Alexandria, VA - In the year since Hurricanes Katrina and Rita devastated the Gulf Coast, more than one million hurricane victims have received assistance by the Catholic Charities network. As hundreds of thousands of evacuees were forced to evacuate and were unable to return home for months on end, more than 110 Catholic Charities in the Gulf Coast and well beyond have reached out to help and comfort those in desperate need. These recovery efforts are detailed in a new report, Blessings after the Storms: Catholic Charities 2005 Hurricane Ministry, from Catholic Charities USA.
For Catholic Charities, whose niche in disaster response is long-term recovery, much of this work continues today and will for years to come, as attention now turns to the ongoing needs of the evacuees.
"We must not give in to the temptation to think that our response has been adequate. For all the hundreds of thousands who have been helped, there are thousands still in desperate need. Our work is not done. We must continue to stand with them until life and opportunity is once again restored to the neighborhoods and communities of the Gulf Coast," said Rev. Larry Snyder, president of Catholic Charities USA
Since September, Catholic Charities have provided evacuees with emergency assistance, crisis counseling, case management, transportation, temporary housing and employment services, as well as assistance in applying for government aid. Among other things, agencies opened shelters, established temporary housing in diocesan and state facilities, moved elders into available senior housing, paid rental deposits and rents, organized "Adopt-a-Family" programs, held furniture drives, and raised money.
A sampling of services provided by the Catholic Charities network shows that:
- More than 51 million pounds of food has been distributed;
- More than 72,000 people have received case management assistance-a holistic array of services and supports aimed at moving evacuees toward recovery and self sufficiency;
- Nearly 500,000 people have received referrals;
- Nearly 250,000 people have received direct financial assistance such as gift cards or cash or help with mortgage or rent payments and home repair.
Catholic Charities Addresses Ongoing Needs
As the nation marks the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina this week, Catholic Charities case managers are working with families to find jobs, long-term housing, and other services, and also to help people deal with the emotional trauma.
Essential to the recovery effort is the ongoing support provided by Catholic Charities case managers who help individuals and families move toward self-sufficiency and recovery," said Father Larry Snyder, president of Catholic Charities USA. "Case managers listen to the victims and help them assess their needs and navigate very confusing systems and agencies. They also connect survivors with the services and supports they need, as well as assisting them to make individual action plans," said Father Snyder.
Housing - In New Orleans, where 200,000 homes were severely damaged or destroyed, housing remains the top priority. "Catholic Charities spends a tremendous amount of time, energy, and money trying to deal with the mental health of our friends and family, but our friends cannot truly heal until they have a home and a place," Jim Kelly, CEO of Catholic Charities Archdiocese of New Orleans (CCANO). "How can they begin to design a recovery plan when they're paying a mortgage and paying rent in an apartment; when their children have been in three, four, five different schools since September?"
To address this housing crisis, CCANO and its Catholic partner organizations formed Providence Community Housing. Over the next five years, the organization plans to restore, rebuild and/or develop 7,000 units of housing-both single-family homes and apartments. This week, Providence and Enterprise were selected by HUD and the Housing Authority of New Orleans to help plan a new community on and around the site of the Lafitte public housing development, a 27.5 acre parcel in city's historic Treme/Lafitte neighborhood.
Mental Health - Another area of concern for Catholic Charities is helping victims cope with the trauma they have lived through and the difficulties they are facing as they try to rebuild their lives. Agencies in the Gulf Coast and nationwide, have noted an upswing in depression.
According to Dr. Elmore Rigameur, medical director of Catholic Charities of New Orleans, some are so overwhelmed by depression that it is hard for them to organize - something that is crippling in post-flood New Orleans where the bureaucracy of rebuilding is thick and tangled. But emotional responses to the trauma are to be expected. "They're appropriate to the situation; they're not illnesses," Dr. Rigameur said. Once the stress is removed, people are likely to recover their normal dispositions or they will respond to counseling they receive, he added.
In Baton Rouge, Catholic Community Services designed crisis relief and community building programs to provide mental health and PTSD counseling and social/recreational activities in the FEMA trailer parks. Catholic Charities of New Orleans has created several programs to address people's mental health needs, including Louisiana Spirit-an outreach and crisis counseling program funded through FEMA and administered through the state that attempts to offset the effects of the trauma for as many people as possible.
More examples of the recovery work of Catholic Charities nationwide, including the one-year anniversary report, are available online at http://www.catholiccharitiesusa.org/HurricaneRecovery05.
Shelley Borysiewicz
Manager of Media Relations
Catholic Charities USA
703/236-6218 (new number)
703/549-1656 (fax)
sborysiewicz@catholiccharitiesusa.org
www.catholiccharitiesusa.org