A mother jolts awake at 3:30 a.m. to the sound of what “felt like a freight train hitting the house,” debris pouring down her hallway as her children scream, and the ceiling collapses above them. “I almost lost my kids… they almost died.”
Most people will never face a major disaster in their lifetime… let alone two.
Therese and her two young children were displaced four years ago by Hurricane Ida in Louisiana. The Category 4 storm was one of the costliest hurricanes in U.S. history. The family lost everything in that storm -- baby photos, keepsakes, and the irreplaceable pieces of her children’s early lives.
She moved to Kansas with only two bins, a suitcase, and a Pack ’n Play, determined to rebuild their lives. They spent years slowly restoring what had been taken -- one memory, one milestone at a time. But just as they had begun to heal from the losses of the past, another powerful storm uprooted their lives once again, stealing the new photographs, belongings, and moments that represented years of recovery and leaving them facing displacement, heartbreak, and an uncertain future.
She remembers the moment everything changed in the early hours of August 19. “My lights started flashing,” Therese recalled. “I heard a huge boom and I shot up. A cloud of debris started coming in from the hallway.”
Her daughters, Evangeline, 12, and Avacyn, 6, were asleep when the ceiling of their bedroom caved in. “The ceiling fan landed half an inch from my youngest daughter’s head. I almost lost my kids… ,” Therese remembers. “Tthey almost died.”
Disoriented and terrified, Therese grabbed her children and ran for the basement. “I didn’t even register that there were trees through my house. It sounded like a freight train had hit the house. And then we heard the hail. It was terrifying.”
Miraculously, the girls escaped with only bruises and scrapes.
After learning the Red Cross was already nearby through our community partner, United Way of Greater Kansas City, Therese took her daughters and her roommate, Tabatha, to the shelter alongside dozens of others also displaced by the storm.
“A shelter is more than a roof — it’s a place where families can breathe, regroup, and feel safe again,” said JoAnn Woody, Executive Director of the American Red Cross of Greater Kansas City and Northwest Missouri. “In those first hours after a disaster, having somewhere stable to land makes all the difference.”
In the aftermath of disasters, the Red Cross becomes a first step toward recovery — offering not just a safe place to stay, food, mental and spiritual support, and essential resources, but a refuge where families can begin to process what they have endured.
Tabatha shared, “I’m happy to be somewhere that’s cool from the heat and be surrounded by these lovely workers. They work so hard and they’re volunteers. This has made me want to do this one day too.”
Volunteers, like Kansas City native Rita Summerlin, play with the kids while Therese works on their next steps. Six‑year‑old Avacyn especially lights up when Rita is around, often calling out “Miss Rita!” through the shelter after eating cookies. Other volunteers brought in Junie B. Jones books and read to the girls at night, giving them moments of comfort and routine in the middle of chaos.
Rita has been at the shelter every day since it opened. “It makes me teary‑eyed… knowing what they’re going through,” she said. “Right off the bat, the girls latched onto me. They were pretty devastated when they first came in. It melts my heart.”
With volunteers offering consistency and care, Therese is reminded of how much her daughters have already endured.
“My kids need to focus on being kids,” Therese said. “To be displaced four years ago and now be right back in the same position… it’s too much. I’m the adult. I’m the mom. I have to be the one making decisions. The only way to describe it is grief.”
Therese knows the road ahead won’t be easy, but she’s no longer facing it alone.
“I have resources I didn’t have before. It’s not going to work itself out in one night, but I have support here at the shelter. I have something here to get me where I need to be.”
For families like hers, that support begins with people who choose to show up-- people who give, volunteer, and make sure there’s a safe place to land when everything changes in an instant.
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