Diocese continues helping Gulf Coast

An employee of the Office of Long-Term Disaster Recovery in the Diocese of Biloxi, Mississippi, worked at the Biloxi branch of Weight Watchers until Hurricane Katrina decimated the Gulf Coast last year.

"After the hurricane, people weren't really worried about losing weight any more," she remarked.

Only nine percent of the 171,000 homes in the Biloxi Diocese were left undamaged by the hurricane and ensuing floods. So far, the disaster recovery office has been able to help 300 homeowners to rebuild and hopes to help thousands more.

Northern neighbors

Michele Kelly, chief fiscal officer for Catholic Charities of the Albany Diocese, met that employee and others during a recent visit to Mississippi, made at the request of Bishop Thomas Rodi of Biloxi.

He hoped to get feedback from Albany Catholic Charities because of its extensive experience with disaster recovery. Since last September, the Albany Diocese has been sending teams of volunteers to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to do case management. Teams were also sent from Albany to New York City to help with recovery efforts after the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001.

Until Hurricane Katrina hit, the Biloxi Diocese had only a five-person staff in its Catholic Social Services Office (equivalent to Catholic Charities) to serve the needy. Only nine percent of the population in the Biloxi Diocese's 14 counties are Catholic.

After the disaster, Bishop Rodi created the more extensive Disaster Recovery Office, which now has a staff of 15. However, Ms. Kelly noted, all the staff members have been affected by the hurricane themselves; most go home at night to water-damaged homes or trailers erected by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

Destruction

Ms. Kelly -- and peers from Florida, Minnesota, Pennsylvania and Washington -- spent several days witnessing the devastation on the Gulf Coast.

First, they watched a DVD comparing the homes and businesses once located in the area to the damage and debris that's there now. Then, for two days, they toured 70 miles of coastline with Disaster Recovery Office staff members.

"A lot of times, they were trying to talk over each other, because they all wanted to point something out -- to talk about what it was like before," Ms. Kelly recalled. "They wanted to show us everything."

'Shocked'

Ms. Kelly was shocked at how "mentally and emotionally draining" it was to see mile after mile of debris still piled haphazardly, stairs leading to flat spaces where homes once stood, and trees whose branches were jammed with garbage five months after the disaster.

"This is where my husband and I had our first date," a Biloxi resident would tell the visitors, pointing to a now-barren stretch of land, or, "This is the beach we used to go to."

One 80-year-old woman whose house was being worked on by the disaster recovery team showed the group how the walls had been stripped to the bare studs, with duct tape covering the area around the toilet to block the wind. She was living in just her kitchen and begged the Biloxi employees to put up new drywall, even as they pointed out that the floor was so waterlogged, it gave underfoot.

"That's the only room she has, so she didn't want to hear it," Ms. Kelly said.

Dark and tents

In another area, she said, two casinos had managed to reopen, but the rest of the neighborhood still had no power. At night, the entire area was "eerily dark" except for those two buildings.

The visitors even saw an area where Mississippi residents were still living in FEMA tents, not having gotten trailers yet.

"Five months in, nothing's really changed. It's like a war zone without the bombs," Ms. Kelly concluded.

Helping hundreds

Despite all of that, she was impressed at how far the Biloxi Diocese has come in "ramping up" recovery efforts over the past five months.

The Disaster Recovery Office is doing case management for 1,000 families, helping them to understand FEMA rules, access funds, and get basic necessities and health care.

Ms. Kelly pointed out that employment will soon become a major concern, as unemployment benefits for evacuees begin to run out in a few months. The Disaster Recovery Office is also concerned about residents living in unsafe homes; the office is currently receiving 30 calls a day from people looking for help.

Suggestions

Asked to provide feedback and recommendations for future efforts, Ms. Kelly confessed that, before the trip, "I didn't feel I'd have that much to add."

As the trip went on, however, she felt that just listening to the Disaster Recovery Office staff telling their stories was therapeutic for them.

"Remember the coast," one employee told her, wanting outsiders to know that Hurricane Katrina's effects went well beyond the oft-publicized areas of New Orleans.

"We need to keep this story in the forefront and send assistance, because they're going to need it for so long," Ms. Kelly told The Evangelist.

Help from here

Catholic Charities of the Albany Diocese did so through $100,000 collected from Catholics here, sent to the Biloxi Diocese last week. That was the first $100,000 check sent to that area, Ms. Kelly noted.

Some of the money will be used to buy a pickup truck and trailer to transport building materials and tools to damaged homes that are being rebuilt. Ms. Kelly said that Catholic Charities is also hoping to get offers of building materials to send to Biloxi.

In addition, volunteers are being sought to spend a week in the Biloxi Diocese, particularly case managers, carpenters, plumbers, electricians, heating and air-conditioning specialists, or general construction workers.

"I swear they'll get more out of it than they give," Ms. Kelly promised.

(The latest team of volunteers from the Albany Diocese left for Baton Rouge last week -- with a new addition: They are being shadowed by a news team from Capital News 9, for a story to air on the TV station during the week of Feb. 20. To volunteer, call 453-6650. Send donations, with "Hurricane Katrina" in the subject line, to Catholic Charities, 40 N. Main Ave., Albany, NY 12203. Also, Albany Catholic Charities is creating a pamphlet summing up its efforts to help after both Hurricane Katrina and the tsunami in Southeast Asia last year, and urging continued giving. The report notes that $1.2 million donated by Catholics in the Albany Diocese provided food, water, medicine, shelter and other basic needs for tsunami survivors. More than $1.3 million was also sent to the Dioceses of Biloxi and Baton Rouge, besides the three dozen volunteers who have gone there and a dozen families who temporarily relocated to the Albany Diocese with the help of Catholic Charities.)

(2/16/06) [[In-content Ad]]