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Dierdre Price gives a hug and kiss to her son David Price, 7, yesterday morning as he opens his Christmas presents. Price and her extended family moved to the area after evacuating their homes in Slidell, La.
The Marshall, Price and Robinson families gather in Barbara Marshall's home to celebrate Christmas yesterday morning. Marshall and her daughters, along with their children, moved to Spotsylvania after Hurricane Katrina destroyed their homes.
Rasheed Banks, 2, opens Christmas presents with his family yesterday morning in Spotsylvania. The families gave one another presents and also opened some donated gifts, including bicycles. |
By EDIE GROSS
For nearly a half-hour, 11 of Barbara Marshall's grandchildren exhibited astonishing restraint, goofing with one another in her Spotsylvania living room but steering clear of the wall of gifts clearly meant for them.
Then Jessica Robinson, 11, broke the ice.
"I've been having my eyes on this one right here," she said, grabbing a rectangular package and peeling the paper back to reveal a Hello Kitty CD player.
With that, the wrapping was flying and out popped sweaters, video games, purses and bedroom sets. Beneath a crush of boxes and tissue paper, Shaniqua Robinson, 14, giggled.
"I can't breathe," she cried.
Christmas for Marshall's extended family had officially begun.
Four months ago, things didn't seem so bright.
Marshall, 57, two of her daughters and eight of her grandchildren fled their homes in Louisiana only a day before Hurricane Katrina destroyed everything they owned.
A week later, they staggered into daughter Dawn Price's apartment in Fredericksburg with little more than the clothes on their backs.
Since then, generous donors have provided the family with a house, car and everyday items like silverware, towels and sheets.
Most importantly, Marshall said, the community has begun to feel like home.
"We didn't know we'd be in a place where people would be so giving and caring," she said. "That's why we could go on, because of people like that. They didn't forget about us."
Churches, businesses, nonprofit groups, parents at the kids' schools and other individuals have offered assistance, said Marshall.
On Christmas morning, North Stafford resident Kimberly Madison pulled up to the house with a car full of gifts. Through her church, Mount Zion Baptist in Triangle, Madison said she organized fundraisers and encouraged businesses to donate items for the family.
"Like everybody else, I wanted to do something," she said.
Still together as a familyThe family's ordeal started on Aug. 28. With Hurricane Katrina bearing down on Louisiana and a mandatory evacuation in place for New Orleans, they made the decision to get out.
Marshall lived in New Orleans, not far from the levees that would later break, allowing water to gush into the city and submerge her neighborhood.
Daughter Demetrice Robinson, 33, lived in Slidell, La., with her four children: Shundrika Robinson, 14; Rayonna Robinson, 13; Jessica Robinson, 11; and Rasheed Banks, 2.
In the same Slidell apartment complex lived daughter Dierdre Price, 32, with her four children: Shaniqua Robinson, 14; Cierra Robinson, 12; Edward Robinson, 11; and David Price, 7.
All 11--plus Dierdre Price's fiance, Tyrone Johnson--spent five days trekking to Fredericksburg. Once here, they crammed into Dawn Price's three-bedroom apartment with her four children: William Fowler, 10; Leah Watson, 8; Tyreke Price, 5; and Deandre Martin, 3.
After reading about the family in The Free Lance-Star in September, Rhonda and Peter Bromme of Lee's Crossing agreed to let them stay rent-free for a year in a four-bedroom home they own near Four-Mile Fork.
Yesterday's celebration took place there.
Marshall's oldest daughter, Deserine Jordan, 37, had flown in from Washington with her two children, Shanaka, 17, and James II, 13.
Deserine hadn't seen her mother since Hurricane Katrina hit.
"It's been awesome," she said of the visit. "I was so excited."
In addition, Marshall's grandson Clozell Mason, 18, also a Katrina evacuee, joined them for the holidays. He had been living in New Orleans with another grandmother when he was forced to flee the storm.
The family wasn't sure where he was for several weeks but managed to track him down in Annandale via computer.
Marshall said she considers it nothing short of miraculous that the entire family was together for Christmas this year.
"I know this was ordained to be," she said. "God brought us to a different place, but he still joined the family."
Taking it 'step by step'Marshall has not been able to return to her New Orleans neighborhood since the storm struck. But a brother was able to stop by her home when police opened the neighborhood.
He told her nothing was salvageable--and that someone else's home was now sitting on her front lawn.
Demetrice Robinson and Dierdre Price returned briefly to their Slidell apartment complex.
"I thought I would be prepared, but I wasn't prepared," said Robinson.
Baby pictures, bedding, electronics--everything was coated in mud. And all of it was rearranged by the force of wind and water, said Price.
"Just mildew, from ceiling to floor," she said.
The bike her son David had just gotten for his seventh birthday was encased in muck. She was afraid it would make him sick, so she left it behind.
Yesterday, a fleet of brand-new bikes greeted the kids in their Spotsylvania living room, including a tiny Elmo bike for little Rasheed.
The kids squealed as they ripped Christmas paper off new shoes, karaoke machines and jackets.
Not long after the shredding began, Dawn Price arrived with her children, bringing all four of Marshall's daughters and all 15 of her grandchildren under one roof.
"We're real blessed," said Demetrice Robinson. "Family is very important. It's amazing how people come together."
The family is considering making Fredericksburg its permanent home. Robinson starts classes at Germanna Community College on Jan. 9.
"I'm so excited. I'm going into nursing," said Robinson, whose original school plans in New Orleans were delayed by Katrina. "I was like, 'I've got to get back in there.'"
Dierdre Price plans to go back to hairstyling school. And Marshall, who worked for Head Start in New Orleans, hopes to earn a master's degree in early childhood development at the University of Mary Washington.
"We don't know the future, but we're taking it step by step," Marshall said.
Yesterday, the entire family planned to attend Christmas services at Strong Tower Ministries, then return home for a meal that Marshall had been preparing since 4:30 a.m.
The kids, dressed in their Sunday best, snapped pictures of one another. Marshall said she was thankful to see how well everything was turning out.
"The neighbors and all the people have just been so supportive. They've just been coming through for us, making that personal contact," she said. "We see that people care. We see their heart, and that means so much."
To reach EDIE GROSS:
Email: egross@freelancestar.com
