I miss the Rainbow people ("Old Hippies", dome people, folks in the Waveland parking lot) an awful lot. They not only served real balanced fresh food, but there was also a P.O.D.(Point of Distribution for you outsiders), a medical clinic, a free clothing tent and an alternative healing tent that had massage and talk therapy. This was all in a corner of a large strip mall parking lot. There were wonderfully colorful buses and the kids dressed in a thrift-store-eclectic
style. Sometimes when I went to eat there, a "kid"(I am 50) would be off to one side of the line doing the hula hoop. I ate with all kinds of people there and that was also great! I didn't know who I was going to sit next to and talk with.
I drove by the site today and cried. I miss their diverse non-judgemental light.
I hope that some day I can do for others what they did for us in the Bay/Waveland area.
Bless you. You are true warriors, one and all.

I WOULD JUST LIKE TO THANK MY MOTHER PERSOALLY WHOM DOES NOT KNOW I'AM METIONING HER NAME. SHE HAD HER 80TH BIRTHDAY WHILE WORKING BESIDE GENEROUS,CARING,KIND,LOVABLE PEOPLE AND I KNOW SHE WOULD NOT CHANGE ONE MOMENT FROM HAVING THAT GREAT OPPORTUNITY.HER NAME IS ALVINA NCHOLS OF BAY ST LOUIS,MS. WELL DONE ,YOUR DAUGHTER LYLIE

Hey Mindyo, first, many in wiggins were affected. I for one lost my job a month before my daughter was due. Second, i am one of those hippies that was there feeding those people.

After volunteering with Red Cross until Wiggins was "normal"
and getting my family squared away, i hit it for waveland where I put in as much time as I could between trips home to check on my family.

And you flame me for saying we should care for all religions, why would you do that?

MR ALEX WOOLDRIDGE , I CAN NOT SAY I ARGEE WITH YOU AN I AM FROM HAGERSTOWN AN YOU KNOW ME AND I CAN NOT BELIVE THAT YOU WOULD SAY THAT THE ALEX I KNEW HAD COMPASION FOR OTHERS THERE WERE KIDS AN BABIES THE WITH NOTHING TO EAT THEY HAVE DONE NOTHING WRONG GOD LOVES ALL EXPECALLY CHILDERN AN HE DID NOT DO THIS MORE LIKE THE DEVIL DID AN I AM GLAD TO SEE EVERYONE WORKING TOGETHER ALEX YOU'RE MOTHER WOULD NEVER EVER SAY SOMETHING LIKE THAT I HOPE SEE DONT SEE IT

My name is Kim and my boyfriend and I arrived in Waveland from Katy, TX about a week after the storm. We did't know where we were going when we left Texas but somehow ended up in Waveland. We landed on Fred's corner before The Rainbow Family arrived. My life is forever changed by meating the people of Waveland and by the humanity of The Rainbow Family. We camped in Fred's parking lot for almost 4 months. We are back home now but part of my heart will always be with all that I have met.

Hey there, I am an ex-New Waveland Cafe-er, and I wanted to tell you that a bunch of us are still down here, along with fresh blood from around the country, running a relief kitchen in St. Bernard Parish under the banner of Emergency Communities. Anyone who is interested should check out our web-site- www.emergencycommunities.org -
Waveland, we love you and miss you. I will never forget my time in the Fred's parking lot. Stay strong, and if you head out our way, stop and grab a hot meal. We are at 7718 W. Jidge Perez
Arabi, LA 70032

Our feckless government leaders could take a good lesson from those fearless Warriors of the Rainbow Family of Living Light who selflessly assisted those who had no help in Waveland, and who have gone on since to other areas to continue their help. I have attended many Rainbow Family Gatherings, being a product of the '60s myself, and can see how the expertise of the Rainbow Family in logistics and feeding the masses could be a good lesson for all in disaster recovery. Every year in June at the National Gathering, a tent and tepee city of 20,000 to 45,000 people emerges in a National Forest, complete with primitive kitchens and sanitary facilities. All the people there are fed on a daily basis, and no one goes hungry. There are no government funds spent to host this event, other than the $800,000.00 alloted to the Forest Service Incident Command Team to harass and intimidate the hippies in attendance. These are the same hippies who set up the field kitchens in Waveland, New Orleans, and other flood ravaged places to feed the homeless and assist them in any way they could. It is a lesson in which less is certainly more. I am proud to be associated with these fine people. There are no finer walking the face of the earth. I am only sorry that my physical infirmaties prevented me from joining them.

Nigel from Pass Christian, you are wonderful; people from Bay St. Louis are pretty cool, too! My family all live in the Pass Christian area, as well as the Bay St. area, while I live in Colorado....I've not been to visit them yet, but will later this year, and read this story because I, too, am considered a 'hippie', and thought, 'Finally, a positive story about us!'; It was wonderful to read the great comments on the great job that group did there, (I will have to ask my Mom about Fred's...), and it's so great to read good comments and blessings from all the great people who didn't pass negative judgement on those of us who wear tie dyes and beads...Sounds like a great community you've got down there, and it sounds like it's all going to continue being great! God bless us all for the love that was shown from all that were there!