Sign at entrance to catering area
Sherry Kennedy holds a sign expressing her gratitude as line crews leave the staging area
We recently received communications from an individual whom helped restore power to the Montgomery County area after Hurricane Ike made landfall. Below we have provided some of the comments and a few pictures included from this person.
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Four Entergy Corporation employees were assigned the task of site supervision during the restoration of power efforts after Hurricane Ike, in the Lake Conroe Area. The employees were Scott Allen McWilliams of the Lake Conroe area, Minh Ngyuen of The Woodlands, Don Lierman of The Woodlands and myself Chuck Upchurch of Byram, Mississippi. The staging site was located on SH 105 West at the KOA campgrounds.
Our backgrounds are in engineering and earth sciences such as Geology. We were tasked with the responsibility of overseeing all aspects of the site from the catering service to the sleeping and washing quarters as well as the sanitary areas for 360 linemen and tree trimmers as well as specialty people such as fuel truck operators.
We all volunteered to take the assignments, some of us not knowing what to expect. It was far from what I had imagined. In fact, the resilience and kindness of the people in your area was very uplifting and reminded me of what our folks had to overcome in Mississippi after Katrina. It was a great reminder of just what we can accomplish when we work together and not against one another. Looking out for our neighbor’s, the elderly and those who couldn’t help themselves seems to easily come first to those of us who were raised with that mind set.
Catering area with thank-you cards posted on the wall
Close-up of thank-you cards
We really appreciate the people, policemen, sheriff’s office employees and everyone else who stopped by to say thanks. During a horrible situation they thought of us and not themselves. I can only say that all of you have a wonderful community which I would be proud to be a member of. It is hard times which define a person’s character sometimes and all of you pulled through with all the class one could ever expect. Your people were all very gracious and kind to us, even though they were doing without their basic necessities.
It just shows that America and Texas in this example is still the best place in the world to be in my opinion. If you increase the size of the picture of Sherry Kennedy holding her “Thank you” sign, it also sums it all up. The Patterson children will never be forgotten for their act of kindness also (approx.300 Thank you cards). All too often in these types of tragedies we see the bad in some people, that is why it was so refreshing to work in your community.
I am afraid I could write for days and not say enough, so how about a “THANK YOU” to all of your people in the Lake Conroe and Montgomery area from us at Entergy.
Chuck Upchurch
Sr. Environmental Analyst
ENTERGY CORPORATION
Clinton, Mississippi
