If you're doing your part to collect money or donations in response to the earthquake in Haiti, let us know so we can do our part by including it in our Haiti Relief Guide. E-mail your event or charity info to calendar@austinchronicle.com including as many details as possible.

The Red Cross doesn't have the easiest or best-funded job in the world (as its staff keep having to remind everyone, it's a volunteer operation, not the government. Feel free to donate to either the Red Cross of Central Texas or the national Disaster Relief Fund. Or both). But as they continue to assist in the post-Hurricane Ike clean-up (see our coverage of the ongoing activities here), they're still having to deal with allegations that what they did was too little, too late. The big accusation is that they didn't provide cots in the initial shelters opened in Austin ISD schools. Their response is that trying to roll out that many beds in what it ultimately someone else's facility just wasn't going to work. So why does this mean no cots? Because the Red Cross doesn't have $1,500,000 and a bunch of spare warehouse space.

Houston TV station KHOU's website reports that people returning home to the Bolivar Peninsula should prepare for the worst. Yet, as we experienced with so many storm survivors we met these last two weeks, the lofty ideal of 'hope' is sometimes the only thing that keeps one grounded. For Gilchrist resident Jack Nyman, hope seems to be keeping him afloat:

"Despite the devastation, Nyman still had hope. 'You know what I see? I see it rebuilt. I see it as it was and I see it rebuilt,' Nyman said. He found that hope in the one piece of his home he was able to salvage: a brass anchor once nailed to his front porch. 'I'll be building my house around my anchor. That's it. So it's not all gone,' he said. 'You bet. I'll build it around this anchor.'"

Over the weekend, we'll begin wrapping up our reports on this blog. We'll post more video from the weekend's trip and some updates about Austin relief efforts. Although we will be slotting In Case of Emergency into the Chronicle's background, the blog will be accessible though the Chronic Blog Roll, and we hope to not have to pull it out into the foreground for any significant event anytime soon. Thank you again for reading.

Made immortal by Jimmy Webb's classic love song (a hit for Glen Campbell), Galveston is not immortal. She is, however, resilient as all get out. She's survived worse than Ike, and stands as home to so many Texas firsts: first post office, first newspaper, first insurance company, first telephone, etc. Hurricane Ike ripped through the island 2:10am CDT, Saturday morning, September 13 as a Category 2 with winds of 110 mph. Today, the city was reopened to residents. Many of these people are going back to unthinkable devastation. We got to Galveston this past Sunday, distributing barbecue to the residents on the island who had either ridden out the storm or were some of the first back on to assess and address damages. Photos and captions illustrate our experience. Click the link above the picture for a full gallery. Over the next few days, we'll be posting video as well. We thank you for joining us.

This weekend's trip began Saturday morning at 6am at the Mobile Loaves & Fishes Commissary where dozens of volunteers, including an energetic group of young people from Concordia Academy, gathered to break into the 10 or so vehicles to make their way to the gulf coast. A third trip is scheduled for this weekend. MLF is currently accepting sign-ups. On a personal note, I have a confession to make.

On Saturday, we joined Mobile Loaves & Fishes as they set up shop to feed the folks of Bayou Vista. Dacia and I got out into the neighborhoods on one of the catering trucks handing out sandwiches, cold drinks, and needed provisions. Click the gallery to see the Saturday's pictures and read the captions that tell the story of the day.

We volunteered our asses off Saturday in Bayou Vista, Texas and shot what we saw. Keep an eye out for more posts, photos, video, and details from the weekend's trip to BV and Galveston Island, over the next few days. (Or, if you are seeing this on Chronic or Gay Place, click over to our In Case of Emergency blog for much more.) We had no intention of making a film, but then we met Dee Dee and couldn't have stopped if we tried. We hope we did our subjects justice. This is dedicated to them. [video-1] This Is Not Kansas is a film by Kate X Messer and Dacia Saenz. The principal characters in this baby doc are Dee Dee, Pookie, their neighbors, some onlookers, the filmmakers, the town of Bayou Vista, TX, and the remnants of Hurricane Ike. The music is Kaki King's "Doing the Wrong Thing" (permission pending).

A sneak preview of some of the young volunteers gettin' pumped up before the MLF weekend relief trip and a sneak peek clip of our upcoming video (look for it over the next few days).

Like a well-oiled ant hill (hey, it's early… cut me some metaphor slack), the Mobile Loaves & Fishes commissary served as the staging point for an early morning roll out. Like last week's trip, the NGO has loaded up catering trucks, trailers full of ice, water, and fuel, but this time, the size of the caravan is monster truck. We are rolling out with 10 vehicles and 40 or so eager volunteers ready to spread the gospel of MLF's "happiness business," supplying sustenance and emotional substance for the folks affected by Hurricane Ike. Currently, we are cooking on Hwy 36 just south off the Sealy exit off I-10. And that pretty picture up there, of one of Austin's favorite daughters? Well, that's there, because Ms. Sandra Bullock is a major supporter of the group's relief effort. "Just like during Hurricane Katrina, Sandra has tremendous compassion for the many people whose lives were turned upside down by these catastrophic events. She has a servant's heart," according to Alan Graham, MLF founder and Santa-in-charge. More pictures, dispatches, and video soon.