Note: The following appeal is now closed. You can support our ongoing work by donating to the Canadian Red Cross
By Mary Ferguson, Canadian Red Cross volunteer in Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Sept 8, 2005
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 you reach driving north from the hurricane ravaged region. 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, Mississippi, to find it intact but rain-soaked and smelling of mold. 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.
“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,” said Hazel.
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.
“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.”