A day on the Catholic Charities Green Team

Whether it was the loss of power, lack of food, or simply all the destruction, somehow Ike bonded the Gulf Coast together. I got to experience this while volunteering with Houston's Catholic Charities on Wednesday.

Catholic Charities has been working with small communities since the storm.

"We pick different communities every day. We try to target the ones that have been missed or forgotten by other organizations just because they are so small," said Charlene, Catholic Charities Communications Assistant. "Many of them that we've gone to, I had never heard of until now."

While donning my green volunteer vest and baseball cap, Charlene told me that today we were going to Bacliff down by the Bayshore RV park to help out with two trucks full of supplies.

A TROPICAL WARZONE

Driving into the town, it didn't take a rocket scientist to see that Bacliff was hit hard by Hurricane Ike. There was debris everywhere, roofs were torn off of houses, palm trees were stripped bare, and some people had even set up tents as temporary shelters.

And of course, power was a luxury that none of the residents had.

"I just got a generator from my dad today and we're setting it up. We've had nothing for days," said Ted, one of the residents. "We've been mostly cleaning up and airing out the place."

I had never been to Bacliff before, but Ted told me the town looks completely different after Ike stormed through. The flooding may have gone down, but trees were missing and parts of the beach had been rearranged.

"The hurricane moved all these giant rocks onto the boat dock," said Ted. "It's hard to believe that the big pile of rocks wasn't there before."

Ted was just one of many who were sweating it out while waiting for the power to come back.

While we didn't have any power to give him, we did have food, cleaning supplies and other essentials.

But first we had to unload the trucks.

ROLLING UP MY SLEEVES

Let me tell you that volunteering is good for the soul, good for those who are on the receiving end, and a good workout for your body.

Before we could start helping people, our little green-vested team of 12 had to unload the trucks which were piled full of donations. While it wasn't really heaving lifting, it wasn't as easy as handing out a bottle of water to someone walking by. But, we worked together in an assembly line to quickly unload the trucks and set things up for the massive amount of people already lining up in their cars.

Some of the volunteers had helped out before and were already pros at the process.

"My brother and I have been handing out stuff in parking lots like this one for a couple of days now," said one volunteer. "We are originally from New Mexico and this was our first hurricane. It's been an experience that I hope I don't have to go through again."

IT'S SHOWTIME

Unloading the trucks was just the beginning. After that it was time to start doing the real work: Handing out the stuff to the people who needed it.

Starting at noon and going until 7 p.m., we began handing out buckets of supplies and thousands of boxes of pre-made meals. The cars kept coming and coming.

But while the line was long and seemingly never ending, everyone was extremely patient and helpful. Many were desperate for diapers, water and food.

And how did our little green team do? Fantastic - if I must say so myself.

We might have been tired and some of us will probably be sore the next day, but we had smiles on our faces and the energy never faded.

LENDING A HELPING HAND DURING IKE RECOVERY

It's still a long road of recovery for Ike survivors.

According to CenterPoint, some of these smaller communities along the coast may not have full power until November - which means grocery stores and local businesses will not be operating in full capacity. They are relying on outsiders to help them make it through.

"Catholic Charities is helping on average 1,250 people a day," said Julissa Chappell, Director of Communications for the organization.

Julissa said they are still looking for more volunteers to help out. For more information, you can contact Nancy in Volunteer Services at 713-305-8268.

Donations for Ike are also urgently needed to assist with recovery efforts. To donate visit www.catholiccharities.org.