Hungry Planet - How much do you eat?

How much does your family EAT/DRINK in a week? A family’s weekly intake “around the world”.

Italy : The Manzo family of Sicily Food expenditure for one week: 214.36 Euros or $260.11 Germany : The Melander family of Bargteheide Food expenditure for one week: 375.39 Euros or $500.07 United States : The Revis family of North Carolina (Sure hope most American families eat more fresh fruits and vegetables and less junk food than this family.) Food expenditure for one week $341.98 Mexico: The Casales family of Cuernavaca Food expenditure for one week: 1, 862.78 Mexican Pesos or $189.09 Poland : The Sobczynscy family of Konstancin-Jeziorna Food expenditure for one week: 582.48 Zlotys or $151.27 Ecuador : The Ayme family of Tingo Food expenditure for one week: $31.55 Bhutan (Borders on India and Nepal) : The Namgay family of Shingkhey Village Food expenditure for one week: 224.93 ngultrum or $5.03 -------------------------------------------- -- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chad : The Aboubakar family of Breidjing Camp Food expenditure for one week: 685 CFA Francs or $1.23

Kaiser Permanente & Hands-On: Rebuilding the Gulf Coast, Part 2

Rebuilding the Gulf Coast, Part II

See more pictures and more

By Elizabeth Schainbaum

There was 65-year-old Ethel Curry who survived the wrath of the 2005 hurricanes holding on to her floating refrigerator for five hours before being rescued.

Another man told Kaiser Permanente volunteers that he had to drive 14 hours to Florida from Biloxi, Miss., before finding a place that would take him, his family, and four dogs. Then he watched the deadly storm tear apart his antique store on CNN.

John, a coastal medical clinic worker, watched the trees across the bay disappear. He realized they were submerged by a wall of water approaching his home. He rushed his family into his truck but a fallen tree blocked him from leaving. They stayed in the vehicle as the waters crashed over it. He and his family eventually found refuge by swimming to a neighbor’s house.

Volunteers worked at the Humane Society, where this dog showed his appreciation to Tristan Herkimer. Front page: Curshanda Woods, hard at work

“We heard countless stories like John’s,” said Philip Vardara, RN, MSN, a KP Roseville infection control coordinator. Vardara was one of the 12 KP Northern California volunteers who returned on Saturday, Feb. 2 after a week of rebuilding efforts in Biloxi.

The stories of the survivors of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita were the most unforgettable part of an already unforgettable experience, the volunteers said.

The dozen volunteers were part of a second shift of employees and physicians that national KP Community Benefit sent to the Gulf Coast region to volunteer in the area still reeling from the deadly hurricanes of nearly two and half years ago.

The first group, including 11 from Northern California, went from Jan. 21 through Jan. 26 to New Orleans, while the second served in Biloxi the following week. Of the 60 volunteers, 23 were Northern California employees.

The Biloxi volunteers completed various chores, some of them heart-wrenching, others back-breaking: hanging dry wall, putting up siding, planting trees, clearing trash and shrubs, taking down fences, digging ditches, painting murals, working at the Salvation Army serving meals, walking Humane Society dogs, cleaning cages and working in the thrift shop, tutoring at the elementary school, mentoring at the Boys and Girls Club, preparing meals, and cleaning base camp.

Tristan Thunderbolt Herkimer, who works with KP's Educational Theatre Programs, was glad to see some attention go to Biloxi, near where his ex-wife lives.

“A lot of attention was given to New Orleans during Katrina, which is fine. However, Biloxi, Gulfport, and Waveland along the Mississippi coast were severely damaged as well. Homes blew across the streets, towns flattened completely, a sense of the communities....gone,” he said. “It has been a couple of years and there is so much work to do. I remembered Waveland when it was a cute coastal town with a couple of shops, library, post office, restaurants, and now....nothing.”

KP Santa Rosa’s Teresa Denniston, CRT, RDMS, compared the area to some of the world’s poorest.

“How sad it was to see such devastation—some of the neighborhoods looked like shanty towns in a third world country,” she said.

For Marc Van Riper, director of KP Santa Rosa’s Administrative Services, the hardest part was seeing the extremes: the mixture of devastation and rebuilding.

“Why one house stands brand new and rebuilt, beside a FEMA trailer, a neighborhood of abandoned homes in the shadow of new multi-story casinos,” he said.

Just as Herkimer wanted to help his ex-wife’s community rebuild, Curshanda Woods’ personal ties tugged on her. Her extended family lives in Biloxi, New Orleans, and other affected areas and a distant relative was killed in the storm.

“I often found myself wanting to help the families that I saw on TV and of course, my own family members,” said Woods, Community Relations specialist working in the regional offices. “I felt it was something I not only wanted to do, but needed to do.”

Volunteers in New Orleans and Biloxi were moved by what children had to say about what happened to their homes.

Denniston tutored a 6-year-old named Tyrone. He told her how his old house got washed away and he lost all of his toys.

“He got a little teary eyed as he told me this story— how devastating to lose everything at such a young age,” she said.

Vardara recalled the artwork done in crayons at an elementary school where he tutored. “The drawings were heartbreaking: ‘I saw our roof blow away’ with a picture of a roof flying above the house.”

KP volunteers were also touched by the many young volunteers who are working to revitalize the area.

Bernadette Gersh, who works in Pediatrics at KP Santa Clara, said: “I feel like there is still great hope for humanity after seeing what volunteers have done to rebuild the communities there."

02/08/08