Tuscaloosa,
Alabama - Hazel Rodgers sits on the cot with her three-year-old
granddaughter asleep on her lap while her twin six-year-old
grandsons play hide and seek nearby. Her husband lies on the
cot beside her, relieving his labored breathing by using his
oxygen mask.
For 10 days Hazel and her family have found shelter, food and
medical assistance in the shelter operated by the American Red
Cross in a state-of-the-art recreation centre at the University
of Alabama. They are among 159,000 survivors in nearly 650 shelters
across 17 states who have also received shelter from the American
Red Cross since before Hurricane Katrina hit.
This prosperous industrial city in Alabama is the first city
north of the hurricane ravaged area that you reach when driving
north up the state highway. It opened its doors to help American
Red Cross shelter evacuees and is now working to assist those
eager to move into apartments and seek jobs in their city.
But not everyone is able to strike out on their own yet. Hazel
is a diabetic who has limited mobility and uses a wheelchair.
Her husband is an epileptic and suffers from emphysema. She
came to the shelter in advance of Hurricane Katrina with seven
family members.
After the storm, Hazel’s daughter and son-in-law returned
to her trailer on a bayou near Gulfport, MS, to find it intact
but rain-soaked and smelling of mold. They also learned that
the son-in-law’s father, who stayed behind, had been swept
into a tree by the storm surge but survived.
Hazel’s daughter and family are like most of the thousands
of people who have stayed in the shelter – they are eager
to move on and are trying to decide where to go. Hazel appreciates
all that has been done for her but is eager to leave the busy
shelter where as many as 500 sleep a night.
“We are trying to make life more normal for ourselves
and the kids. One of my grandsons lost a tooth and he was very
worried that the tooth fairy would not find him. A lady next
to us gave me some change. He was checking his pillow every
five minutes to make sure it was there. When he found the money
next morning, he was very happy and so was everyone else,”
said Hazel.
The numbers in Hazel’s shelter are declining as people
move into housing made available to them in Tuscaloosa. Many
families are taking offers of assistance from community and
church groups to move into empty apartments or are being billeted.
Other families say they are reluctant to leave the shelter until
they find a job first.
Outside of Tuscaloosa, there is a second shelter operated in
the training centre of the Mercedes-Benz plant. A Baptist pastor
from New Orleans is trying to figure out where to go next. He
is worried that his kids should not go back to their home in
eastern New Orleans because of the effect the contaminated water
will have on their home.
“The church will rebuild and restart with the people who
decide to stay. The young kids in the congregation want to go
to new cities and move on. The older people want to return home,”
he said.
“I know there is chemical waste in the area and I am concerned
about the effect it will have on the building and anyone who
lives in it in the future,” he said. “I have life
and I have health so I don’t need to worry about wealth;
the good Lord will provide.
“People have been great. We have been so well cared for
by Red Cross and all the volunteers. This shelter is a Mercedes
in more than one way” he said. “It’s a great
place for us to collect our thoughts before we make a move to
the next stage.”
|
 |
 |
|
|
September
2005 - Hurricane Katrina -- Water and heater meals are
being loaded in Gulfport, Mississippi for delivery to
the local Red Cross shelters.(Eugene Dailey/American Red
Cross)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
Hazel
Rodgers hugs her six-year-old twin grandsons at the shelter
in Tuscaloosa, Ala., where she came before Hurricane Katrina
hit, fleeing the shoreline of Gulfport, Miss., where she
lives in a trailer on a bayou. (Photo Source: American
Red Cross)
|
|
News
