Accounts from the Field

Alabama

Millions of dollars in charitable donations are on the way to the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast. What I haven't seen in any of the coverage is the damage to the child-care infrastructure and resources in some of the poorest neighborhoods in the poorest states in America.

When I talked to my friend, Wendy McEarchern, executive director of Gulf Regional Childcare Management Agency, she told me that dozens of centers in low-lying areas such as Bayou LaBatre, Alabama, have simply vanished. Family child care providers, stretched to the limit, are nevertheless opening their homes and hearts to the overflow of children from nearby Biloxi, Pass Christian, and New Orleans.

Schools, of course, were also hard hit, but they can call on the Resources of the federal government. That's not true, as we know, for child care.

They need everything: books, toys, school supplies, toiletry items, gas cards, cleaning supplies, mosquito repellant, money. GRMCA has a warehouse to handle anything that is shipped. Wendy also wanted me to convey the message that "we don't sit on anything. Everything is distributed immediately throughout the Gulf Coast."

GRCMA is an affiliate of the United Way, but they've set up a special Fund for this crisis. Please send supplies to: Gulf Regional Childcare Management Agency

Attention; Wendy McEarchern
601 Bel Air Blvd.
Mobile, AL 36606

Make checks out to: Community Foundation of South Alabama, Hurricane Relief. You can designate on the check if you'd like it to go toward Relief in Louisianna, Mississippi, Alabama. Whether you'd like it to support infant care, family child care,respite care, etc.

Judsen Culbreth