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"People's issues don't start at 8 [a.m.] and end at 4 [p.m.]," said Luther Herring as he prepared for a trip to the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, Tx., on behalf of Catholic Charities of the Albany Diocese. "You have to respond to the crisis."

Galveston suffered severe flooding over Memorial Day weekend. Homes on barrier islands off the coast of Texas, as well as in nearby Houston, were destroyed, leaving people homeless or in severe distress. At the request of Catholic Charities USA, local Catholic Charities is sending two caseworkers -- Mr. Herring, a case manager for DePaul Residence in Albany; and Shannon McLaughlin, director of support services for Albany County -- to work with Catholic Charities of Galveston-Houston from June 29-July 11. The Albany case managers will be going to Galveston after a team from Camden, N.J.

"Disaster recovery work is difficult. [Caseworkers in Texas] need some assistance from their peers across the country," said Mary Olsen, director of Catholic Charities' Campaign for Human Development.

Diocesan Catholic Charities has a history of sending case managers to disaster sites. The agency first sent volunteers to Oklahoma City after the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. In the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, 275 Catholic Charities volunteers went to Brooklyn and Queens over the course of three months.

And "in 2005, when [Hurricane] Katrina happened, we sent four people down [to Baton Rouge, La.,] every three weeks for a year and a half," said Mrs. Olsen.

Remembering his experiences in Louisiana, Mr. Herring remarked that "it's not like you wake up in the morning and decide it's what you want to do," but said he's prepared to do anything from "manual labor to administrative work at a moment's notice" in Texas.

The caseworkers will mainly be going to people's homes to assess their needs and assist the flooding victims in getting help. Many elderly people in the Galveston area have not left their homes since the flooding occurred.

"The homes are in deplorable conditions," said Mrs. Olsen.

Even having helped in previous crises, "you can't really prepare yourself for actually being there," Mr. Herring told The Evangelist. "It's something on an emotional level you really can't prepare yourself for. It's altogether different than watching it on TV."[[In-content Ad]]

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