The following email is from my stepmom Jean. She wrote this to a group of friends and family and I feel it is important to share it with you. It's nice to hear some positive news coming from all this Katrina destruction:

Over the weekend my daughter, Jennifer (who is the Assistant Principal and one of our elementary schools in Round Rock) told me that there was going to be a clothing drive at her school for the victims of Hurricane Katrina and she asked if she could use Mark's pick up truck in case they needed it to haul stuff. I said sure and that I would help. Now, Mark's truck is a Mazda so it is not real big, but we figured it would be fine to help out.

The drive was going to be on Monday (Labor Day) from 8 - 11, so at 7:30 I picked her up in the truck and off we went. We took some stuff from our houses (clothing, toys and books) and when we got there there wasn't much activity yet. We started sorting clothing in boxes and it seemed like when we looked up there was a line of people dropping off stuff. It was truly amazing. This was a drive that was not advertised much - some flyers and some church announcements, yet the turn out was awe inspiring. There were hundreds of people, hundreds and hundreds of boxes packed with clothing for all ages from infant to adult (including some wonderful "interviewing" clothes), toys and stuffed animals galore along with diapers, food, and boxes and boxes of shoes of all sizes and styles. We ran out of boxes 3 times and had to go begging for more. We had one large U-Haul type truck and had to get another. Wal-Mart came through with boxes as well as food and drinks. A local barbeque place brought the volunteers lunch. A local Boy Scout troop was there to help. Kids from the school were there. Parents from around Round Rock were there. The Mayor was there. It was absolutely incredible. People were still dropping off stuff at 1:00!

My wonderful daughter, Jennifer, was incredible. She was so gracious, friendly and hard working. She got a local TV station out there to see what was going on. She worked like a dog and she never quit. She got some of the families her school is enrolling to come by and we helped these kids and adults pick out clothing and shoes and toys. These families were wonderful. They didn't want to take too much in case someone else might need it. The little boy I helped didn't want to get more that a couple of pairs of jeans until I told him over and over it was ok to get more. We filled a suitcase for him! By the way, Jennifer has only been at this school for 3 weeks, yet I constantly heard how wonderful she is and how happy they are to have her there. Made a mom proud to be related to such an incredible woman!

All the volunteers were wonderful - hard working, never stopping except to grab a bottle of water or a sandwich. Some never got out of the hot sun all day. We had a forklift to load the trucks and when we left at 1:30 they were still loading and were probably going to have to make more than one trip to the main drop off point with the two trucks we had. No one ever expected our little town to turn out with such giving especially when most of the advertisement was mainly by word of mouth.
Jennifer put together some packets for "her" families with lots of information about support available and these people were so appreciative - hugging her and thanking her and blessing her. One mom was so overcome with the outpouring of support her family was receiving that she had to leave for a while. These "victims" were amazing in their ability to fight back, pull up their boot straps and start over. I wonder if I could do the same and pray I never have to find out.

If you have not donated to someone or something, I urge you to do so. Anything and everything helps. From a few cans of food, to a donation to the Red Cross, to donating your time at a clothing drive, all will be appreciated.

I have never felt so blessed as I was when helping these incredible people.