A Group of Women Bring Help in a U-haul to Camp Sister Spirit
A U-Haul jointly sponsored by the Southern Womyn’s Festival, Jacksonville, Melrose, St. Augustine, and Gainesville, FL women arrived at Camp Sister Spirit about 2 p.m. at Sept. 18th. The Festival, Dorothy Campbell, and some of the women of Pagoda in St. Augustine, FL rented a U-Haul to carry donations to the camp in Mississippi.
“Our drivers, Peggy and Regina expected to arrive at Camp Sister Spirit late Saturday but were unable to keep this time schedule due to the size of the load they were carrying,” reported Pat Cobb of the Festival. “They decided they could not find there way without daylight and opted to spend the night at a motel and get a fresh start in the morning. They had been up and working since 6 a.m. Saturday. Many road signs were down as they entered Mississippi, which would have made it impossible to find their way in the dark.”
According to the drivers there was extreme devastation throughout that part of Mississippi. They reported many trees down and roofs off buildings.
“We were talking to them via cell phone as they were driving through southern Mississippi and you could tell they were shocked by what they were seeing,” said Cobb. “We spoke to them again just after they arrived at Camp Sister Spirit and they reported a large truck was unloaded from Minnesota with a video crew who were making a documentary film of their grassroots Katrina relief and recovery efforts. They told us there were many folks at Camp Sister Spirit but we do not know if these were people displaced by the storm or helpers. I said ‘Sounds like they have a lot of help’ and they said, ‘This is not enough.’ The local residents are mostly rural and low-income families who had no means to prepare for such a disaster. Our drivers were really taken aback by what they had experienced driving through the area.”
Cobb is requesting donations continue to be sent to the camp (campsisterspirit.com)
“These donations not only go to the camp but to the surrounding community,” she said. “Nothing will go to waste as Camp Sister Spirit is also helping their neighbors in Mississippi.”
You may also send donations directly to the camp at Camp Sister Spirit, Box 12, Ovett, MS 39464 or 444 East Side Drive.
The Festival is spearheading a rebuilding effort to resurrect the camp owned by Wanda and Brenda Henson which was directly in the path of the storm near Ovett, MS, just a few miles inland from where the eye of the hurricane came ashore.
“Wanda and Brenda are passing out excess supplies to their neighbors in need,” said Cobb. “Peggy and Gina said that folks were boxing up and picking up supplies as fast as they could be unloaded and sorted. We want to thank everyone that contributed to our efforts by way of donations. We especially want to thank Dorothy Campbell who had this idea, The Norm, Wild Iris, and Take Me Places Coffee that allowed us to pick up donations from their businesses and made contributions to our efforts. A special thanks also is given to Shewolf of Melrose, Shefay of St. Augustine, and Madeline Davidson of Gainesville who contributed their time and efforts to help make this venture a success by organizing the women in their communities. I’d also like to thank Betty Freel, Cindy Norman, and WordWeavers who made large personal contributions, Kerry, who at 6 a.m. Saturday, professionally packed the U-Haul trailer, and last, but not least, a big thank you to our drivers, Peggy and Gina who gave up their weekend for a long round-trip drive to Mississippi.
“We need food for us and those who come to us for help,” The Hensons said Sept. 11th.
The couple reported that before the U-Haul trip someone named Andie they know gave out food boxes to 12 families and saw two elderly women in a garden next to a crushed trailer. She stopped to ask how they were. They had moved into their barn and one of them was 92 years old. Andie took them one of the generators that had been donated, food, and a fan.
Also before last weekend the Ovett Volunteer Fire Department had gone home exhausted from handing out food and assisting other hurricane victims that week, reported The Hensons. The couple said that the department put a note on the door at that time that tells people if they need help to go to Camp Sister Spirit.
“All at Sister Spirit are okay but have water (hot water propane), no power and may not have for three to six more weeks,” said The Hensons on Sept. 11th. “The damage has been severe. Many, many trees were down. It took three days to clear the road in. A tree fell right through the middle of the porch and gas tank. During the height of the hurricane Caretaker Terri went out and turned off the gas. Most of the power poles have been snapped in two. The transformer by the grapevines is on the ground. We lost half the roof on the caretaker cottage. A tree fell on the cottage for differently abled people. Most of the roof is off the stage barn. The Freedom Fence is down (half a mile of used tin fencing). Getting ice, water, and food is a difficult task since gas for our vehicles is in short supply and the lines are long.”
The Hensons also said that every time a storm comes through people from the Gulf Coast come up to weather it out.
“This time we had so many people come and now some of them are now homeless and jobless and are very thankful to be alive,” wrote The Hensons. “The camp is entirely run upon donations. Andie is doing a magnificent job with what she has. If you can help us, please do. As always our resolve to rebuild is strong. Please pass this along and help us get the word out.”
The camp’s mail is up and running now and on Sept. 8th The Hensens sent out a mass email to their subscribers asking for food, gift cards, monetary donations, pet food (dog, cat, and pig food), people to adopt pets stricken by the storm and coming to the camp, volunteers with chains saws, carpenters, portable closets for clothes, cleaning supplies, washer and dryer, bleach, towels, gas cards, building supplies, toilet paper, tea, coffee, and staples. They said they will give out whatever they can’t use and that the area around them was “bad and very poor.”
The couple can be emailed at sisterspir@aol.com.
“We emailed Wanda and Brenda but they have not read the email at this point,” said Cobb shortly after the hurricane hit. “We do know from the auto response they did evacuate and intended to return the 29th after the storm had passed. Now we feel sure they are without electric and phone lines; etc. at this time. As their land was so near the point of Katrina’s landfall we doubt many of their buildings and rental cabins survived. Wanda and Brenda created a quiet retreat for women and now it is time for us to step in in their time of need and help out.”
In a mass email sent out to Festival subscribers Aug. 31st, Cobb and co-producer of the Festival Linda Jackson urged all supporters of the camp to visit Camp Sister Spirit’s website for more information or send a check or money order. The camp is a non-profit, charitable organization and all contributions are tax deductible.
“Let’s show our unity and power as women,” Cobb and Jackson wrote. “Send $5 or $10.00. It will add up and Camp Sister Spirit will survive.”
The camp has a meeting facility with large conference space capable of being used in a number of layouts from a traditional classroom setting to circular formation complete with an adjacent 2,000 title library and complete kitchen facilities. The upstairs section of the Center is a 40-person dormitory and the first floor houses the meeting space, the Rainbow Library, and the kitchen. The camp also has a staff with lots of experience cooking for groups and does so for a fee. There is also a dinning area that is heated and air conditioned and they have picnic tables outside. A Sugar Moon cabin provides a romantic getaway for two and is handicapped accessible.
Persephone’s Cave at the camp provides housing for eight people and is just right for a family getaway. Dozens of trails, from smooth packed earth to wild dry creek beds, provide a path back to Mother Nature. During the summer you can wade across the creek and not get your knees wet and when the waters are low gravel beds containing crazy-lace agate, marine fossils, and Indian artifacts are exposed.
Also on the camp facilities is a Circe’s Pig Parlor Night Stage for any show you want to put on. The stage is equipped with lights and wired for sound boards and the facility is also great for dances. Two fire pits are located on the land, one for big fires and the other for smaller ones.
The Goddess Grotto on the land is an example of environmentally safe construction made of earth and concrete. The acoustics make it the perfect spot for musical performances.
A caretaker can stay at the camp for two weeks, leave, and come back a few weeks later and live there for 90 days. Lots of animals also live on the grounds.
In the fall of 2002 construction began on an experimental design of a cardboard prototype dwelling based on the award-winning work of Los Angeles-based designer Sonny Ward. The construction was funded in part by a grant from the Arcus Foundation Endowment awarded to Ward and is based on a design and building technique using compressed used cardboard which Ward initially devised as part of a thesis program at Woodbury University in Burbank, CA.
The design scheme and proposed construction was a featured exhibit at “Urban Innovations: Next Phase 2 x 8” at the Museum of Architecture and Design in L.A. earlier this year. Ward is currently employed at The Russell Group Architects, an architectural firm in L.A., and is a resident of Pelahatchie, Miss.
