Cross is dispersing the relief funds via Western Union transactions. We verify that the caller was in the effected area, try to make sure they're who they say they are, submit the funds to WU, and then take the next call.

My shift is 6:00 PM - 2:30 AM PST.

It's amazing the full spectrum of emotions you can run talking to people who've lost everything for 8 hours straight. I got called a "honky bastard" the other night.

I actually came way too close to pissing my pants I was laughing so hard at that one. Of course, I probably wouldn't have had to deal with that if the guy wasn't trying to use a dead persons' social security number to get money. The rampant fraud going on is staggering. You get one every night. You can get as many as 3 an hour. They bother you more than the call from the person who lost their family.

They bother you more, because you can't help everyone.

It's just money. I mean, $300 bucks or so per-person isn't much. FEMA is supposed to help with the rebuilding, and there are billions of dollars in aide being sent to the South -- mostly for the right reasons I hope. But the problem is, you don't know. You aren't sure. You speak to some people, and you know you've helped where it was urgent.

At other times, you feel like you just bankrolled a Louis Vuitton bag.

What's really disturbing is they arrested like a dozen people who I work with for stealing funds. Seriously, there were people sitting right next to me, stealing money from men and women who have to start over. People who have nothing. People who watched their homes wash away. People who had to fish their loved ones out of what used to be their driveways. It infuriates me when I catch one of these people in the act, and despairs me when I speak to one of the identity theft victims...

...asking why someone would steal the food from their kids plate?

I don't know what's worse though. On one hand, the Red Cross is getting liquid cash out there to help people. Sure we can only scratch the surface of the millions displaced by these two massive storms, but there are people on the ground giving hot meals and blankets. They're setting up tents or opening their own houses up to refugees. There are people close to the tragedy who can do something tangible.

And then there's us.

Surrounded by brand spankin new IMB Thinkpads. We're running SQL based database apps (MSDE), with web interfaces. Everything we're doing can be filed under some of the most simple computer functions out there. Yet, we're working on what people in my field consider a status symbol, because it's expensive -- even on an engineer's salary.

Lets even consider the argument that the Red Cross decided it wanted computers that were dependable. They still could have saved about $2,000 a computer and bought Dell or Toshiba systems with full replacement warranties. If they broke, they could be replaced in 24 hours. No questions asked.

I know for a fact, I've seen nearly a thousand computers in the building I'm working in. I do IT support for the network and help desk on the weekends now too. These systems could easily account for 1.5 - 2 million in wasted money. No question. Some supervisor cut a deal that paid out millions to some national sales rep for IBM.

If you've ever given a dollar to the Red Cross...don't you hope it wasn't one of those?

Then there are the Red Cross people throwing away $75,000 worth of perishable food because some administrator didn't listen to the people on the ground. The disorganized way the RC works around us while we're taking these calls and giving away cash is stupefying. Their policies change hourly. This leads to RC staff who are inconsistent at best.

Usually they seem lost.

I feel for the volunteers though. They're here from all 4 corners of the country, and they're here to help. They're living out of suitcases in crappy Bakersfield motels. They work 12 hour shifts, and for the most part...they're more human than most.

I spoke to a woman from Livingston Texas who knew me.

She went to the 4th grade with me, and remembered me by name. I couldn't give her a dime because she called after the Red Cross clamped down the cash flow, and started to have us really screen people. She had lost everything in her apartment, and her car. Her kids were going to be out of school for a few more days, and her place of business was closed. She needed money fast. But, that morning, the Red Cross decided it was focusing the funds to "immediate urgent" need only. This meant that if you didn't lose a house you owned...you were out of luck.

I've spoken to swamp rats, cajuns, coonasses, creoles, Mississippi delta farmers, little old ladies, and men who fought in both world wars.

I also spoke to a 19 year old kid who lost his parents in the flash flood. He fished them out himself. He has 4 younger siblings, one of whom (a 6 year old girl) was still missing. This kid was now the head of his household, and he didn't even know where to start. The police told him they were too busy. I had to tell him about the center for missing and exploited children, the FBI, and the coordinated assistance network. I had to explain to him how to get photos of the little girl copied at a library and made into fliers. I had to help this kid become a man within the confines of a 20 minute phone call.

It's been taking nearly 3 hours a night to decompress when I get home. I don't know how much more I can take.

I'll keep you posted.