Red Cross Band

[TF Admin]

Added the Red Cross Hurricane Katrina Band to site. Clicking the band will take you to the Red Cross Hurricane Katrina Relief Web Page.

TFADMIN

[TF Admin]

The band only shows in the upper right corner of the main page.

[wittzo]

I wonder if we sent the RC more money, they would stop selling coffee to emergency personnel at disaster sites. They might even leave their offices and do something!

Ask Magnolia what the Red Cross did while she was down in Pascagoula, then you'll understand.

Farm Bureau and Allstate kicked butt though. Their flood insurance agents were cutting the flood checks before the ink on the house insurance checks dried.

[granny2young]

I hate Magnolia had a bad experience with Red Cross. However my story is quite different. When we evacuated up here from the coast we expected to have a home to go home to. We expected to have food and clothes. I expected to have my medicine in the cabinet where it had sat for months, but the wrath of Katrina took that away in one memorial night. It was about 4 days or so before I knew for sure if we had anything left. The police wouldn't tell me, FEMA had not gotten into our area yet and guess who finally found out for me that I had lost everything....Red Cross.

A neighbor that lived in the apt. complex four doors down from us stayed through the hurricane. I was worried about her because she had a 17 month old baby. I drove six hours as soon as the roads were clear and didn't even stop at what was left of my apt, I ran straight to the area where her apt used to be. I found her in a makeshift camp in the parking lot with a few other neighbors who had stayed and she told me she spent the entire night in water to her chest holding her baby over her head out of the water and Red Cross got her out the next morning. They had made them a grill out of stones that had fallen from the caved in apts and had food everywhere. They had water, ice, ice chest full of food, etc. I didn't have to ask where the food came from cause the Red Cross truck came by and unloaded supplies while we were there, and once again begged them to go with them to the shelter.

I needed medicine and clothes, and my blood pressure was up. I called Red Cross and they had me seen by a dr. that day. I had my meds refilled (free of charge) and they had a nurse to take my blood pressure every day for about a week until it came under better control. They gave me boxes and boxes and clothes and fed us for about 3 weeks, 3 meals a day. They gave us an assistance card with more than enough money to keep us going for a while, and also helped us get in touch with the proper agencies to get further help. I still use the Red Cross disaster card now, as we are still trying to recover.

I also checked with Salvation Army for assistance. That was the joke. You may have had a bad experience with Red Cross, but I can never say a bad word about them. I have encourged everyone to donate because they ARE giving to the people.

[granny2young]

Pascagoula is about 7 miles from where I lived. I went to church in Pascagoula, and I know for a fact Red Cross was working that area hard. They delivered ice and MRE's every day and provided money, clothing, and shelter to victims of the hurricane, and they were among the first to get to our area, even before our local police.

[TF Admin]

G2Y... the main thing is that you are alright. That is such a powerful story. I don't know what I would do if I were in your situation, but fighting on, and keeping your head high is always a good idea.

TFADMIN

[granny2young]

That is true, we are safe. So many were not as fortunate as we are. We had family here we could come home, but they didn't and are forced to live outside in the parking lot of a crumbled apt. bdg (they could have went to the Red Cross shelter but chose not to because they had to be there to meet FEMA.)

Speaking of FEMA, I know that people have dogged them to no end, but I can't say enough good about them either. We have received money and resources from them almost immediately. They have provided us with a travel trailer to live in that is going to be delivered to us here in N. MS in about 10 days.

We could be so much worse off. We have food, we have clothes, and now we have our own place to live; thanks to the people of MS who have donated and made it possible; the only thing we don't have is my hubby a job. As you read this continue to donate and help someone that is going through the devistation of losing everything they own. You will be blessed for it, maybe not in this lifetime, but you will be remembered for your good deeds.

[wittzo]

Magnolia went down to Pascagoula two weeks after Katrina hit to check on her cousin whom she hadn't heard from.
Her cousin had ridden out the storm with her neighbors. They had moved all their cars to high ground in case it flooded. She ended up with a five foot high water mark in the first floor of her house. She owned a duplex next door that had its garages on the bottom floor and apartments up top. She was able to move into one of her apartments while she was cleaning out her house. Luckily, the house is structurally sound, she just lost all her sheet rock and millwork and family heirlooms on the bottom floor..

By the time Magnolia got there, her cousin hadn't had a proper bath in two weeks. Magnolia took her to get her hair done and took her to Walmart. She hadn't been able to get her car out.

Magnolia said the Salvation Army was helping out a lot, feeding and clothing people. Her cousin said she hadn't seen anyone from the Red Cross in the two weeks before Magnolia went down. The Red Cross volunteers were overwhelmed, they didn't leave the offices they set up in the church. A FEMA van was driving around assessing the damage, but they started getting things done.

Farm Bureau cut checks in no time. FEMA got her a trailer to live in while she restores the ground floor of her house and FEMA is paying the rent for a couple they placed in her apartment.

Everybody knew the storm was coming, they just weren't expecting it's viciousness..

[granny2young]

wittzo said:

Everybody knew the storm was coming, they just weren't expecting it's viciousness..

That is so true. We almost did not come home because it was supposed to hit New Orleans over an hour away and not hit us. My mother called that Sunday morning begging and pleading for us to come home, and at her instance (and threats to drive down and get us) we came in late Sunday afternoon and it hit Sunday night.

We lived in a townhouse. The entire downstairs was washed out. The sheetrock walls melted and buckled like an acid had been poured on them. The bottom four or five steps were crumbled and parts of the walls were gone. We had a sliding glass door in the living room and there was a car sitting up against the back living room wall that had floated in. The refrigerator was picked up and turned upside down in the hallway! That was amazing considering the fridge didn't call face down like one would think, it was laying with the door opening upwards and turned completely around.

We could not enter our apt. until FEMA arrived and cleared it for us to go inside. He allowed me to take the pictures off the wall that were 5 feet or above. Anything that the water had touched already had a black fuzzy mold growing on it and we couldn't touch it. We were not allowed access to the upstairs because of the unstable stairs. I tried to open a kitchen cabinet and the door fell off in my hand. About this time I heard gunshots in the distance and we were quickly escorted back to the main road where armed national guard were standing and pointed us out of town.

While we were there we did not get to go to our church in Pascagoula or in town, but we talked to our preacher and some of the church family, who reported that Red Cross had made a shelter in our church for people of Pascagoula and hundreds were already there. The preacher told us that there was food and water there if we wanted to come there, but of course we were not staying.

The church is one of the biggest churches in Pascagoula (Church on the Rock on Chicot St) so Red Cross was set up there within a day or so after the hurricane. Also, in Gautier, where our apt was, I walked a little girl to the Red Cross truck and got as much water, juice and MREs that I could carry for my neighbors who were living in the parking lot, so I know Red Cross was there early.

I am not sure why Magnolia's cousin did not receive help from them because they were there close to her, although you have to remember to that Pascagoula was hit very hard and was not prepared for such a devistating hit. IT WAS SUPPOSED TO HIT NEW ORLEANS!

[granny2young]

back to the FEMA trailer, has Magnolia seen it? I am wandering how big it is, how many it sleeps and how comfortable I am going to be living in one. I don't mean that to sound as I am ungrateful, because I am not. I am so thankful to be getting it. Right now we are living in an old storage house behind my parents house, so anything will be a welcome change.

The small town city ordinance says that no trailers can be placed in the city limits, so I am hoping we don't catch any flack from them. FEMA said that was not an issue, but I am afraid it could be. I haven't been to city hall and told them it is coming yet. I was just going to wait till it got here next week and see if they say anything.

[granny2young]

WOAH, hold on, I am on my soap box now and wanted to make one other comment....about Salvation Army.

I called some of my friends in Gautier and Pascagoula to see if Salvation Army had helped them, and I couldn't find one person that had received any help from them, other than used clothing.

I went to Salvation Army here to see about getting some clothes, towels, pots and pans, etc., but I didn't get any assistance from them. They said they didn't have anything. After Bancorp South closed the Red Cross feeding center some asked about Salvation Army doing meals, and we were told they were, but they were $3 a meal. I kind of got disgusted with SA because I couldn't get any help from them.

My oldest daughter also lived on the coast and lost everything she had too and has received no help from anyone except FEMA and Red Cross, so I wander what came of all the donations right here in Tupelo that were given to the SA? They certainly weren't given to the people.