Carol Palmer of RDU's USO went to the New Orleans area in the wake of Hurricane Katrina to assist in the set-up of a new USO at Belle Chase Naval Air Base. For three weeks in October, Palmer manned a mobile food canteen by day and staffed the new USO at night. The canteen is a kitchen on wheels with a big television and speakers mounted on the outside. It is designed to serve 400 meals at a time and provides much-needed entertainment to the National Guard and private contractors who are supporting devastated areas.

The Corner has been very busy since its Thanksgiving opening. One key to its success is likely the quality of the coffee beverages. You can smell the aroma of roasted coffee beans as you approach the new venue in Terminal A — and that is just the beginning.

The Corner gets its coffee from local coffee roaster Robbie Roberts and his Joe Van Gogh coffee service. According to Roberts, the key to great coffee is to keep it fresh. All of the coffee beverages served at The Corner are made from coffee beans that were roasted that week and ground right before brewing. This is the key to producing a premier hot coffee.