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Matthew Wood, 6, rides his bike near the family trailer in Slidell, La. After evacuating to Houston, they returned to find trees covering the roof, no power and no drinking water. Matthew and sister Morgan, 4, are going to stay with an aunt in Spotsylvania.
Carol Livingston brings cleaning supplies brought by the George family onto the porch of her Pearl River, La., home. Livingston, her family and friends--12 people in all--have been staying in two rooms and the porch of their home, which was damaged by floodwaters.
Laurie Jeansonne holds grandson Quinton Laurent, 3 months, outside her Pearl River, La., home, which had its rear torn off by Hurricane Katrina. Floodwater ruined most of its floors, mold is beginning to grow on the walls and the foundation is unstable.
April Magee, 17, gets help from neighbor Harold Sage with a bag of supplies delivered to Louisiana by the George family of Stafford.
RIGHT: Carol Livingston (right) holds her son Paul's hand as she waits by the Georges' truck for supplies after it pulled into Pearl River this week.
Hurricane victim Angel Williams (left) talks with Jennifer George, 18, of Stafford |
By RUSTY DENNEN
SLIDELL, La.--James and Kristy Wood can't wait to get their two children out of this Hurricane Katrina-ripped bayou town north of New Orleans and into the arms of relatives in Spotsylvania County. And thanks to a donated flight, that's happening.
A few miles away, the George family of Stafford County rolls into the parish with a truckload of goods to bring blessed relief.
It's not hard to find connections between people in the Fredericksburg area and Gulf Coast residents trying to rebound from the nation's worst natural disaster.
'Get my kids out of here'At the edge of a swamp near Lake Pontchartrain sits the trailer home of James and Kristy Wood and their children, Matthew, 6, and Morgan, 4.
The trailer park near Slidell, not far from an Interstate 12 exit, is a tableau of destruction: fences down, roofs caved in, homes askew on foundations. The wind blew so hard here, it scrunched the golden arches on a McDonald's restaurant sign weirdly sideways.
Two weeks after the eye of the hurricane passed nearby, they still have no power. A generator that James wisely bought when they evacuated to Houston hums outside, supplying the only electricity in their little corner of the world. The tap water is undrinkable, schools won't open for weeks and their lives are as shattered as the tree-crunched roof of the trailer next door.
Kristy, 28, is the sister of Nichole Gregory, who lives in Holleybrooke subdivision in Spotsylvania. Wood boarded a plane yesterday in Baton Rouge airport to accompany her children to Gregory's home, where they will at last begin to see some semblance of a normal life. It's Kristy's first time in an airplane.
"Everything that's happened to us doesn't bother me," she said late Wednesday. "The hardest part is that I've got to get my kids out of here."
Kristy got free tickets to Virginia from Angel Flights, a relief agency. But she'll have to pay for her flight home.
That won't be easy because her husband, a roofer, has an injury and can't work. Her job as a physical therapist here was blown away by the storm.
Almost as devastating as the hurricane, their landlord threatened to collect rent early at the height of their misery. However, he backed off only after Kristy got a petition drive going in the neighborhood and called the local radio station to complain.
Kristy has had to suspend her education at a local technical school where she would have graduated in six months. James, 40, who rode out Hurricane Camille as a boy in 1969, has a back injury.
For now, the Woods are in a netherworld all too familiar to millions of storm victims along the Gulf Coast--depending upon the generosity of family and strangers for the necessities of life.
Kristy has stashed cartons of military Meals Ready to Eat in the kids' room. They get water and ice every day from church and Red Cross feeding centers. She's rigged up large plastic containers of bottled water to do her dishes. She's still trying to secure Red Cross cash assistance.
The family sleeps on a bed and couch in the living room because the rest of the 14-foot-wide trailer is used to store what supplies they can get.
Still, Kristy allows that others have it far worse.
"This is the camping trip from hell, but I'm not mad, or distraught. I'm hopeful."
For Kristy, the day is a numbing routine of keeping an eye on kids with little to do, making meals as best she can on the propane cook pot outside, and helping to keep things together emotionally.
James spends his day helping neighbors, watching the kids and sipping an occasional Budweiser. He ran extension cords from his generator to an old woman's home across the street, and to the trailer of a woman's son whose family moved in after losing all their possessions in Bay St. Louis, Miss.
"The mosquitoes are so bad," James said. "I worry about the kids getting sick. We keep catching colds."
The couple are not even thinking about the future; their lives are in a limbo that could last months--perhaps years.
Relief: 'Such a blessing'Earlier on Wednesday in the Slidell area, Stafford residents Julius and Cheryl George and their 18-year-old daughter, Jennifer, were making their second stop of the day with a tractor-trailer loaded with relief supplies.
Like many thousands of other relief workers who arrive daily, they didn't fill out any paperwork, contact any government agency, or ask for permission. These members of Mount Ararat Baptist Church in Garrisonville filled up the truck with supplies and off they went.
This was their second trip down in as many weeks with food, generators, diapers and other goods collected from donors throughout the Fredericksburg area that storm victims still desperately need.
"This area is probably the worst we've seen," said Cheryl, who's made numerous relief drop-offs in Mississippi and Louisiana.
Along the way they've served as good Samaritans, helping a teenager change a tire and handing out whatever they had to whomever asked.
Near the town of Pearl River, they were directed to a side road littered with debris and tree limbs. As soon as the rig stopped, people began gathering around the truck.
Laurie Jeansonne had heard the shipment was in the area and knew her street needed whatever was available. She and neighbor Carol Livingston, whose homes were damaged in the storm, greeted the Georges with hugs. The Georges climbed into the back of the truck and began handing down boxes of diapers, soap, food and cases of bottled water.
Jeansonne marveled at the sight as the end of her driveway began to look like an aisle in a small convenience store.
"It's such a blessing for folks to come down here and help us," she said. "If you go to the Dollar [General] store, it's empty."
While Jeansonne considers herself fortunate, friends have urged her to sell her home and move.
"I can't do it," she said, her eyes misting. "It's a great neighborhood. Everyone here is so close."
Sabrina and Ricardo Faciane were among those awaiting their turn.
"We lost everything," Ricardo said. "They put us up in a shelter, and then [friends] put us up here." They needed cleaning supplies and diapers for their 16-month-old son, Sidney.
About all Naydeen Chagnard had left were the clothes on her back. Her boyfriend, Eddie, is a fisherman who lives on the water. She's staying with Livingston until they can find another place to live.
The stress of the ordeal had etched deep lines in her face. "FEMA sent us a $2,000 check, but that's all we have," she said.
For the Georges, it's been two weeks of driving, exhausting work and something much more: a chance to make a difference, they say, and to serve God.
Jennifer, a freshman at Christopher Newport University, got friends there to collect almost 300 gallons of water to donate to the cause. She, her father, a contractor, and mom have put their lives on hold for the time being.
It's been worth every mile, they said.
At one stop, Julius said, "One guy who had nothing said, 'Give it to someone else who needs it.' "
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