After the hurricanes: opening hearts & homes to the evacuees

IMAGES of the victims of Hurricane Katrina still haunt us. Pictures of African-Americans along the Gulf Coast who were affected in great numbers unfolded in the media and revealed a government system that was slow to respond to the devastation. That's when individuals and churches began to take matters into their own hands.

While there have been untold acts of generosity and kindness that emerged from the public, some of those individuals who were willing to help victims of hurricanes Katrina and Rita really stood out. They include one woman who took into her home a family of 20. Another Good Samaritan donated 10 homes to displaced families, and still another volunteer worked through her church to help dozens of displaced people get into long-term housing and find jobs.

The damage that Katrina caused to the Gulf Coast families was on T'rhrosia Ingram's mind so much one night that she awakened at 3 a.m. with an idea. That was when the 43-year-old real estate developer, based in Lithonia, Ga., got the idea to occupy vacant properties that she had rehabbed with families left homeless by Hurricane Katrina, which had uprooted an estimated 1.3 million households. "I thought, 'You know, those houses are just sitting there,'" she recalls. "So I told one of my girlfriends, and she agreed to help me."

With the assistance from her friend, a local police sergeant, and others, they began to get 10 homes in and around Atlanta ready for new occupants. Ingram's group cut the grass, cleaned and even solicited sponsors to donate furniture, food and other items to make the houses more homelike. Individuals who wanted a home were required to fill out a questionnaire, and Ingram, who in addition was hosting her son's extended family of 18 (ages 2 to 46) who had also escaped Katrina, interviewed families seeking one of the properties.

"A lot of them have a good spirit," says Ingram. "Most of them were under a lot of stress because of what they've been through. It's a very good and encouraging feeling to see them get the homes."

Also in the area, Lithonia, Ga., Mayor Darold Honore, a New Orleans native, opened his home to nine family members who sought refuge in Georgia after leaving southwest Louisiana. The group was headed to Houston but called Honore and his wife early Sunday morning prior to the hurricane. "We said come on out this way and stay with us," says Honore, who is the second cousin of U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Russel Honore, commander of Hurricane Katrina active military forces.

Mayor Honore, who will celebrate two years in office in December, says that some of his relatives plan to relocate to the area. His brother-in-law and his wife have already found work in the area. "Atlanta grows on you like that," he says. "It's been real nice having them. We've been cooking Creole food--red beans and rice and jambalaya."

New Orleans, known for its exotic cuisine and jazz music, was the largest city hit by Hurricane Katrina, which dispersed households to communities in every state from Maine to Hawaii, according to an official accounting of the disaster's ripple effect. About 75 percent of the households went to Baton Rouge and other communities within 250 miles of New Orleans. About 240,000 displaced individuals went to Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, Atlanta and other cities within 500 miles of the coast. About 26,000 went to cities such as Chicago, Detroit and Baltimore (750 to 1,000 miles away). At least 34,000 moved more than 1,000 miles away in cities such as Boston and Seattle.

Most hurricane survivors have sought some type of assistance. Many went to churches, which "adopted" families that were displaced, pairing them with members of their congregation, some even sending monthly checks to help with rent payments. "African-Americans continue to be Godfearing people," says Bishop Eddie L. Long of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church near Atlanta, where both Mayor Honore and Ingram are members. "We might not know where the FEMA [Federal Emergency Management Agency] office is, or where the Red Cross office is, but we know where the church is, and there is this built-in sense that [we] can get help from the church."

Whether they received help at a megachurch or a smaller house of worship, each contribution to a Katrina survivor made a difference. Inside Greater Harvest Church of God in Christ, in Memphis, about 70 evacuees were given private rooms inside the church's education center-turned-shelter. They were also provided with meals, clothing, shoes and access to computers and employment resources. Patricia A. Rogers, evangelist and public relations specialist, was part of the network of volunteers. She secured jobs for several evacuees, based on referrals that she made.

"Those who didn't perish," says Rogers, who helped one couple from New Orleans get an apartment in her complex, "the Lord gave them another chance. It was a great opportunity to actively serve people who came with nothing and now see them putting their lives back together."