A family of Louisiana evacuees

Stories from LifeNets Volunteers in Houston
who helped Katrina Evacuees

A family of Louisiana evacuees, father, mother, and three children, (two girls and a pre-school age boy), had come to Houston before Hurricane Katrina hit. He works as a U.S. Customs officer in the downtown New Orleans office; she had a real estate appraisal office where she employed 7 other women. They are from Plaquemines Parish and live in Belle Chase. The father was able to go home to Plaquemines Parish Saturday, September 10, as they were letting them back in for a brief time to check things out and get any belongings that they could salvage. The mother told me Sunday afternoon, September 11, that he had been able to call her, and that their home had suffered severe wind and rain damage, but no interior flooding. Much of what is around them was in very bad shape. She had just moved her business office to a new location on the second floor of a building on the Friday before the hurricane. However, the roof was torn off and everything was completely destroyed--computers, business equipment, files, etc. The husband may be able to work here in Texas temporarily in customs offices in Freeport or Galveston, but will have to work out those details this week when he returns. They have enrolled the two girls in school here as they don't know when they will be able to go home due to basic services, stores, and schools being a long way away from being ready for them to return. The mother is holding up pretty well, but you can see the sadness and uncertainty in her eyes. She told me they want to take their family back home, but don't see that happening any time soon. They evacuated New Orleans before the storm and have been staying in a hotel until just recently when they moved into a rental house where the rental rate was reduced for them as they are Louisiana evacuees. They plan on making it their home for at least two months or until they can go home again and try to start over. She was quite surprised and appreciative in receiving the Wal-Mart cards from LifeNets, and said they would be used for food or whatever was needed in the coming days ahead.

A 78-year old black lady from New Orleans, evacuated before Hurricane Katrina with other relatives to stay with her nephew here in Houston. She had lived in her home in Ponchartrain Park just south of Lake Ponchartrain for 30 plus years. She is a retired principal of a Catholic school, and lost her husband seven years ago. Because of the location of her home, she knows it would have been totally destroyed, her car ruined, and her whole life's worth of momentos and nice things accumulated throughout the years gone. She doesn't want to go back to New Orleans at this stage in her life as she is too frightened it will happen to her again. Her plans are to go stay with friends in St. Martinville in Louisiana and begin a new life there. In the meantime, the Wal-Mart gift cards from LifeNets will help her in replacing some of the basic needs now that she has lost everything.

I met 3 families yesterday afternoon in the parking lot of the Motel 6 at I-10 (Katy Freeway) and Highway 6 on the west side of Houston. The three families were all related. They said they were from the Ninth Ward of New Orleans, in an area on the northeast side of the city very close to Lake Pontchartrain and one of the lowest-elevation parts of the city. All but one of the family members had been able to drive out of New Orleans on the Sunday before the Katrina hit. They arrived in Houston Monday as the hurricane was hitting land. The father of one of the families stayed behind in New Orleans to try to keep their living places secure while the others were gone. When the flooding hit he was able to make his way to the Superdome. He stayed in the Superdome for five days before finding a way to Houston. He had some rather harrowing descriptions of the crime and the agonizing living conditions he saw during his time in the Superdome. They said they had not brought clothing with them except for what they were wearing because, when they left, they were expecting to be able to return home in two days or so. FEMA was paying for their stay in the motel for, if I remember correctly, two weeks. However, they did not have money to buy any clothing. One of the families wanted to return to New Orleans as soon as that is possible. The other two families expressed a desire to resettle in Houston. I told them that a number of us had been sent out to find and help families who had fled the hurricane and flooding and who were in severe financial difficulty. When I offered the cards to the three families, all were extremely grateful and some were overjoyed at now having money to buy needed clothes, etc. (I felt similarly grateful to be able to help the families with the cards.) The mother of one of the families came up and hugged me. I pointed out that the cards were from the LifeNets organization. I suggested to each family that, when they were back on their financial feet at a future date, they might want to consider making a contribution either to LifeNets or to some other relief organization to help victims of the next natural disaster.

My wife and I drove by the very crowded Wal-Mart parking lot at Interstate I-45 and El Dorado (just north of Baybrook mall in Houston) on Sunday afternoon, September 11, and decided to drive by several local area hotels located on NASA Rd. 1 with many Louisiana cars. The main ones we drove by were Motel 6, Super 8, Quality Motel and Extended Stay America. We decided to walk at Motel 6 but were not able to approach anyone outside their rooms in the parking lot.
Next we went to the Super 8 and Quality Motel. We met and gave 3-$50 cards ($150) to a family in the parking lot of the Quality Motel who had traveled back in from Sulpher, LA last night, after trying to return to Louisiana. A daughter (approximately 7), her mom and grandmother were traveling together. They had been in the shelter at Pearland United Methodist church for the past week. They lived on the east side of New Orleans and said their home was under water. Both the mother and daughter were very happy to receive the gift cards provided by LifeNets and gave my wife and I hugs. Then we met and gave our other 3-$50 cards ($150) to a father who was swimming with his 3 young children at the Quality Motel. They had also been in the shelter at Pearland United Methodist church and were from New Orleans. He was certain his home was flooded. He was very nice and said that the Texas residents had been very nice to them. We were not able to talk to him as much since he was watching 3 young children who were enjoying the cool pool water on a hot Texas day. The middle daughter said thank you to us and we could both tell they all were very appreciative. We want to thank LifeNets for allowing us the opportunity to share and help others in this very personal way.

The Louisiana evacuees I came in contact with had five people in their families. They were all from New Orleans. Everything they had is gone due to Hurricane Katrina – homes, jobs, and possessions. One lady broke out into tears and gave me a hug after I had given her two Gift Cards for Wal-Mart provided by LifeNets. There was a lady from Fort Worth who happened to be speaking to her at the time that became emotional as well. All the other people thanked me and said "God bless you.” It was a wonderful experience! I welcomed all to Houston when they told me they were from New Orleans.