In the days immediately following Hurricane Gustav, when several EO members in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA, were struggling to get their businesses back up and running, EO New Orleans launched an interactive online blog. Its purpose: to provide EO members with a means to ask for, or offer, help during emergencies, including those caused by the hurricane.
During Gustav, rains and winds flooded much of the Baton Rouge area and knocked out power to a large portion of rural South Louisiana. At the same time, Hurricane Ike was moving into the Gulf of Mexico. To New Orleans residents, this was an eerie reminder of the devastating one-two punch we took from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005.
Were it not for the assistance of my EO peers during these nature-induced emergencies, I would have been in trouble. For example, I would have been without office space for weeks after Katrina without the help of fellow EOer Kevin Bankston. He graciously loaned me space in his Baton Rouge printing company while I waited to get back into my New Orleans offices. That bit of generosity saved my sanity and helped me get my business out of intensive care and into recovery mode.
Our blog was originally used for our chapter, but it proved so popular that we created one for EO Houston, too. Thanks to these blogs, members are getting the attention and assistance they need. This blog is a new communications tool for my EO group. Our intention was that it would serve as an online bulletin board where members could post a message about what they needed or could share with other members whose businesses or homes were in peril. Members could post messages for other members to read via computer or hand-held devices, even when other communications systems were inaccessible due to power failures.
For example, 22 people responded to the first posting, titled “Just in case,” with several offers of support. Afterward, over the next few days, as Hurricane Ike continued along its path, EOers from across the Gulf region posted messages offering temporary housing or office space, food and even sheets of plywood to board up windows and doors against powerful storm winds. EO New Orleans President Jude Olinger posted a list of practical tips for business survival compiled from his own experiences with Katrina and Gustav, and EO Dallas President Rob Enright offered his support on behalf of his entire chapter.
Once the storm made landfall, the content of new postings changed to requests for contractors, utility trailers to haul away debris, relocation services and generators. Some postings were sad— one member had the roof ripped off his business and extensive rain damage inside. Other messages were moving. Ron Merrill from EO Houston wrote, “After 3 years in EO, I thought I knew what it was all about. This event has totally changed my perspective. Thanks to all for their generosity, support and advice.”
Blogging has many uses in today’s online world. Primarily, it’s a way of bringing people together to a place where those who share similar interests can exchange ideas, opinions or information online. It’s an easy tool to set up and use, and as we learned in the Gulf Coast region, a very useful emergency tool when other communications methods are unreliable. Thanks to the EO network and our blog, we were able to band together in a time of need.