I had almost everything packed. It was nighttime and I was excited but a little worried at the same time. But for what? A hurricane. Hurricane Katrina. When my family leaves for a hurricane, we assume it'll just be this one week thing where we would put everything inside, pack up, and leave for something that would barely affect us. But we know that we might not be lucky every time a hurricane hits. We leave when we know it's a dangerous storm that could put us in danger. This was way more than a regular hurricane. So at four in the morning, when it was still dark outside, we all got up and left for north Louisiana. Two or three hours after my mom, the dogs and I had arrived at the hotel, maybe four in the afternoon, my dad and brother met us there. The next day, I woke up realizing Katrina had just hit town. One of the reporters had trouble standing in one spot in the weather! The hurricane damaged New Orleans for around seven hours. A day later, my mom and I noticed a local church had set up snacks in the lobby for people affected by the hurricane. The next day was not as good. All morning there were pictures of flooded houses and videos of people getting rescued from their rooftops. But it didn't get better. It got worse. There was an unaccessable bridge that we needed to cross over to get home, the water is undrinkable, and the parish president thinks it'll be a month `till we can go home. On the last day of August, we left for Kansas City. My dad had to work there, so we didn't really have a choice. We decided to stop in south Missouri and then go to Kansas City. When we got to our Missouri hotel, it was a nice view and a good hotel, but it was pretty much deserted at that hotel. When I say deserted, I mean less than 10 cars. Later we heard about one, or possibly more tornadoes in our area. There was a beautiful church close to us that is gone now. There was a school right next to it, so it is probably gone, too. There were also people scattered on the interstate like pepper shaked on a piece of chicken. It was as if the interstate was a giant line for a roller coaster that defied gravity or something. A day later, we got into Kansas after about four or five hours. The views were nice driving on the Ozarks, and the hotel in Kansas was very nice, too! Things started getting better. A very generous lady my dad knows gave us things like napkins, paper plates, dish washing liquid, and good food. She helped my mom find a school for me to go to. The day after that was fun. We got tickets for a baseball game from someone so we went to see the Kansas City Royals play. It was the first time I watched a major league baseball game. The next day we had a little barbecue with some people who work for my dad. A day later, we visited Pioneer Trail and the next day I went there! It was not a run-of-the-mill hurricane. It was a hurricane that made me leave my home for weeks. We know a family without a home right now. We are not victims compared to some people. My family knows we can go back to our house. Some can't. Just because the hurricane passed, that doesn't mean it stopped affecting us. Lauren Savoie Written in Hour 6 – Language Arts (Editor's Note: We decided to run this "through the eyes of a child" letter to show a real honest look at how Katrina changed one child's whole way of life. Lauren is the 12-year-old daughter of Louisiana Corporate CU CEO Dave Savoie. The family had to evacuate, and wound up in Kansas where Louisiana Corporate has its back-up facility. No Good Comes From Charter Conversions Thanks to Mike Welch for his strong and clear position on charter conversions. I too think they should not be allowed since it is never in the members' best interest. If members want services not offered by their CU, they can easily go elsewhere. It's a scam by management and they entice their directors to follow. Let those desiring a different charter start from scratch and dig up their own capital. Hopefully NCUA and the CU trade organizations will take a firm stand on the issue. Bill Page President South Florida Educational FCU Miami