Where have all the volunteers gone?

We are beginning to experience the slow summer months in Mississsippi with Presbyterian Disaster Assistance. Most of our volunteers don't want to endure working in the hot Mississippi summer weather so our volunteer camps are starting to look pretty deserted. But there is still so much work to be done and I'm leaving in 2 months. Yikes, that's feeling very soon! Yes, I know that life on the coast will go on without me, but I'd like to finish as much as I can in these remaining months.

I am going to try my hardest to work on getting grant funding for as many families as I can before I leave. There won't be as many distractions and other things to do around here with no volunteers so hopefully I'll be able to write more grants. The problem is the American Red Cross grant that was available for survivors of hurricane Katrina has run out of money. There are still a couple other sources of grant funding for homeowners, but the recovery efforts are sure to take a hit because this major funder is no longer able to provide homeowners with money to rebuild their homes.

I'm crossing my fingers that the last grant I submitted will be approved before the money runs out. If all goes as planned there shouldn't be a program, but you never really know around here. Life in the hurricane recovery business tends to be rather messy.

I really can't believe that I've been here for close to a year. It will definitely be hard to leave, but at the same time I think I will be ready to move on. I'll be back in Seattle around the end of August. Then, in the middle of September one of my old college roommates and I are going to travel in Europe for 3 weeks. Yay! After that, I'm planning on moving to Dallas and finding a job there. My boyfriend, Dan, lives there and I don't think I'm done adventuring and living in different parts of the country. But who knows, I still may end up back in Seattle at some point. I've been thinking more and more about going back to school in a year or two for school counseling. So I'm hoping to find a job in some related field to gain some quality experience and decide if that really is the route I want to take.