Warren, Julie & Charles Update
If you’ve followed the news regarding Hurricane Katrina, you may be concerned about Warren Bickford, Julie Freeman, Charles Pizzo, and others. I appreciate the following information from Chris Hall at IABC, received at 11 a.m. Chicago time today. It came from Chris Grossgart, who spoke directly with Julie:
Would you believe that there was an Executive Committee meeting this weekend in…New Orleans?
They all got out of Katrina’s path just fine, but Warren and Julie high-tailed it to Dallas, where there was no doubt a looooong wait for flights out of the region. Julie’s getting back this afternoon, so I can only assume Warren might be flying back home today too.
At 11:15 am, Charles called me. He, his mother, and their dog are safe in a hotel 450 miles northwest of New Orleans. He hopes to get into a different hotel that offers Internet access. We are used to our technology! Seriously, he asks for prayers and well-wishes that he and his mom aren’t homeless. They won’t know until it’s safe to return [to their separate] home[s].
Here is an email that Charles sent me (some of the info may be incorrect, as people adjusted travel plans:
Julie Freeman, Warren Bickford, and David Kistle were in town for an IABC
Executive Committee meeting. They rented a car Sunday morning to drove north
toward Memphis, where they hoped to pick up flights home on Northwest.Scott Cytron and Mark Schumann were able to get out on two of the few
flights that were not cancelled, and Glenda Holmes reportedly left Saturday
night by car back to Austin, TX.Mom, Ollie (dog) & I - who live in New Orleans - evacuated northwest to
Texarkana in the middle of the night (before the mandatory evacuation order,
so we missed the traffic).We pray our homes are spared, but it’s looking pretty rough.
I spoke earlier this morning with a colleague of Warren’s from Gryphon Reputation Management, who has not heard from Warren since he left for New Orleans on Thursday. Understandably, communications and travel are difficult there. Here is a quote from WDSU.com:
“All the flights are canceled. I think the airports pretty much closed down. I think the rental car agencies are closed, so we can’t even drive out of here if we want to,” said a tourist from Ann Arbor, Mich.
Unfortunately, Warren and Charles didn’t get the “well deserved holiday” that Warren anticipated in his most recent Cafe post:
I am now off early in the morning to New Orleans (Northwest Airlines willing) for an Executive Committee meeting and a brief (but well deserved) holiday with my buddy Charles Pizzo. While I am in New Orleans, I will be speaking to a meeting of IABC New Orleans and presenting a Ragan teleseminar (Cybersmearing: the risky business of employee disengagement) with Charles and Jiyan Wei of v-Fluence Interactive Public Relations.
Please send your good thoughts to everyone affected by this severe weather situation, and post any news you can about IABC people caught up in the event. Time stamp your replies so that we know the actual time you post. Thanks.
August 29th, 2005 at 8:48 am
Tom -
Thank you very, very much for the update! Glad everyone’s out of harm’s way.
(noon cst)
August 29th, 2005 at 11:11 am
As Tom wrote in his posts, IABC Chair Warren Bickford and I, as well as past Chair David Kistle, left New Orleans by car. We are all safe and sound and I’m now writing from San Francisco.
During the long drive out of the affected area, we knew that while Warren, David and I were headed toward the safety of our homes, most of the people in the countless other cars sharing the road with us were in fact leaving their homes behind, not knowing what they’d return to when this is all over.
To our members and everyone else in the areas affected by Hurricane Katrina, on behalf of IABC’s staff and executive board, our thoughts are with you, with hopes for your safety and minimal loss of property.
We’ll keep posting updates here in the Café as more information becomes available.
Julie Freeman
IABC President
August 29th, 2005 at 6:31 pm
I have been glued to the TV, in part because I lived in New Orleans for about eight years. It is so catastrophic that it is incomprehensible. Thank God you all are safe. Charles, in particular, I’ve been thinking about you and praying for you and your mother. I worry about all my ol’ New Orleans chapter friends. Everyone — keep us updated on your whereabouts, safety, and recovery plans. What can we do to help?
August 30th, 2005 at 8:28 am
HELP. Please, please, please help. This is Gerard Braud. I have evacuated safely from New Orleans, but now I am trying to return home to offer my services as a communicator. Specifically I an trying to get to Covington, Louisiana to help in St. Tammany Parish. The problem is, there is no way to get information to anyone in an official capacity who can get me in to help. I need an official police or emergency vehicle to get from Destin, Florida to Covington, Louisiana. Only official vehicles are allowed on the interstate.
As with most disasters, everyone is busy handling the crisis and no one is communicating. I have a broadcast camera and computer editing in my car. If I can get in, I can drive back out to places with power to get this information out to citizens who need it. ONE MILLION people are trying to get official information and there is NO SOURCE FOR IT. One Million people will be HOMELESS for week and don’t know it yet. I have the tools and the know how. I just need a way in.
If you know anyone, ANYONE, who can help, we need you desperately. I need someone at the Federal FEMA level who can cut through red tape and show interest in my offer to help lift some of the communications burden.
I am currently camped out at an Emergency Operations Center in Florida, where they are trying to help me facilitate my offer.
If you see this posting, please contact me here at 850-651-7560.
My e-mail is not working. I will look for your postings here.
Because the TV networks are showing the same footage over and over, and only a few dramatic interviews, my goal is to gather official information that I can bring back out to TV and Radio Stations, as well as websites, so other evacuations have real info. Official government websites are down because the servers are only based locally and there is no power–there are no phone lines.
We need to think outside the box. I need brain power and the networking capability of this global organization for us to do something BIG.
My evacuation site numbers are as follows:
My cell: May not work-504-908-8188
Elaine Tucker’s Cell-my house host-850-585-7294
My e-mail is not working. I will look for your postings here.
August 31st, 2005 at 11:56 am
Glad to hear that everyone from the NO IABC is safe.
Prayers go out to all affected by this tragedy.
IABC PHOENIX