Orlando

We continue to enjoy warm and somewhat sunny weather here in Orlando. We've spent several days this week at various meetings. Wednesday we went with Fred and Mary to a recovery group in Brevard County. CRWRC has money available yet for recovery from Hurricane Wilma, and Fred encouraged them to apply for a grant to help them finish up their outstanding cases. This is a great part of disaster recovery to be involved in--people love to see you coming.

Yesterday we attended a meeting up near the Lady Lake area which was hit by deadly tornado on Groundhog Day. The meeting participants gave updates on recovery progress and funding sources that were being tapped. After the meeting we toured one of the areas hit by the tornados. We saw a lot of damaged mobile homes and some mobile homes that were destroyed. There were quite a few disaster response teams at work. This was the area which experienced 12 fatalities.

We then went to have dinner with our friends, Paul and Colleen Cartwright. We ate at a seafood restaurant located in The Villages. The Villages is a huge retirement community which is luxurious in what it has available for its residents. Paul and Colleen live in a newer retirement community--a large Del Webb development. We had to drive three miles from their front gate to get to their home. They have a beautiful home and were still basking in the glow of a visit from Henry Roukema and Pete Garthe.

After spending the morning yesterday organizing paperwork--a never-ending challenge--we had some pool time and then went to find Jerry Hendrick's Aquinas tennis team, who are down here for spring break tennis. Unfortunately there was a change of venue so we missed them. But today they are playing at 12 and 6pm, so we'll catch them then. We had hoped for a long bike ride, but the weather isn't looking too cooperative, it's pretty overcast and showers are threatening.

Tomorrow we head farther South for some more meetings.