Al Guerra's Trip For Katrina Victims

At the Fall Tri-Cup, many of you participated in the 8-ball and 9-Ball singles boards. As some of you may know already, for every board run, $20 was donated to Al Guerra (Armed & Dangerous 8/9 ball-Raxx Division) and his efforts at helping Hurricane Katrina Victims. In January, Al had contacted us about doing some fund raising for his trip. In an email he sent, he wrote that he was responsible for the plane fare which came to about $400.00 and further explained that he did not have the extra money but I still had the conviction in his heart to go down there and help. Just before he left, he sent us this note:

I would like you all to know that a part of you will be going down there with me.
When I get some down time in the evenings or early mornings, I will be thanking God for all of you and for the financial support you've given me. It means a lot.

To me, the size of your gift doesn't matter as much as what is in your heart.
I really appreciate your love and support.

You will be pleased to know that I've raised almost $300.00 towards my plane fare which includes your gift to me.

Thank you again.

Much love and respect to you all.

Al Guerra

p.s. Ed & Laura Stein, if you could possibly forward this e-mail to John Karnay, I would appreciate it as he also gave to the singles boards as a contribution alone to help support me.
Also, Shea signed up and knew that he most likely was not going to participate but said, "Hey it's for a good cause." You could forward this to him too.

When AL got back (this week), he sent this to us:

New Orleans was quite an experience.

Thanks so much for helping support my efforts.

We had a crew of 13 from my church and there was another crew last week from a Hicksville church.
It was good to see other New Yorkers helping the cause.

We did a lot of gutting and mold spraying all week. Cajun food was good and also saw an Alligator.

I got to meet some of the home-owners and it was heart-wrenching.
I met this guy whose son had slashed his wrists in the house that we worked on.
He didn't die in the house but eventually killed himself in the hospital.
The owner was a school teacher. He taught 1st, 2nd and 3rd grades for 18 years.
When Katrina hit, it took his home and the school.
He and his wife were so happy to see us.
I got to pray with him and he was just a wonderful man who has hit the worst of times.
One dead son, no job, and no home. They are renting now and his wife works for the court system.
Through some donated church money we were also able to give him $800.00 to help him out just a little bit.
Well that's just one of the stories.

Contractors are ripping people off down there left and right.

Please know that your money was a big help to me and I appreciate it.