We were in touch with DailyHeights.com regular SterlingGuy, who’s working as a crisis counselor in Louisiana for the United Way. He’s not ready to talk about specifics, but gave us permission to post the following:

“I have one day left here … It has been one of the most difficult jobs of my life.”

“I am working at a call-in center trying to get people into shelters and to food distribution sites … I am beyond my limit and have heard too much suffering to really go into it.”

“There are still ways to volunteer … I would advise calling Lifenet (1-800-543-3638) and ask them for referrals to the Red Cross and other volunteer centers.”

“Overall, I will say this: the resilience and good spirit of folks in Louisiana are a testimony to the power of human survival. I have been consistently amazed at folks who have lost everything, but are able to remain calm and kind and even share a joke. I wish I had come here before these hurricanes.”

Look for SterlingGuy at the DH cigar meetup (coming soon): “As soon as I return, I am sure I will need a big fat stogie to dry me out after all this rain.”

Pictured: Malik Rahim, New Orleans Green Party activist, sometime after the hurricane Katrina. Huge photos of the New Orleans aftermath by Jacob Applebaum at archive.org.

MORE: SterlingGuy in [Prospect Heights Message Board]

Guest writes in the Prospect Heights Message Boards: “i live right up the street from Lucky and Sampson (the bigger dog that ‘hangs out’ with Lucky) …”

“Lucky’s owner is named Allen, and he told me the whole story of how lucky went blind, so Allen got him surgery, and then a month later Lucky broke his back jumping up into a pick-up truck.”

“Some $6k later, the dog is still alive and constantly trying to get into the wrestling matches between Sampson and my great dane. Allen yells at him to get out of it before he gets hurt, and that all of his investments have been in Lucky, so he has to live to be very old.”

More: Lucky the Ghetto Poodle [Prospect Heights Message Boards]