Monday, August 14, 2006

Katrina Eleven Months Later


On Monday mornings the RevGalBlogPals blog posts a Monday Mission Moment. I am one of the team members for this feature, and today I am cross-posting the article that I used so that those of you who are members of my church who read Quotidian Grace will get a chance to read it as well. Shayne Newell posted this on her blog General Thought. Shayne is an elder, a mother of two young sons, and in her "spare" time is an attorney with a law firm in Houston. Shayne kindly gave me permission to copy the post and with the first year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina coming, it is a timely reminder of the struggles of so many of the New Orleans evacuees who are still in the Houston area.

Thanks to Shayne for allowing me to share it with you.

Katrina Evacuees -- Eleven Months Later

I spent yesterday morning volunteering at a housing clinic for Katrina and Rita evacuees who had been denied FEMA rental assistance. I admit that I went into it with some skepticism. It has been almost a year since the disasters. Surely these people could have gotten back on their feet enough to pay their own rent if they really wanted to. But work is somewhat slow, and I thought it would be a good opportunity to do some pro bono legal work. I didn't know anything about FEMA appeals before I got there, but I learned fast!

After getting some on-the-job training, I was sent to a huge room where attorneys were working one-on-one with people who had been denied assistance and wanted to file an appeal with FEMA. As it turns out, FEMA had been denying people aid for ridiculous reasons. For instance, a FEMA inspector was sent to survey the damage at a particular residence in New Orleans and denied rental assistance because the resident did not show up to meet the inspector. Of course, many of them are living in Houston and many other places throughout the country and are without the means to travel to New Orleans. Sometimes FEMA didn't give any reason at all for denying rental assistance.

The appeal papers take time to fill out and were confusing, even for me. I spent a good deal of time with a man named Troy. As he filled out his paperwork, I glanced at his birthday: February 29, 1976. He's 3 1/2 years younger than I am, but I never would have guessed it by his appearance. Incidentally, in non-leap years, he celebrates his birthday on both February 28 and March 1st. I told him that sounded like the best birthday of all -- 2 days long!

Anyway, in working with him, I learned that he evacuated New Orleans literally with nothing except the clothes on his back. He was extremely nice and good natured, despite all he had been through. He doesn't appear to have much education and his income is minimal. After FEMA cut off his rental assistance and he got evicted, his ex-girlfriend was gracious enough to take him in. She had also evacuated to Houston and her FEMA assistance is still in place. I didn't ask what kind of work he did, but he said that immediately before Hurricane Katrina was the "slow season" at work, so he wasn't bringing in much money. Other than a few months' rent, which was cut off in March, he has received no FEMA assistance other than the $2000 voucher that was distributed to all the evacuees last fall.

I tried to imagine what my life would be like if I left Houston right now with nothing except the clothes I'm wearing and whatever is in my purse (at the moment, that includes no cash except a few coins) and went to Tulsa. I don't know anyone there and wouldn't know where to start -- how do I find a place to live, furnish it, find transportation, feed myself, and find a job, particularly if I have no education and few vocational skills? In what circumstances would I find myself a year from now? I think it very likely that I'd be sitting down across the table from a volunteer attorney at a housing clinic sponsored by Legal Aid and asking for help.

It's easy for those of us unaffected by the hurricanes to feel that it's time that people moved on with their lives. I think that most of them are moving on, or trying to, but it can't happen on some artificial timetable. I pray that, as the one year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina approaches, those of us who have not had to suffer through this particular tragedy will be reminded that rebuilding an entire life (in Troy's case, 30 years) can't be accomplished in a matter of months.

6 comments:

Princess of Everything (and then some) said...

Wow that says alot. I watch 30 days this past weekend. The episode was about surviving on min. wage. It was basically impossible to be done. It amazes me that we live in a country that does not value its people all that much.

Anonymous said...

QG,

Thanks to Shayne and you for sharing this sobering story. It is so easy to make false assumptions both about our government agencies and those in need.

I would like permission to read this entry as a Moment for Mission in a worship service at our USPCA church.

Cynthia

Jody Harrington said...

Thanks, Cynthia. It would be wonderful to share Shayne's message with your congregation.

Dorcas (aka SingingOwl) said...

I would like to share this too. Thank you so much for posting it.

Gannet Girl said...

Thank you so much for sharing this story.

Greg Hazelrig said...

Thanks for sharing this story and helping us to not forget that there are still people needing help because of what happened a year ago.