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Gulf Coast: In Katrina's Path A Visit To the Picayune Storehouse When Hurricane Katrina hit one year ago, World Vision began providing emergency relief aid within 48 hours. A year later, World Vision remains committed to helping affected families rebuild their lives. Help has ranged from clothing and personal care products to providing building materials, as well as emergency grants and much-needed school supplies for evacuated or relocated children. World Vision's John Yeager writes about his visit to New Orleans this spring.
One ripple effect of the storm was a surge of displaced people. Though thousands in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast rode out "The Storm" (as locals still call it), Baton Rogue, Houston and Dallas were flooded with evacuees — hungry, dazed, wondering what remained of the homes they'd left behind. Within weeks the totals were staggering. Some 1.8 million storm survivors were displaced. The migration of those left homeless by Katrina became the largest movement of population in this country since the 1930s' Dust Bowl. Nine months later, I found myself driving through "Ground Zero" for the Storm — St. Bernard Parish, just east of New Orleans. I saw block after block after block of uninhabitable homes, trashed cars, boarded-up businesses — most still abandoned and destroyed. That's why World Vision is here–to help those who still suffer the effects. In Picayune, Mississippi, 45 miles north of New Orleans, World Vision has just christened a new supplies warehouse that will assist thousands of storm survivors throughout Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama as they continue to reclaim their lives after Katrina. Through more than 100 church partners, World Vision's "Storehouse" will provide school supplies, building supplies and personal hygiene items for as long as it takes until life starts to return to something that resembles normal. Some people in Picayune think that day is at least five years away. So we have work to do. World Vision has several school backpack distributions planned for this summer in St. Bernard Parish and other places hard-hit by Katrina. Some 7,000 backpacks full of school supplies will be distributed to students. These backpacks carry a message: "Somebody cares." "Somebody" includes a number of World Vision saints in this City of Saints. Phyllis Freeman commutes three times a month from her home in Dallas to the Picayune Storehouse, making sure grants and supplies are getting to those in need. Phyllis works long hours even in normal times. She was due for a much-needed vacation last August — the day before Katrina hit. Almost overnight, Freeman turned her Dallas World Vision Storehouse into a clearinghouse for hundreds of church groups who rushed emergency aid (bottled water, personal hygiene kits, mattresses and school supplies) to storm survivors all across the battered Gulf Coast. And then there's Audrey Black, the Louisiana Grants Manager who works with burned-out Gulf Coast pastors and overworked church volunteers on a daily basis — even now, nine months later. When I visited Audrey said the temperature had just topped 90 again in Picayune at the Storehouse, and that, due to peak demand, the air conditioning had gone out — again. And then, instead of complaining, she took a deep breath and looked around and said, "I'm not bothered. You know, John, the Lord sustains." But there's so much left to do. As I got in line with my e-ticket for my flight back to Seattle I was imprinted with one last impression of the "The Big Easy" — a Dixieland jazz ensemble playing a slow, haunting refrain that brought a quiet smile and a silent tear. Tall, proud African-American musicians in starched white uniforms play on. Their message: "Keep a little N'Awlin's with you when you leave, would you please? This is who we are. And we’re not giving up. Please don't forget." I was left with the hope that maybe the day is getting closer when life begins to resemble something a little like "normal." Maybe. After arriving home that night I turned on the TV — New Orleans fresh in my mind. CNN was reporting that the 2006 Hurricane Season had just begun. |  | 1-888-511-6548 : P.O. Box 9716 World Vision is a Christian humanitarian organization dedicated to working with children, families and their communities worldwide to reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty and injustice.
  
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