|
Overcoming Many Obstacles, Couple Says “I Do” at Red Cross Shelter
Written by
Del McPeak
, Special to Redcross.org
Tuesday, September 20, 2005 — HOUSTON – As the water rose in New Orleans, Joseph Smothers walked to the Superdome while his fiancée, Rebecca Warren, and four members of her family made for the perceived safety of the convention center.
Their original date for the wedding was Sept. 9. To make sure he would always remember the date of their anniversary, Warren planned the day to coincide with her groom’s birthday. The church was reserved, she had the dress and the flowers were ordered – everything was set, and then Hurricane Katrina blew into town. Instead of being joined in holy matrimony, they were separated by the raging flood waters.
Smothers tried to get to the convention center to find his bride. He walked – sometimes with water up to his neck, injured by underwater obstacles, his skin saturated with the contaminated water – only to find when he arrived at the convention center that he had missed her there; she’d been evacuated from there.
Bussed to the American Red Cross shelter at the Houston Astrodome, Smothers was able to access the Red Cross Web site and visit the Family Links Registry, a Red Cross Web page hosted in cooperation with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to help people find missing loved ones. Smothers learned that his fiancé had been safely relocated to a shelter in Arkansas.
A bus trip was arranged to bring Warren to Houston. Bad luck struck once again and the two missed each other at the station. Warren’s bus was early so she had made her way to the Astrodome unaware that Smothers was on his way to the bus station, where he waited for three hours.
Eventually the couple had their happy reconciliation at the Astrodome, and the two settled in to an area of the shelter that would be their temporary home, regretting that their wedding didn’t take place. If one twist of fate had kept them apart, another would bring them, and an impromptu wedding, together.
Hurricane Katrina could not keep Joseph Smothers from his bride, and Kym Bushong, a Red Cross volunteer and wedding consultant, helping Katrina survivors at the Houston Astrodome would not let it keep the couple from wedding.
(Photo Credit: Sara O’Brien/American Red Cross) |
Kym Bushong, an American Red Cross volunteer and wedding consultant, happened to be assigned to help the people in their area of the Astrodome shelter. Saddened to hear that Warren’s wedding dress was under water, the church was destroyed and the cake and flowers would never be delivered, Bushong made it her mission to help. How fast can a wedding be planned? In the Astrodome shelter, it was done in just two days with a lot of help from Red Cross volunteers.
Kourtney Hurchuck, a Red Cross volunteer with the nursing staff, along with RyLee Madison, a professional singer/songwriter and ambassador from the Canadian Red Cross, each sang at the wedding. Pastor Dan Kelly, associate pastor for Lakewood Church, officiated.
The local merchants really came through with a gown for Warren, suit for Smothers and even a disc jockey to play for the guests, which included all the shelter residents and Red Cross volunteers. McKee Foods, makers of Little Debbie snack cakes, sent a thousand special cakes from their bakery in Collegedale, Tenn., for the occasion. In addition to the gown, Warren received a head-to-toe make-over.
When a last-minute substitute was needed to give away the bride, Rebecca Warren, Evander Holyfield – who was visiting the American Red Cross shelter in Houston – was happy to step in.
(Photo Credit: Sara O’Brien/American Red Cross) |
“I feel like a queen,” she said. “This is much grander than the wedding I planned.”
“You are my queen,” the newly wed Smothers replied.
The only glitch in the ceremony happened when Warren’s brother, who was to give the bride away, took a wrong turn on the freeway. A substitute was needed, and again the volunteer wedding coordinator stepped in. Evander Holyfield just happened to be visiting the evacuees and was happy to fill in, delighting the couple and the shelter residents.
The exciting day ended with a wedding night at the Houston Hyatt Regency. The couple will have many happy memories that will go far to overshadow the bad to carry with them as they start their new life beyond Katrina.
Del McPeak is a Red Cross Public Affairs volunteer from the American Red Cross Chapter in Rutherford County, N.C.
All American Red Cross disaster assistance is free, made possible by voluntary donations of time and money from the American people. You can help the victims of thousands of disasters across the country each year, disasters like the Midwest ice storms, by making a financial gift to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund, which enables the Red Cross to provide shelter, food, counseling and other assistance to victims of disaster. The American Red Cross honors donor intent. If you wish to designate your donation to a specific disaster please do so at the time of your donation. Call 1-800-REDCROSS or 1-800-257-7575 (Spanish). Contributions to the Disaster Relief Fund may be sent to your local American Red Cross chapter or to the American Red Cross, P. O. Box 37243, Washington, DC 20013. Internet users can make a secure online contribution by visiting www.redcross.org.
Related Links:
Related Content:
|
