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Red Cross Helps Mississippi Family Recover
Winnie Romeril, Special to RedCross.org
Friday, October 01, 2004 — VANCLEAVE, Miss--Anita Augustin was making the 5-hour drive home from her teaching job in Georgia when her cell phone rang. It was her husband with devastating news. “A tree came through the trailer,” her husband said, “right through the kid’s bedroom.”
Thankfully Augustin’s family was away from home when Hurricane Ivan made landfall. “No one else’s house in our circle drive suffered any damage,” said Augustin as she looked at a 100-year old pecan tree laying in the middle of her trailer. She pointed out a pile of twisted black metal that used to be her children’s beds, before the storm.
The Jackson County Sheriff’s Department received reports of 72 unconfirmed tornadoes in the hurricane’s wake.
Anita Augustin points to the tree that destroyed her trailer after Hurricane Ivan spawned tornadoes in Mississippi. |
This isn’t the first time a hurricane has left its mark on the homestead. A whole orchard of pecan trees stood behind the fallen one until Hurricane Camille struck in 1969. In 1979, Hurricane Frederick destroyed the house Anita was born in. “My great-grandmother was a nurse midwife and she delivered me in that house. We were lucky that time, too,” she said. “My parents had just moved the family to another house before that storm hit.”
Anita completed her master’s degree three weeks ago and just started teaching home economics in Georgia. The salary increase justifies the commute, and with her husband’s trucking earnings, they hoped to build their own home on the family land. “At any other time in my life, I wouldn’t have needed help from the Red Cross to recover,” she said. “I never thought I’d have to come to the Red Cross for help. This was just the worst possible time. Because of the help I received today, I can start putting the pieces back together.”
Belva Combs, a Red Cross family service caseworker who helped Anita, remembered working with the Agustin family “was very rewarding.”
“They lost the majority of their belongings, yet humbly requested only minimum assistance from the Red Cross,” said Combs. “Anita talked about how this hurricane derailed all their plans. She maintained a smile as tears ran down her face and kept praising God for the safety of her family.”
Since this year’s hurricane season began, more than 25,000 American Red Cross volunteers have served in Alabama, Florida, Georgia and Mississippi helping meet the disaster-related needs of individuals and families by providing them with the means to pay for what they need most -- from groceries, new clothing, and rent to emergency home repairs, transportation, household items, medicines, and tools.
You can help the victims of hurricanes, floods and thousands of other disasters across the country each year 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 those in need. Call 1-800-HELP NOW 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 our Online Donation Page.
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