The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
Cindy Owsley of La Harpe Tells Her Story:
When the call finally came from the Red Cross, I was on the fence about whether to deploy to Louisiana or not. The Red Cross wanted a 3 week commitment and I didn't feel right about abandoning my already over-whelmed co-workers for that long. Yet, every since I heard the first news coverage on Katrina, I felt a compelling urgency to assist. When I saw a friend who had left two young sons and a wife to go to Iraq for a year, it was clear that this wasn't much of a sacrifice.
It was a bit scary not to know how I would get there or where I would stay or what I would be doing. It was a bit scary not to know if I could handle the challenge. I couldn't shake the feeling that our servicemen and women must feel something similar before they ship off.
I arrived in Baton Rouge and was shuttled to a staff shelter called Flannery. The shelter manager quickly greeted us and gave us a virtual tour of where the food, port-a-potties and outdoor showers were. It was 10:30 PM when I found a empty cot in the dark gym that housed more than 120 volunteers. There was a huge fan blowing continuously, but it did little to cool our coed quarters. I must have slept some, but it couldn't have been for long.
The next morning we began bonding by sharing stories. The best one was told on the 60-something woman who had slipped in ankle deep water in the decontamination shower. The tent was sectioned so that women were on one side and men were on the other. She slid into the men's side on her belly. The startled man gallantly offered to help her up, but she just ducked her head in embarrassment and slithered back to the other side.
One might imagine that they would put you right to work when you got to Headquarters. Instead they put you right into line. One line for a staff (debit) card; one line for an I.D; one line for a shelter. Finally, you got to go to orientation.
They didn't assign me to a job for a day and a half. In the interim, I went to the far corner of the former Wal-Mart store to work with the client (debit) cards. We'd count out 50 envelopes and write the household size on the outside of the envelope and rubber band them together. Then, we'd stuff the envelopes with the debit card that was loaded with the pre-determined amount of money. This was basically piece work and we'd write "2" on the outside of envelopes for hours before we'd be given another part of the task. We were all anxious to do something more than write "2" on envelopes.
After work, I sat outside on my gear and baked in the hot Louisiana sun for a couple of hours waiting on a shuttle to my new home - Woodlawn Baptist. I'd only had an apple, some sliced peaches and a package of cheese-peanut butter crackers all day and had been looking forward to the home-cooked meal promised by church members. I tried hard to shush some serious internal whines when it became apparent that I was going to be eating dry food for dinner.
I knew I was at "The Ritz" when there was hot food in a real dining room. The gym housed 100 of us, but it was air conditioned... and there was a hot shower and indoor plumbing. After about 6 hours of sleep, I felt like a new woman.
It had been a month since Katrina had hammered Louisiana and Mississippi. It had been less than a week since Rita whammied Louisiana and Texas. There was a impromptu map at Headquarters where you put a little dot to show where you were from. The little dots were placed in every state except Alabama and in countries all over the world. There were 186,000 Red Cross volunteers who had responded to the relief effort in the Gulf.
We all had some frustrations with the inefficiency of the Red Cross. However, it was like a $2 billion dollar corporation had been built overnight by volunteers who usually served 2-3 week deployments. The storms were of such a magnitude that every organization was criticized. Elected officials, National Guard, FEMA, law enforcement, insurance companies... the list could go on forever. However, I'd challenge anyone to find a more talented, caring, committed, hard-working group anywhere.
It quickly became apparent to us that every job was important, so we winced when we heard the "Coffee Queen" at the canteen share that her father wanted to know when she was going to get a "real job" in the relief effort. We all gave her a group hug because we knew that none of us could function without the talents of each other. We had drivers and cooks and shelter managers and health care staff and janitors and the list went on and on. We were a city. We were a team.
Finally several of us who had been stuffing envelopes got assigned to open the Bellemont Hotel. I think it was the first place in Baton Rouge to start giving out the debit cards to victims of the hurricane. We car-pooled to work and were in shock to see that there was already a line with 3-5 people abreast for 3-4 blocks. Twenty year old Stephanie and I reacted in unison, "Oh, my God."
We knew our work was cut out for us. One of the others teased that maybe it wasn't so bad to write "2" on the envelopes....
I literally pressed my way through the throng of people who had been waiting for hours outside the Bellemont Hotel at Baton Rouge. I'll never forget how the frail, elderly woman clutched tightly to my arm and begged me to please help her right away because she didn't think she could stand there any longer. I gently escaped her clinging grasp and told her helplessly that I would do what I could.
Once inside we functioned like a dyslexic spider. When they asked for volunteers to work outside, I quickly stepped forward. The women were asked to partner with a man due to safety concerns, but there weren't enough men. A man I didn't know asked me to work on his handicapped line about the time that a woman grabbed my arm to be my partner. It turned out that David was a supervisor and he didn't care so much about our sex as he cared about our confidence.
When the doors finally opened, I remembered my promise to the elderly woman and tried to put some of the most fragile people in the front of the line. The throng of people pressed in so close that we could hardly breathe, much less work. There was a big expanse of windows behind us and the security people were scared that someone would get pushed through the glass. They closed the line a few times because we couldn't get any kind of order. It was clear even to my untrained eye that this could easily turn into a mob.
We had a security problem and the security people were adamant that the crowd had to stay off the tile skirting in front of the windows. I guess it was Cindy Heath that suggested that we put some tables up for a makeshift gate. Once the crowd saw that the line was moving, the situation became a bit less intense.
However, I was kind of "on point" checking to see if people had a photo I.D. and some form of address verification. Cindy was a few steps behind me checking to see if the zip codes were on our list of ones for the affected disaster areas. A few steps behind her were 3-4 security guards. Lined up in front of the windows parallel to them were 4 ICE (SWAT-type) armed guys.
Some became very angry because they'd stood in line for hours only to have me turn them away because they didn't live in the right zip code or because they didn't have proof of identity or address. They were so angry that they would be screaming at me and crying. I was crying too.
When I'd give them a hug, they would just melt. The people were absolutely desperate.
Some were grateful. One man lost his place in line as he dug for a photograph of his home. It was important to him that I knew why he was there. He had a see-through house... not because it had so many windows, but because all the siding and dry wall and most of the roof were gone.
Some were trying to cope. One woman reported having bought all these beautiful clothes. She repeated it two or three times for emphasis.... and described how they were all hanging in her closet. When she went back to see her house, there was 4 feet of water in her closet. I thought that her story had ended and told her how sorry I was.
She insisted that I listen to the rest of her story. She smiled as she told it.. There was a fish in there - in all the water in her closet... It was the most beautifully dressed fish...
To be continued