Ken Fortenberry wrote: "A picture is worth a thousand words.
http://www.redcross.org/news/photoessays/katrina/four/
Not only does the Red Cross have a presence in Gulfport, Mississippi, the
Red Cross has a shelter and the shelter is up and running."

When was the photo taken? The Red Cross has just started setting up
distribution centers in New Orleans about a week and half ago. There was no
Red Cross to be seen in the immediately affected areas for the first few
weeks. They claim they spent their time and efforts concentrating on
shelters in areas unaffected by the storm weather but affected by the mass
number of evacuees. This has not been confirmed by me.

I do know that while helping in the affected areas of Slidell, New Orleans,
and Metairie, I did not see one Red Cross worker or center. What I did see
was the Salvation Army going around feeding people, church groups and
business helping the community.

R Dean criticizes the Red Cross for the same thing I observed, yet some
people made rude comments as if he would post comments about the Red Cross
just because he does not like them. Now that someone else has verified that
their trip to the Mississippi Gulf Coast backs up R Dean other continue to
criticize.

Ken you wrote a picture is worth a thousand words. That is usually true but
if that picture was taken during the first week after there would be a lot
more people in the back ground of those pictures. I would bet that the
picture was taken within the last two weeks. I am not sure about the Gulf
Coast but I do know that most of the shelters in Louisiana are closed or
have very few people left in them. The shelter situation is probably the
same in Mississippi.

Sarge