Giving evacuees a helping and welcoming hand
After getting aid from local groups, storm victims will be welcomed at a dinner tonight.
BY ANGELA FOREST
247-7863
October 17, 2005
NEWPORT NEWS -- Five-year-old Auston Moser has struggled to make sense of why his family had to leave their home in Belle Chasse, La. for Alabama, then South Carolina and now Newport News.
"He still questions a lot as to when we get to go home and when he gets to see his friends," said his mother, Erin Moser, staying in her mother's home with Auston and her other son, Connor, 2.
Lanera Cossé's two daughters, Laryn, 11, and Logan, 3, are equally perplexed. They've spent almost five weeks in a Days Inn off Warwick Boulevard. A cousin who lives in Newport News brought them to the city after brief stays in Florida and North Carolina.
"The kids, they really don't understand," Cossé said. When she explains why the family can't return to their apartment complex in East New Orleans, Logan asks, "Mama, is our house broken?"
The explanation, of course, is Hurricane Katrina, the devastating storm that made landfall on the north-central Gulf Coast on the morning of Aug. 29.
While dealing with the frustrations of waiting for federal government assistance or information necessary to move on with their lives, these parents see a bright spot in the stability their children have felt attending Newport News Public Schools.
Division and school educators have given these families school supplies, made counseling available and, in the case of Cossé's daughter, tested her so she can receive special education services.
"The support I've gotten from the school system has been great," Cossé said. "Everybody's really trying to help accommodate us the best they can."
Newport News is formally opening its arms to these families today with a welcome dinner and informational fair to put them in contact with employment, housing, transportation and other resources.
The event will take place at 6:30 p.m. at the Omni Hotel, which is footing the $8,000 cost of the dinner. Other sponsors include Old Point National Bank, the Riverside Health Systems Foundation, Mary Immaculate Hospital and the Peninsula chapter of 100 Black Men of America.
According to Superintendent Marcus Newsome, the school system is helping 60 Gulf Coast students.
"We know that this type of trauma is not overcome in a day or even a week," he said.
The school division is among numerous Newport News government bodies, nonprofit organizations and private companies that have collected donations and reached out to those affected by Katrina.
At least 200 such families are living in the city, and there may be many more who are supporting themselves or receiving help from family members, said Steve Hawks, acting director of the Department of Human Services.
"So far we have taken 98 applications from folks who've identified themselves as Katrina evacuees," Hawks said. The number includes 123 adults and 69 children. These residents have applied for federal aid for families, food stamps, Medicaid or a combination of all three, he said. Just more than 1,000 Gulf Coast evacuees have registered with the Red Cross. Most are living in Newport News and Hampton.
Local businesses, such as the Omni Hotel and Point Plaza Suites and Conference Hotel, have played an important role in giving evacuees temporary shelter.
Since Katrina hit, Point Plaza has housed about 35 people from the Gulf Coast, though about six evacuees now stay there, said regional manager Kimberly Christner. The hotel gets calls every day from the Red Cross and other organizations about housing those displaced by the hurricane who continue to arrive in the city, she said. The Red Cross reimburses hotels for putting up displaced residents.
"They're still moving around trying to find a place to call home," Christner said.
Because of $20,000 in pledges generated for the dinner, "we are not really using a cent of taxpayer money," said Pat Finneran, Newport News schools director of community relations. "The community has really come forth."
That money is on top of fundraising started by the city and the school division after the hurricane. The city donated $50,000 to cleanup and resident assistance. Through the efforts of several schools, the division raised more than $30,000 during a month-long campaign.
"It's the community coming together to solve challenges," said Steve Terveer, acting president of the Peninsula branch of the Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster. "It is unprecedented."
For more information on the dinner, call Pat Finneran at 591-4936.