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Evacuees learning what 'united' really means

Families that fled Katrina find that relatives, landlords, stores, companies, a doctor and United Way care about them.

By BETH N. GRAY
Published September 27, 2005

Imagine taking seven or even nine people into your home.

Some local families are doing just that, says Valerie Hunt, executive director of United Way of Hernando County, which is coordinating services for evacuees from Hurricane Katrina.

About 30 families from Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama are living here, and Hunt expects more.

Among the evacuees are a nine-member and a seven-member extended family, taken in by local relatives. The hosts in both cases aren't wealthy people.

Because of confidentiality, Hunt does not divulge names, but she can tell their stories.

The nine-member family, stretching across three generations, includes an elderly grandmother with a feeding tube. They drove for eight days in a van. Their new home has no phone.

The seven-member family, some speaking only Spanish, has crowded into a two-bedroom house. The host works a minimum-wage job in Tampa. Her daughter is on unemployment. They couldn't afford to have their overloaded septic tank pumped.

Hunt and United Way volunteers have worked the phones and found a generous outpouring of goodwill.

The woman with the feeding tube has been placed in a hospice. A local physician is providing free medical care to her - and to all hurricane evacuees who have landed in Hernando. The doctor signed up a pharmacy to supply free prescription medications for 30 days.

AAA Whites Septic Tank Service pumped the two-bedroom home's septic tank without the customary $80 charge.

Owners of rental properties have donated their accommodations.

"We're fortunate enough to get rentals that they've offered," Hunt said. "We've not placed anybody into someone else's home" who is not a relative.

"We're trying to match needs."

For instance, one donation was for a one-bedroom home, suitable for a single person or couple. Another was in a 55-and-older community.

A three-person Louisiana family has moved into a three-bedroom, two-bath mobile home in a Brooksville park for three months rent free. United Way bought home furnishings and clothing for the three from local thrift shops.

The son has already earned his first A at Hernando High School. His father, an auto mechanic, went on a job interview Wednesday that was facilitated by United Way.

Withlacoochee River Electric Cooperative has waived initial deposits for new customers displaced by Katrina.

Access Hernando has waived residency requirements for evacuees to obtain medical care.

Target has provided $100 gift certificates for clothing for evacuee families.

United Way has dipped into a $10,000 emergency fund to give out $100 grocery shopping certificates at Publix.

And the United Way has given out "hundreds of pounds of food, more than a truckload," that was donated in the first week of the relief effort, Hunt said.

Volunteer Judy Verzulli, who handed out the food, said she got lots of hugs in return, "as if it was from me."

There were a lot of "we'll make it's," she said, and a lot of tears on both sides.

Because United Way has limited storage space and evacuees would like to make their own clothing and grocery choices, Hunt is encouraging donors to give gift certificates.

Some requests from the displaced have been simple. Hunt recalled a 77-year-old woman who didn't want to move in with her offspring here after living in subsidized housing in New Orleans for 35 years. Because airlines limited luggage for evacuees, "she arrived with the clothes on her back and a medicine bag," Hunt said.

When Hunt asked what she could do for her, the woman had one request: a shirt.

--Beth Gray may be contacted at graybethn@earthlink.net

[Last modified September 27, 2005, 02:45:31]