The success of the Hurricane Recovery Office operated by Catholic Charities of Arkansas can be attributed to the hard-working, close-knit staff and volunteers, employees said recently.
The office opened in September 2005 following Hurricanes Katrina that hit the Gulf Coast and Rita that hit Texas and Louisiana. The office initially expected to be open through October 2007 but with additional funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency the closing date was extended to March 31, 2008.
On April 1, the seven-person staff, including director Sister Joan Pytlik, DC, secretary Becky Ballard, a case management coordinator and four regional case managers, will move on to other jobs within the Catholic Church or in social work. In one of their final meetings in early March, they said they will take with them good memories.
“I love the people I work with,” Central Arkansas case manager Linda Sherman said. ìWorking for Hurricane Recovery, I have worked with the nicest people in my entire life.”
Each praised the parish team volunteers, some of whom have continued to assist evacuees two and a half years later.
“Our communities, regardless of denomination, came out to help these folks and to make them welcome in their communities and adjust to a new culture and a different social service network,” northeast Arkansas case manager Brigid Ryan said.
Southwest Arkansas case manager Stanley Barnes said he was able to form a friendship with many of the volunteers. Conversations “weren’t just about the cases all the time,” he said.
Stacie Hartsfield, northwest Arkansas case manager, said she was happy to see the dedication of parishioners in the retirement communities.
“They really stepped up,” she said.
Sister Joan said national feedback proves that the 199 trained volunteers from 45 parishes were outstanding. At the peak of the hurricane recovery process, there were 135 Katrina Aid Today programs around the country. Each program was encouraged to use volunteers to reach more evacuees.
“Our Catholic Charities of Arkansas program had over 70 percent of all those volunteers for the country,” Sister Joan said.
The staff was happy with their outreach to 1,200 families from Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas, but wished more could have been done to create long-term change for those who have decided to resettle permanently in Arkansas.
Staff and volunteers from at least 18 parishes continued to the end to support evacuees. They were even helping new clients who moved to the state recently or never sought assistance until two years after the storm.
The case managers said many of their former clients are still “confused” and “unsettled” today. Most evacuees from New Orleans grew up in an urban area, but following the hurricane they were transplanted to rural areas of Arkansas where there were few apartments and jobs and no public transportation.
Many of the adults want to return to New Orleans but don’t know when housing and jobs will be available, case managers said. The staff would pay for a bus ticket or rental truck to relocate someone to the Gulf Coast if they could show proof of new housing and a job.
The case managers estimated they relocated about 10 percent of their clients back to the Gulf Coast. Of the remaining 90 percent, about half would like to return to New Orleans or Mississippi but cannot at this time, they said.
Children of the clients, however, have grown to like Arkansas.
“What I like is there are quite a few families with teenage children who are not going back to New Orleans. The kids want to stay here,” Sherman said.
Jamie Deere, case management coordinator, started when the office opened in 2005. She worked with many clients who never could or would make a plan for finding full-time, stable employment, transportation or housing.
“I think you spend 90 percent of your time dealing with the 10 percent that don’t plan to move forward or are unable to move forward,” Deere said. “The people we have left at this point are incapable or unwilling to take the steps that are needed to move forward in their recovery. They are living exactly the way they were living before.”
Sister Joan admits the staff has suffered from “compassion fatigue” for months because there were so many people to help and many clients who were interested only in getting financial assistance.
“It’s extremely draining,” Deere said. “There is never an end to the need.”
With the closing of the office March 31, Deere is concerned about the state government’s ability to assist these people. About 800 families still receive housing assistance from FEMA, but that money will be phased out.
“We have a very limited system to provide for low-income people,” Deere said.
A few success stories have emerged. Deere said she is proud of a Conway couple, their two adult daughters and nine grandchildren. In Bay St. Louis, Miss., the family lived in one home. Now they have set up three households. The mother earned her master’s degree and now has an “excellent” job. Through the American Red Cross, the Hurricane Recovery Office was able to get them two cars.
Sherman brags about a single man living in Little Rock who was awarded a house built by Habitat for Humanity and is now dedicating his career to helping other evacuees.
“He has made himself a really important part of the community,” she said. “I don’t know what we would do without him.”
The office operated through a grant from FEMA and a couple of other private grants. The bulk of their resources came from the initial weekend collection of $750,000 during Masses following the hurricane. The staff spent the money mainly for bus tickets, housing rent, medical bills, prescriptions and utilities.
“This state came out overwhelmingly with the financial assistance which I found absolutely incredible,” Ryan said. “We would not have been able to assist these people to make the adjustments here or get them back home without the money that came from our parishes.”
The staff has some hesitancy about closing next week. Some of the clients have relied on them to ease their stress and listen to their troubles when no one else could understand.
“I’m afraid we are going to see acting out — and I am afraid with some of my older clients who are disabled we are going to see some suicides,” Sherman said.
Other staff members are ready to move on for the benefit of the evacuees and themselves.
“It’s a good thing it’s coming to an end,” Deere said. “At some level they need to have some closure. As long as we are still around, I don’t think many of them are going to get that closure.”
