Las Vegas SUN: Surplus Burning Man food to help hurricane victims in Nev.
Surplus Burning Man food to help hurricane victims in Nev.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
RENO, Nev. (AP) – Unused food and bottled water from the Burning Man counterculture festival is being stockpiled for hurricane evacuees arriving this week in Nevada.
Burning Man celebrants began donating items to the relief effort near the end of last week’s festival in the Black Rock Desert about 100 miles north of Reno. Others dropped off items as they departed Sunday and Monday.
“We started to see a groundswell of support. People were giving and giving and giving,” said Tom Clark, a representative of Black Rock City LLC, which stages the festival.
About 800 people from New Orleans left homeless by Hurricane Katrina are scheduled to stay in Nevada and about 300 of those are expected in the Reno-Sparks area.
In addition to donations, Burning Man officials annually gather food and water for the crew that remains on site to clean up after the festival.
Robert Barnes, 49, Gerlach, was among the first on Tuesday to deliver goods from the Black Rock Desert to the Salvation Armys warehouse in Sparks, which is being used as a distribution outlet.
“I know theres piles of food all over the place,” Barnes told the Reno Gazette-Journal. “We always collect food for the crew because well be out there a few months. We just split this up for New Orleans.”
Clark said several engineers who have been Burning Man volunteers are headed to New Orleans to help build shelters.
“Theyve got the experience and know what it takes to build a temporary city,” Clark said.
