Introduction/Welcome

Dear family, friends & readers throughout the blogosphere –

Welcome to “A Bird’s-Eye View.” The primary purpose of this web log is to enable me to keep folks informed about what is happening during my month working in the Gulf Coast doing hurricane relief work. I am the pastor at Valmont Presbyterian Church in Boulder, Colorado and my parishioners have been kind enough to grant me a five week sabbatical leave. I have chosen to take that time to volunteer with Presbyterian Disaster Assistance. PDA is the branch of the Presbyterian Church (USA) that does disaster relief work in the U.S. and throughout the world. Among their recent responses, they have had teams that responded to the Tsunami disaster and the Pakistan earthquake.

Let me address a few words for those new to web logs, aka blogs. (If you are a seasoned blogger, feel free to skip to the next paragraph.) Blogs are designed to be interactive. The author (that would be me) blabs on about whatever he or she wants to spout off about. The reader (that would be you) has a couple of options. 1) You can simply read the entries, or 2) You can read the entries and leave a “Comment.” If you want to write a comment, simple click on the word “Comment” at the end of the entry and you will be given a place to write your thoughts. Comments are open for all readers to see and others may leave comments on your comments. I'd love to hear from you.

Back to the story. Working with Norwegian Church Aid, PDA is setting up “Volunteer Villages.” (Motels can be expensive and many are not habitable due to the hurricanes, but volunteers still need some place to stay.) The Volunteer Villages amount to tent cities that can house up to 100 - 150 workers. They will have basic facilities, such as port-a-potties and basic outdoor showers. Food will be provided by volunteers in local churches, shelters or mobile kitchens.

My place in this puzzle will be to be “Mayor” of one of the Volunteer Villages. I will be responsible for the logistics of keeping the camp running, meeting the needs of work teams and coordinate their work in the local community. At the time of this writing I don’t know where I will be working. I hope to find out my destination soon, but relief work is always fluid and the villages will be situated where the need is greatest and where there are facilities to support the villages.

iXs, the Rev