September 7, 2005

Saints and Angels at Work
around the U.S.
Helping those Affected by Katrina
by Jon M. Sweeney

In the middle of the pain and misery of Katrina’s aftermath, we are beginning to hear stories of saints and angels who have been working in the bayous, parishes, rubble, and floodwaters.

Have you heard, for instance, about the Pascagoula, Mississippi, man who saved the lives of two 90-year-olds, a husband and wife, who were trapped by their overturned car in a ditch filled with alligators? Rushing waters carried the car off the road on August 30; the reptiles had escaped from a nearby alligator farm. “The alligators were waiting,” David Nix said. “[The elderly couple] were sitting in the car and not doing anything, in shock and scared. They were just grabbing the steering wheel.” Nix noticed the car off-road and ran to help when he saw the alligators surrounding it.

Then there are the police officers, fire fighters, FEMA officials, and other emergency workers who are sleeping only three hours a night because they are committed to remaining on the streets, and in boats patrolling the streets, of New Orleans.

Other saints and angels at work are people who live hundreds, even thousands, of miles away from the devastated areas. Kathy Hunter, an evacuee from New Orleans now living in a shelter run by the First Baptist Church of Huntsville, Texas, told a reporter that a stranger stopped her on the street in Huntsville and asked her if she was from New Orleans. When she said “yes,” he handed her $20. Huntsville is rapidly becoming known as one of the friendliest havens around for Louisiana refugees.

There are plenty of people, in fact, all around the United States who are opening their homes, hearts, and wallets to help strangers in need. Lisa Rivero of Meridian, Texas, for instance, has opened her home to 17 family members from Louisiana. The Rivero’s three-bedroom bungalow now houses Lisa and her husband, Herbert, their twin children, and 17 distant relatives. In addition, the town of Meridian (pop. 1,500) has reached out to help the Rivero’s extended family. Every day, strangers bring by food and other supplies. The local newspaper quoted Damon Patterson, the principal of the elementary school, saying, “God put these people in our town.” Seven of the Louisiana children have started classes at the local Meridian school. “Now our people are bending over backwards to help.”

In Cumming, Georgia, too, people are taking in refugees. Shannon O’Lear and her husband, Alex McKinney, posted a message on-line saying that they had enough room to take in a family that was displaced by the storm. Leslie and Jaime Mixon from Metairie, Louisiana, got in touch, and now the two couples, as well as each of their four-year-old daughters, are living and playing together.

According to a report in the New York Times on September 6, both the Red Cross and FEMA have been unwilling to endorse these grassroot outbreaks of hospitality, charity, and love for one’s neighbor, for fear of future liability. Guests could turn out to be something other than what they advertise themselves to be. But those who are doing the giving don’t seem to care about the risks involved. For example, another couple living near Atlanta is welcoming a refugee family that includes an elderly woman who struggles with dementia and incontinence.

A Eugene, Oregon, woman recently wrote to ChristianPost.com, an evangelical Christian Web site, saying: “We are an average family and we do not have a lot of money to donate, however, we do have a loving home that could house a small family for the next few months until they could get back on their feet. I would be willing to purchase transportation for the family in need [to get to Eugene].”

According to recent reports, as many as 145,000 evacuees from Louisiana and Mississippi have been invited into people’s homes and shelters since the storm first hit. Saints like the O’Lear-McKinney and Rivero families are numbering in the hundreds of thousands. Go to www.MoveOn.org and www.Craigslist.org to find more of these stories.

Reuters News Service has begun chronicling the good-hearted, as well. On September 6, Reuters reported (and it was picked up by CNN, and others) the story of Dmitri Kachkov, a 35-year-old man who uses a wheelchair due to physical disabilities. He and his family emigrated to America from Russia in 1997. When Katrina hit, they expected to sleep in their van, until they met a stranger at a truck stop. There, Diana Cantello of Gramercy, Louisiana, invited them to stay at her home. “My mother cried at such unexpected hospitality,” Kachkov said. They spent nine days and nights at Cantello’s small home, along with another mother and her two children, who were also fleeing the effects of Katrina.

Nearly every town seems to have stories like these. In Austin, Texas, the local Jewish community center is coordinating relief efforts. They have a “housing hotline” for everything from free towels and showers to counseling and places to sleep. They say: “Call 512-250-1043 and leave a message. Someone will get back to you ASAP!”

In Broomfield, Colorado, people are filling bags with personal items such as toothbrushes, socks, and personal messages of hope and encouragement to distribute to the 400 or more people now housed in shelters nearby.
Restaurants throughout the South are offering free food to travelers from devastated areas. Hotels are reducing rates or eliminating them altogether. Drivers are picking up hitchhikers who never would have considered doing that, before.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints sent fourteen truckloads of supplies including food, bottled water, and tents to Louisiana and Mississippi. Mennonites, Muslims and others have done similar things in recent days.
Some have said that natural disasters such as Katrina may signal that the world as we know it is soon coming to an end. I don’t think so. But it could be a time for millions of new beginnings.

Jon Sweeney is a writer and editor living in Vermont. His latest book is THE LURE OF SAINTS: A PROTESTANT EXPERIENCE OF CATHOLIC TRADITION.
More by Jon Sweeney.

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