Qualcomm Stadium Provides Relief Amid the Fires (Boy Scouts set up over 500 tents)

nytimes ^ | October 23, 2007 | SOLOMON MOORE

[Coleus]

At Qualcomm Stadium, to which thousands of evacuees fled throughout the day Monday to escape approaching fires, the hazy and acrid air pinched the throat. Despite those reminders of the nearby inferno, the stadium seemed an oasis of order.  Hundreds of volunteers and city workers stacked up towers of pizza boxes, water bottles and blankets. Steaming cups of coffee were on offer as well as free massages and reflexology sessions.  A clown twisted balloons for children, several autism specialists were available to give parents of disabled children a break, and an electric guitarist jammed with his speaker turned low.

-snip-

Carl DeMaio, 33, evacuated his home at dawn, drove straight to Qualcomm Stadium and started organizing volunteers who arrived even before city officials did. Mr. DeMaio, who is the president of a nonpartisan government watchdog organization, organized at least 400 volunteers and tons of donated food, mattresses, blankets and other gifts.  “How many of you have set up a tent before?” he said, addressing a queue of volunteers. A few hands shot up. “Come with me. We have a few Boy Scouts who can supervise you.”

[Coleus]

Another huge service project provided by the Boy Scouts that was conducted during a natural disaster and the MSM never made put the story in the headlines or Front-Page News.  On the bright side at least they were mentioned in the liberal media.

 

San Diego Fire Update

 

Extreme makeover-Spending the night at an evacuation site means a lesson in organization

From San Diego CityBeat.

Trying to find sleeping accommodations for 4,200 people meant mobilizing vast resources. The Navy donated hundreds of tents, which were set up along two levels of the stadium by—who else?—a couple of troops of Boy Scouts. Extra tents were set up in the parking lot as a kind of tent city.

From The New York Times

Carl DeMaio, 33, evacuated his home at dawn, drove straight to Qualcomm Stadium and started organizing volunteers who arrived even before city officials did. Mr. DeMaio, who is the president of a nonpartisan government watchdog organization, organized at least 400 volunteers and tons of donated food, mattresses, blankets and other gifts.

“How many of you have set up a tent before?” he said, addressing a queue of volunteers. A few hands shot up. “Come with me. We have a few Boy Scouts who can supervise you."

San Diego Wildfires: How You Can Help
last few evacuees leave stadium

CNN.com - Transcripts, Aired October 25, 2007 - 11:00   ET

Helping others at all times. The Boy Scouts. The scouts living up to their promise. We'll talk to some scouts coming up next in the NEWSROOM.

---snip

HARRIS: Keeping their promise to help. California Boy Scouts set up tents for evacuees. Great work here. They're still there, still helping. Scout Master Bob Slayton joins us.

Bob, good to see you, and all the Scouts.

Bob, are you there? Can you hear me OK?

BOB SLAYTON, BOY SCOUT MASTER: Yes, I can.

HARRIS: All right. There you go. Smiles all around. Hey, Bob, is there anything left to do?

SLAYTON: Well, we've got a big task now of taking down all the tents and the cots that were set up. We set up over 400 of them Monday night.

HARRIS: Tell us about that effort, if you would, Bob. Take us back to Monday. How did you hear about the need? I think I read somewhere that you heard about it on the radio and tell us about how you mobilized, and at the height of the effort, how many Scouts did you have working with you?

SLAYTON: It was a Monday afternoon we were listening on the radio and they said they need Scouts to come out and help set up the tents. And so we were supposed to have a meeting that night. So I had my senior patrol leader call all the scouts in the unit and ask for volunteers to come out and start setting up the tents.

HARRIS: We talk about the Scouts keeping their promise. Talk to us about that creed of the Boy Scouts and their mission in times of need.

SLAYTON: Well, the Scouts are there to help out whenever they can. That's part of our Scout law, our Scout oath, and it's Scout motto, to be prepared. When the call came out, we were there willing to help as much as we could.

HARRIS: All right. Fellows, I mean I just want folks to know that you're living and breathing and not wooden, there. Give me a wave or something. Give me a wave. Let everybody know that -- guys, can you wave for me? To your friends?

Bob, can you tell them to wave so folks can see that they're there, that they're breathing. There you go. Give me a sign. Give me a sign.

All right. So, Bob, tell me about at the height of it, how difficult was the work? How challenging was the work?

SLAYTON: Well, setting up the tents wasn't really a challenge for the boys because we do it all the time on the campouts. As the boys were walking around, there were people trying to set up tents that didn't know what they were doing, and our boys help train the people on how to set up the tents. And so that made things go a lot easier.

HARRIS: Bob, I guess I speak for everyone who is out there at Qualcomm, that benefited from your work, and the work of the Scouts. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for being there and thanks for helping.

SLAYTON: You're welcome. HARRIS: Okay, Bob. Thank you.

[SevenofNine]

I think it safe to say we won’t see Looter guy at Stadium

[SmithL]

...and “Duty to Others” Ping

[SandRat]

Scout Thanks to Cleus for this one.

[plan2succeed.org]

Great. Maybe the City of Philadelphia, in reneging on an almost century old deal with the Scouts because they don’t like the Boy Scouts practicing the First Amendment right of freedom of association, doesn’t need that kind of help from the Boy Scouts.

[Coleus]

thanks, I heard the scouts mentioned during the fire back in October and didn’t have much time finding out more information. I see there were only little snippets on the net that I put together. It’s too bad the AP couldn’t do one major story about all the help the Scouts did during one of our country’s largest evacuations in history. This project probably seemed insurmountable in the eyes of many, but not the Boy Scouts, they did what they had to do. They knew how to cope and act under pressure; doing what they know best.

Over the last century, the BSA has done so much for the USA, innumerable service hours and projects that just can’t be counted or have a dollar figure applied.

[topher]

Quick, get Marsha Weinerman a ticket to the stadium so she can throw the Boy Scouts out.

(Marsha was behind ousting the Boy Scouts from collecting packages for our troops overseas as an appointed city official in Cambridge, MA)

[Coleus]

Stan Liu/Reuters

Evacuees from areas hit by wildfires settled in Monday at Qualcomm Stadium,the home of the San Diego Chargers.

[Greg F]

So in California the Boy Scouts are setting up 500 tents for evacuated people and in Philadephia they are saying they can’t use government buildings anymore unless they let homosexual men take boys into the woods for the weekend.