The cry for help from the small coastal town of Ocean Springs, Miss., went out across the Chicago airwaves on Friday, September 2, 2005.  Earlier that week, Hurricane Katrina, one of the strongest storms to hit the Gulf Coast in the last 100 years, had devastated the community of 17,000 people just five miles east of Biloxi.  Those residents were some of the five million left without power.  Just as quickly as Katrina ripped through the Gulf Coast, Chicago-based Wobble Light sprung into action to help those in need.

Wobble Light teamed up with John Maas, an ex-Marine born in Chicago who now lives in Ocean Springs.  When he realized that help was not coming soon enough, he and 25 neighbors huddled in his kitchen to hatch a plan.  He convinced the group that Chicagoans would help if they were asked, so the next day he and his wife left for Chicago, promising to return with food, supplies and other assistance. 

A Call to Action

After hearing John Maas’ plea for help, Wobble Light quickly placed a call to New Life Community Church in Chicago, which was serving as the headquarters for the Ocean Springs relief effort.  When the relief center was told 12 Wobble Lights could be strung together using just one 20 amp generator, it became obvious the lights could help “Bring the Gulf Back to Light.”  One set of a dozen lights and a generator could light up a 500-square-foot area that was assured not to have power for weeks.

Aboard seven skids, 98 Wobble Lights were quickly transported from their warehouse to New Life.  The lights were part of the massive effort that ultimately was able to pack 11 semi-trailer trucks all headed to Ocean Springs.  It was obvious to officials at Draupnir LLC, Wobble Light’s parent company, that they were part of something special.  Along with the other businesses that donated water, baby formula, medicines, clothes and many other necessities, Wobble Light was helping to prove Maas’ point: The “City of Big Shoulders” could make a difference. 

Seeing the Light

By sundown on Saturday, September 3, the majority of Wobble Lights were lighting the largest relief effort distribution site in the Ocean Springs area.  Wobble Light’s promise of being virtually indestructible was kept when the lights were used in search and rescue, cleanup, and disease-prevention efforts.  The self-righting work light that literally bounces back from abuse was often the National Guard’s only source of light while keeping watch during nighttime security duty.

Because all but a few Ocean Springs homes were destroyed by Katrina, residents set up tent communities.  The Wobble Lights have been used to provide light to those now left homeless in the wake of the disaster. 

Carl King of St. Paul Methodist Church, the coordinator of the distribution, relief and rebuilding effort in the area, says he is greeted by a Wobble Light each morning while driving to the command center.  Because the area remains without power, Carl said, “I wouldn’t be able to see a thing if there weren’t Wobble Lights guiding my path.”    

Several homes and businesses that are being salvaged remained without power for weeks.  When carpenters and other workers arrived at those locations, they had a Wobble Light by their side as their only source of light.

Predictably, Carl said no one in Ocean Springs had ever seen a Wobble Light before Katrina. Now, he says, they’ve become so valuable that part of his job is to see that none of the lights is stolen.  And one day, he says, all of his parishioners will have new homes, ones rebuilt by the light of a Wobble Light.