Maine relief worker killed in bus accident in New Orleans

PORTLAND – Community activists are mourning the death of a hurricane relief worker from Maine who was killed when the converted school bus in which she was riding crashed in downtown New Orleans and flipped on its side.

Meg Perry, 26, of Portland was among 13 Mainers who traveled to the Gulf Coast last month to help victims of Hurricane Katrina. She was a well-known activist at an organization called People’s Free Space, which focuses on social justice causes.

On Saturday, a bus carrying Perry and other volunteers from Maine, Boston, Canada and Connecticut lost control on Interstate 10 and hit guardrails before flipping.

The driver of the bus, 20-year-old Alyssa Wisehart of Connecticut, might have made a last-minute decision to turn for an exit, police said. Perry was thrown through the windshield and died at about 1:30 p.m.

Three other passengers were taken to a nearby hospital with minor injuries.

Perry owned and had helped convert the 35-foot school bus, which used biodiesel and vegetable oil. Called the Frida Bus, it has been used by People’s Free Space since the summer of 2003.

Perry first traveled to the Gulf region in September to help hurricane survivors. She coordinated a second trip last month, where she and others cleaned up homes and delivered supplies to families.

The bus spent Thursday and Friday in Jackson, Miss., and was driving to New Orleans so the volunteers could attend an anti-eviction protest, said Julian St. Laurent, who traveled with Perry but was not on the bus Saturday.

“She was really the leader for this trip down here,” St. Laurent said. “We all have incredible stories about what kind of person Meg was.”

Perry’s parents live in Brunswick and were in Florida at the time of the accident, St. Laurent said. They attended a memorial service in New Orleans on Sunday with the other Maine volunteers and friends Perry had made.

In Portland, more than a dozen friends and acquaintances of Perry gathered Sunday night at the People’s Free Space.

Kate Boverman said Perry and other volunteers were deeply moved by their experiences.

“They went to the Gulf Coast in the spirit of volunteerism and mutual aid that characterized their work here in Portland,” Boverman said. “Meg Perry was an energetic, passionate, kind and dedicated person. She filled her days working for justice, building community and bringing love and joy into people’s lives.”