Living on Tulsa Time

This is about Tulsa, and the Okies response to Katrina...I'm not a native Okie, but my last job was near Tulsa, so I am predjudiced.

The link is about the Sooner response.

Oklahoma responds to natural disasters each year. This year, the state is lending its support to those in need in New Orleans.

The Payne County Red Cross is working with Oklahoma State University, local businesses and residents to collect monetary donations for victims of Hurricane Katrina.

“In-kind donations, such as food and water, can slow down relief. That is why we are only accepting money,” said Jake Peters, assistant director of the Payne County Red Cross. “The Payne County Red Cross, coordinating with the office of student affairs, attempted to raise $10,000 at the OSU game Saturday at Boone Pickens Stadium.

“We collected $30,000 before the game even started,” said Jill Rucker, assistant to the vice president of student affairs. “We had 225 volunteers collecting money in the Posse parking lots.

“The final amount of money collected at the game won’t be known until tomorrow. We also informally challenged the University of Oklahoma to collect funds at their football game to see who could collect the most. We won’t know how much OU collected until tomorrow either.” she said.

OSU students were not the only ones who volunteered.

“Volunteers came from faculty, staff and students. It’s an even mix,” said Rucker. “It really is the OSU family pitching in and helping out. We feel strongly about this cause because it could have easily been us with a tornado.

“It’s just the OSU family reaching out to our Louisiana brothers and sisters.”

LINK
DAVIS, Okla. -- A church camp in southern Oklahoma was expecting as many as 3,000 evacuees from the storm-battered Gulf Coast region, but none had arrived there by early Tuesday. Hundreds of volunteers have been prepared to welcome displaced people at the Falls Creek Baptist Conference Center, a 360-acre camp in the Arbuckle Mountains. A 6,000-seat outdoor amphitheater has been packed with men's, women's and children's clothes. Hundreds of pairs of shoes have been lined up. President George W. Bush approved a federal emergency declaration Monday for Oklahoma. Under the declaration, federal funds will be available to assist with housing, food and emergency protective measures. Falls Creek will be the second evacuation center in the state for victims of Hurricane Katrina. About 1,500 evacuees arrived late Saturday and early Sunday at Camp Gruber, a National Guard training camp in northeastern Oklahoma 18 miles southeast of Muskogee.