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Physical, emotional, financial struggles continue for many hurricane evacuees
Participants at a LFS jobs fair
Photo: LFS
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Church World Service evacuee assistance program provides direct assistance, connects people to community services
Many Gulf Coast evacuees continue to struggle with the emotional and financial stresses of losing everything and relocating to a new area. Even many who have found jobs have not yet found stable housing or gotten caught up with all their bills. Mental and physical health problems beleaguer many.
"In recent weeks, we have seen a dramatic rise in requests for counseling as the true extent of the tragedy is beginning to be realized," said Gina Sims, an evacuee program caseworker at Refugee Resettlement and Immigration Services of Atlanta (RRISA). "Deaths among our elderly and disabled clients have tripled."
"The first wave of evacuees who sought our help in September and October are for a large part employed and self-sufficient," Sims continued. "Those evacuees who arrived in Atlanta as a second migration point months after the storm are generally the ones who still have yet to find employment and in many instances, permanent housing. Though jobs seem to be a scarcity, we hope through our case management and the assistance provided through the advocate program, they will soon be on their way to a stable new life in the Atlanta area."
Nasi Kajana, coordinator of the evacuee assistance program at Lutheran Family Services in the Carolinas (LFS) in Greensboro, N.C., said evacuees' situations continue to be fragile. Even those who are working are struggling to keep up with bills. For many, he said, "now the depression is kicking in."
LFS found itself providing assistance in a most tragic case over the holidays. One evacuee family it has been assisting included a teenager who'd grown up with them in New Orleans. The teen's parents and brother had been evacuated from New Orleans to Texas. The teen had spent Christmas with them, then returned to the Carolinas. Just before New Year's, the teen's father - despondent that his housing money would run out on Dec. 31 and facing eviction - shot his wife, his son, and then himself.
Kajana said that thanks to CWS's support, the evacuee assistance program was able to be there for the teen. "We could wrap our arms around this teenager with support," he said. LFS raised the funds for travel to the funeral, got legal assistance for the host family to become the teen's legal guardian, and found counseling for the teen.
"My goal is to take care of the host family so they can take care of this teen," Kajana said. "I call them every day. This story raises a lot of flags and understanding about what people are really going through. Thanks to CWS's support, we could be there."
Housing also continues to be a struggle. Nine Gulf Coast families, now in Greensboro, N.C., were spared homelessness in February, thanks to the intervention of LFS.
The nine families (nine LFS evacuee program "cases," about half of them single individuals) are living in apartments, with help from FEMA funding, Kajana said. But they were facing eviction Feb. 10 because of a miscommunication between the state and local government partners responsible for routing FEMA funds to their landlord.
Despite the fact that LFS had been working on these nine families' paperwork since before Thanksgiving, the money for these families' rent still hadn't come through by Feb. 1.
LFS "worked extremely hard using all our contacts and knowledge," Kajana said. "We found out where the miscommunication was and we used all of our resources to get all the paperwork completed and all the requirements met. The funding was finally approved, but even with all the work we did, the money would not have gotten to the landlord by Feb.10."
"LFS was able to secure emergency funding to pay the families' rent and utilities in the meantime," Kajana said.
In Miami, Florida, the CWS Miami Office provided assistance with CWS/IRP funding through December 31, and is continuing in 2006 with a $15,000 grant from the Neighbors 4 Neighbors program of CBS-TV Channel 4/UPN Channel 33 in Miami. The funds were awarded to the CWS Miami Office for its work with Hurricane Katrina survivors who have relocated to south Florida. The grant is for long-term recovery projects that will assist families to rebuild their lives.
Neighbors 4 Neighbors is a non-profit organization launched by CBS-TV Channel 4 in the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew. The mandate later was expanded to provide community support in emergencies. It is funded by donations from foundations, corporations and individuals.
Said Jose Sanchez, coordinator of the CWS Miami Office's Gulf Coast Relocation Program, "We contacted several evacuees and informed them that we had received this funding and would be able to assist them with anything they may be in need of. A total of seventeen families have been assisted with housing, food, and gas and employment services."
"We have been working together with Youth Co-Op, in coalition with South Florida Workforce, providing recovery services to evacuees. Our clients seemed to be having the most trouble finding stable employment due to the large pool of job seekers in south Florida. However, through our job referrals and the job assistance Youth Co-Op and South Florida Work Force have provided, some evacuees have been able to find employment successfully."
Read more on Hurricane Katrina response
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