Hurricane victims still need our help

From John Stocks:

The holiday season is upon us. Pageants, parties and gift giving.

Regardless of our religious beliefs or practice, the end of the year provides all of us with a short respite from the chaotic pace many of us maintain throughout the year.

October was the last time I reported on the victims of Hurricane Katrina in my family. Recent conversations have revealed that this time of year is particularly hard on them.

My father and his wife returned to New Orleans to start over. Neither of them has returned to full-time work. My father underwent surgery and is recovering slowly. He has not had time to focus on rebuilding his practice. He is 76 and this experience has accelerated his aging. Tiina, his wife, is shouldering the burden of taking care of him during his recovery and their recovery from Katrina.

Henrietta, Debbie Ann, Doris, Steve, Paula, Gerrard, Broderick and Samantha have relocated to the Atlanta area. I visited them recently accompanied by a dear friend and colleague. It was a joyous reunion.

They are all living in a nice home trying to find employment in the Cobb County area. Samantha and Broderick have enrolled in the local high school. They have shelter, some basic furnishings and themselves. Surprisingly they feel blessed despite their circumstances.

My brother Adam, his wife Becky and their two children (Jessica and Courtney) are still living with Adam's mother. They have been working feverishly to repair their flood damaged home. It appears that they won't be able to move back in until after the holidays.

Stacey and her children, Eboni, Brea and Kasey have recently moved back to the New Orleans area. The children are living with their father who has returned to work near the city. Stacey is sharing a small apartment with a colleague until she can find an affordable place that is near her mother, Elouise, and large enough for her and the children.

Courtney and little Vauchan are still in Jackson, Mississippi. They have moved into a small apartment, enrolled Vauchan in school and Courtney is looking for work. They hope to visit Lois (Courtney's mom) over the holidays. They will probably have to take a bus to Thibodeaux. Courtney does not have a car.

Elouise and Lois have moved from Belle Rose, where they were sharing a bedroom in a cousins home, to Thibodeaux, Louisiana where they have rented a small apartment. Like their sisters in Atlanta, the future is uncertain in a new community. Lois is still without work despite being a highly qualified teacher and education administrator in the Orleans Parish School District. Her biggest worry is that her health insurance is going to be terminated in January. She is 59 and very frightened about that prospect.

Some of you have asked me about my connection to the Ewell family. Lucinda (mother of Henrietta, Elouise, Lois and Debbie Ann) was a housekeeper who came to work for our family in 1956, six months before I was born and walked me out the door the day I left home for college. She was my mother, my guardian, my rock of stability. She taught me my manners, my values, my yearning for justice. She taught me about race and class in the Old South. She never let me stray from the path of education. Ignorance was unacceptable.

REQUEST FOR MORE ASSISTANCE

I have hesitated to ask you for more assistance but the enormity of the challenges these families face are beyond what any one person can handle.

Your substantial donations ($40,000) to this relief effort to date have helped to repair, secure and furnish places to live for these families displaced from their homes in New Orleans. We thank you for what you have done already to stabilize their lives. Some have lost everything.

These families still need our help and I want us to brighten their lives during the holidays. So I am asking my friends, colleagues and family, to email me a pledge (and put a check in the mail to 5608 Chestnut Ln, McFarland, Wi 53558) of financial assistance. Thank you.

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Xoff adds:
Want to know more about what's happening in New Orleans? Try People Get Ready blog or NOLA.com, website of the Times-Picayune.