Below is a fellow Uzbekistan RPCV's account of his recent volunteer experience with the Red Cross. In addition, several RPCV's from our group are now in Romania teaching English to Uzbek refugees from the Andijon massacre, and another just won a $10,000 grant to continue the water and roofing project for the health clinic that she was forced to abandon because of our evacuation. I am so proud to be amongst such great people.
"Ann and I returned to Michigan this week after serving three weeks in a Red Cross shelter in Gonzales, Louisiana. We were there because of Hurricane Katrina and later Hurricane Rita.
Lamar-Dixon
Our shelter was at the Lamar-Dixon Expo Center, which is akin to a county fairground, complete with numerous buildings. Lamar-Dixon is about 40 miles northwest of New Orleans and 20 miles southeast of Baton Rouge. The shelter housed about 800 people when we arrived, down from about 1,700 when Katrina first hit. One day while we were there a photo from the shelter was on the front page of the Washington Post. What prompted the coverage was that two couples living in the shelter were married.
In addition, to the human shelter at Lamar-Dixon, there was a shelter for family pets rescued from New Orleans. That shelter housed more than 1,500 dogs, hundreds of horses, and a 300 pound pet pig that was featured on national news.
Most of the Red Cross shelter residents were poor, black, and from New Orleans. Most arrived before Katrina, meaning that while poor they had sufficient means to be able to drive out of town unlike those people who got stranded in the Superdome and elsewhere. People lived in clusters of cots and air-mattresses throughout one large room.
The good news about this shelter and others is that people had a dry place to stay, were in air-conditioning, had plenty of food, access to showers, and medical care. The people were given Red Cross debit cards and were able to get to stores to buy needed goods. Red Cross provided free internet service enabling the residents to apply on-line for FEMA assistance. The people were in a safe environment, since the Arizona National Guard screened people coming onto the expo grounds and patrolled the shelter itself. The only crime reported was some thievery.
The bad news was that the situation only alleviated problems in the short run and that most residents would be unable to return to their homes for a long time to come, if ever. The shelter was expected to stay open for months, although the parish which owns the property at one point tried to get the shelter closed to make room for an October festival. With some pressure, the local officials backed down.
People not in shelters were and are much worse off. There are many thousands of people crammed into the houses and apartments of family and friends. We frequently heard of 25 or 30 people living in one small apartment. Others were even worse off, living in their cars. Making matters worse was these people did not have access to Red Cross and went for weeks without any financial assistance. In our last week in Louisiana, Red Cross opened up relief offices. Volunteers handed out as much as $2 million each in debit cards per day. As you might guess, people lined up for miles at these relief centers and camped out over night so as not to lose their places in line. This emergency aid was extraordinarily critical for the well-being of the thousands of people who had been displaced.
Each shelter throughout the region was unique. Lamar-Dixon was generally pleasant and safe. In contrast, friends who served in another Louisiana shelter said that place had a sizeable criminal element. Metal detectors had to be installed to keep out knives and guns. Another friend served in the Astrodome in Houston. He said that place, given the immensity of its size, was very inhospitable.
Our Jobs and Living Arrangements
We flew from Michigan to Baton Rouge and went to the Red Cross headquarters there, where volunteers were assigned locations. Ann and I said we wanted to work in a shelter, and that is how we ended up at Lamar-Dixon.
Upon arrival at the shelter, we were assigned to where the need was the greatest at the moment. Ann worked in warehousing/distribution. She helped organize a supply center that distributed toiletries, baby food, diapers, new underwear, and other essentials to the residents. She also helped organize a large supply of donated clothing. (By the way, donated clothing is commonly given in disasters and is not all that useful. People want to buy their own clothing. Red Cross prefers to give people money for such purchases, and that is one reason why financial donations are so important to disaster relief.)
As time went on, Ann began working part-time in helping people relocate out of the region. For example, there were church and other groups in San Diego, Las Vegas, and elsewhere that were willing to host limited numbers of families for extended periods. The catch was that many of our residents had no interest in relocating. They were committed to New Orleans and would not consider seemingly attractive offers. Their attitudes were understandable considering that all they had ever known was life in New Orleans and they were fearful of living elsewhere.
I worked in food service. The manager, John, was a local Red Cross volunteer who had been running food operations since before Katrina struck. He had been working 12+ hours everyday without a break. When I came on board, we worked 12-hour days for a week, but then we were able to spell one another so that we got down to more reasonable hours. As time went on, more volunteers arrived, making food service work-life more pleasant.
Red Cross in general does not cook meals but rather has them catered. We received two shipments daily of food in Cambros shipped from the Baton Rouge River Center, which was the locale of another shelter. If you are unfamiliar with these containers, they measure about 30 inches x 18 inches and 18 inches deep. Each filled Cambro easily weighs 50 pounds. I got so I could sling around these large boxes with ease.
Breakfast was usually cold fare, such as some combination of muffins, Danish, granola bars, and fresh fruit. Lunch was hot dogs, hamburgers, or cold cuts. Dinner was always hot. We served shrimp Creole and jambalaya plus other American standards including ribs, chicken and gravy, and Salisbury steak. We also served snacks in the morning and afternoon.
Until Hurricane Rita approached, we served meals outdoors in a large tent without walls. That required us lugging food between the tent and two storage rooms and a refrigerated semi-trailer. All of this was done in hot weather with high humidity. On several days the temperature went about 100 degrees.
We volunteers stayed in our own shelter about four miles from the main one. We lived like the evacuees, sleeping on cots and air-mattresses. We were at the First United Methodist Church, which provided wonderful hospitality. The facility had a large room for sleeping—at one point over 120 of us—another room with tables for eating and talking, and showers. People from the church washed the volunteers’ clothes. Ann and I only took advantage of that service once. The rest of the time, I washed some of my things in a sink, and we went to a nearby laundromat a couple of times.
Hurricane Rita
As Hurricane Rita approached, the Red Cross leadership was uncertain about what should be done. One scenario was to move all of us to Monroe, which is in northern Louisiana and would have taken many hours to reach. Another scenario was to move us for 24-hours to a more secure shelter and then bring us back.
The decision was made to stay put but to secure the building and take down all of the tents and move all property indoors, such as folding tables and chairs. We ended up taking down the huge dining tent in driving rain.
The night of the storm, some volunteers stayed at the main shelter while the rest of us stayed at our volunteer shelter. That is where Ann and I spent the night. At 2:00 a.m., we were awakened, because rental cars had to be moved. The parking lot had become a giant lake complete with whitecaps. Water started leaking into the sleeping room, including where Ann and I had our air-mattress. After some mopping and sandbagging, that problem was under control. To add to the situation, the electricity went out and stayed out for about six hours.
That was about all that we had to endure from Rita. The storm was quite gentle with us, unlike communities to our west. Indeed, we got some evacuees from the Lake Charles area over the course of the next several days.
After Rita left us, the large dining tent was re-erected, but we no longer served food there. Instead, we served food out of a service room. That made our jobs much easier.
Return to Michigan
Ann and I returned to Michigan, where we live in a modest but comfortable home on a beautiful lake. The serenity of the situation makes one almost feel guilty considering the people we left behind.
I often have brief flashbacks and have had some disturbing dreams about our experience. I wonder what will happen to the people we met. One elderly gentleman sat expressionless all day, every day by himself. I would give him a cheerful “hello” whenever I saw him, and over time, he warmed up, beginning first with the slightest of nods to me. The ultimate was that one morning he gave me a nice smile, said hello, and patted me on the shoulder. I felt I had helped him in a small way.
Ann and I plan to continue to be active with Red Cross both locally and nationally. We had taken a few disaster relief courses before Katrina and have taken two more since returning to Michigan. While we were in Louisiana, a gas main leak developed in Flint, causing the evacuation of people in a four square-mile area. Temporary shelters were set up for those evacuees. So who knows where we may be needed next."
