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Red Cross Helps Residents Returning to New Orleans
Written by
Allen Crabtree
, Special to Redcross.org
Monday, October 03, 2005 — NEW ORLEANS – Residents of six selected areas in New Orleans were allowed back into the city on Saturday, Oct. 1, 2005, for the first time since Hurricane Katrina struck to see their homes or what was left of them.
Kyra Griffith and her daughter, Danielle, received help and supplies at one of the American Red Cross distribution sites in New Orleans, Oct. 2, 2005.
(Photo Credit: Thomas Jacobson/American Red Cross) |
For many the cleanup and rebuilding will be long and hard, but the American Red Cross will be there to help. The Red Cross opened distribution sites in the six areas on Sunday, Oct. 2, to provide supplies, food and water to the returning residents.
“My whole house was flooded and it is ruined,” said Kyra Griffith. “The ceilings have fallen down, and everything is covered in black mold.”
Griffith and her two-year-old daughter Danielle were at the Red Cross distribution site in the 70130 Zip code, next to the Laurel Elementary School at 820 Jackson Avenue in New Orleans.
“My house is up on Dreux Street,” she said pointing to the location on a city map. “For now I’m staying at my grandmother’s house over on Chippewa Street along with five other people,” she continued. “It is crowded, and I want to get back on my own, but I have no place to go to.”
Griffith was one of several hundred New Orleans residents who came through the Red Cross distribution sites on the first day of a continuing effort to help residents, as they face the daunting task of cleaning up and renovating their damaged homes and lives.
The City of New Orleans is being opened to citizens in a phased manner. Areas of the city that are safe to enter are designated on the basis of their zip codes. In each area the Red Cross set up a distribution site. At each site a crew of approximately 20 Red Cross volunteers distribute drinking water, food, cleaning supplies, plastic bags, buckets, face masks, diapers and baby formula from six to eight large box trucks.
Along with relief supplies, food and water, hugs of plenty are given out to residents returning New Orleans at American Red Cross distribution sites, Oct. 2, 2005.
(Photo Credit: Thomas Jacobson/American Red Cross) |
There is also a crew of nurses and mental health counselors at each site to provide immediate assistance to returnees and the medical and emotional challenges that they face. The health workers also distribute information and advice on how to safely work in their homes, and provide information on clinics where free tetanus shots are offered in New Orleans.
Griffith told me that her husband works for the New Orleans Sewer and Water Board and has gone back to work last week. She is grateful for that, but worries about him.
“He works from 7:00 a.m. until 7:00 p.m. in some of the worst areas,” she said. “He is exhausted at the end of every day, and I worry that he will get sick from the water, the mud and the mold.”
Griffith has lost her job. The firm that she worked for before Katrina has moved its entire operation out of state to Kansas, and she cannot move with it.
“We can’t do anything until the insurance adjustors arrive. I’ve called them, but it might be a month before they get to our place,” said Griffith.
She and her husband are some of the fortunate ones in that they had insurance on their house as well as flood insurance. But, they lost both of their cars, so she is now shuttling between her house to wait on adjusters and her temporary home with her grandmother.
Every person coming through the line had a similar story to share. Some have suffered catastrophic loss while others, the lucky ones, have come back to find that their homes were largely spared. It is good to see so many smiling, grateful faces at the Red Cross sites, but it is also sad to know that each of them has a tough road ahead of them to bring their lives back into some sort of normalcy.
Red Cross workers help New Orleans residents returning to their homes after Hurricane Katrina load cleanup supplies, food and water into their cars, Oct. 2, 2005.
(Photo Credit: Thomas Jacobson/American Red Cross) |
Each site opened about 10 a.m. and stayed open until the trucks were empty around 2 p.m. The people in the six neighborhoods came in a steady stream – not even stopping when brief, strong showers lashed the site. Red Cross volunteers worked together through the rain, the sun and heat. Storm survivors were allowed to take whatever they needed. Red Cross volunteers helped them carry supplies to their cars.
“The Red Cross will be here tomorrow, and as long thereafter as we are needed to help you through these tough times,” said Red Cross volunteer Connie Wilson to Griffith. “Come back when you need more supplies.”
Wilson and her husband Zeke are part of the crew at the Laurel Elementary School site, and they have experience as disaster victims. When they lost their home to floods in Reading, Pa., several years ago, they lived for two weeks in a Red Cross shelter until they could get back on their feet.
“Keep thinking ahead,” she advised Griffith. “That positive attitude will get you through all this. I know, because it helped my husband and me. Good luck!”
Allen Crabtree is a volunteer from the Southern Maine Chapter of the American Red Cross and lives in Sebago, Maine, where he is a writer, antiquarian book dealer, blueberry farmer, town Selectman, volunteer fire fighter and ambulance driver.
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.
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