I'll second that. Mac, and all the other people who so selflessly put in money and time and pain and sleepless hours and living without showers for days to camping in crowded trailers and trying to get a cell signal and get communication out to get stuff in, for countless hours that'll never be punched on a time clock nor really ever accounted for... Your efforts displayed the finest part of human nature, even when you got tired and ill tempered or so fatigued you couldn't remember what town you were in.
Thank you, to one and all. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Neofast, Inc, Making internet easy 541-969-8200 509-386-4589 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ From: Matt Larsen - Lists Sent: Wednesday, September 01, 2010 1:42 PM To: WISPA General List Subject: [WISPA] Katrina, Five Years Later (from my blog, WirelessCowboys.com) It is now 5 years since Katrina hit New Orleans and changed the face of the Gulf Coast forever. One of the good things that came out of this disaster was the outstanding effort by wireless ISPs that came together to provide Internet and phone services to thousands of refugees from the storm. Mac Dearman stood at the center of that effort. I called Mac the day after Katrina hit to check in on him and see how bad off he had it. Other than a little damage, his network was in good shape. I called a couple of days later, and he told me stories about the refugees of the storm, churches and makeshift shelters filled to overflowing with people that had nothing more than the clothes on the backs. He and his employees had been working non-stop to put in Internet connections and voip phones at the shelters so that the people there would be able to contact their loved ones and start the process of applying for federal help. I could tell from the tone in his voice that he was completely worn out, but could not stop because this work had to be done. I got on a plane the next morning and headed down to help in any way that I could. Within two days after I arrived, there were at least 30 people camped out at Mac's farm near Rayville, Louisiana and semi loads of donated equipment had arrived that allowed us to put Internet, VOIP phones and computers at nearly every shelter in Mac's service area. I had to leave after a week, but Mac took his volunteer army of WISPs down to the Bay St. Louis and Gulfport areas along the coast and kept going until the next spring. It was truly an amazing effort, done with no government support, purely with volunteer help and donated equipment. The campaign to help people after Katrina was a pinnacle moment of the infant WISP industry, and a perfect illustration of the ability of WISPs to provide critical services quickly, efficiently and professionally. Thank you Mac, and thanks to all of the volunteers that were able to take the time to help him out. WISPs everywhere owe you a debt of gratitude. More reading: http://www.redherring.com/Home/15053 http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/10/03/mac.dearman/ Matt Larsen Vistabeam.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WISPA Wireless List: [email protected] Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
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