Ghost Town

                                                                                   

A month after Ike and I finally get to go shoot in Galveston for a few hours (thanks mom!).  There is still debris everywhere, a moldy smell in the air, and people in hazmat gear cleaning out buildings all over the island.  Many G-town landmarks have been reduced to rubble or lone pilings on the beach (like the Balinese room pictured in the first and fourth shots).  Mangel's near the Strand was mangled, and there is literally a refrigerator graveyard, containing hundreds of flooded appliances. To say the smell was foul is a gross understatement.  Oh, and I saw more boats on the freeway and in yards than in the actual water, which, funny enough, was the prettiest I'd seen it in a long time.

House of Amos

Some more work on hunger in Houston...House of Amos is a local non-profit organization that provides a food pantry, ESL classes, and immunizations for those in need.  These images are from the group's weekly food fair, during which families in need (many with young children) receive free groceries and classes on how to provide for their families with minimal income.

The Houston Food Bank requires participants to provide their household information before they can receive foodstuffs from HOA.

Diana's birthday

My beloved aunt celebrated her 50th this weekend...

End Hunger Houston

Volunteers prepare a pallet of "weekly meal packs," boxes containing five complete meals and beverages that EHH provides for shut-ins and other Houstonians in need of food.

Naomi Brown (center) and Raye Fischel (right) crack jokes as they load up boxes in the EHH warehouse.  Brown and Fischel are employees of local oil company Apache Corporation and volunteer at EHH once a month with some of their coworkers. 

Erica Thomas, also with Apache Corp, frees frozen chicken breasts to be included in one of the meals the volunteers prepare that day.  The Apache volunteers boxed over 1200 meals during their 3-hour shift.

Members of the University of Houston's National Merit Scholars organization participate in their first community service project at EHH.

EHH uses both prepackaged and fresh foods for their meal programs.

Mark, a resident at Houston's Star of Hope Mission, rests for a minute between meal preparations in EHH's kitchen.  Star of Hope is a Christian-based organization that helps and houses some of  Houston's homeless men, women, and children.  The mission advocates job training and community service for its members.