9 - 11 - 2005

> Anniversary and aftermath:

Hurricane Katrina has pummeled the Gulf Coast, reaping a scale of physical destruction unsurpassed in recent American history and... drawing an outpouring of emotion and generosity comparable to that in the days after 9/11.

> East Oakland:

Three generations of a New Orleans family uprooted by Hurricane Katrina landed Friday at Oakland International Airport and settled into new homes in East Oakland, becoming one of the largest evacuee kin groups to reach the Bay Area since last week's catastrophic storm.

It was the first time the seven children and four adults had traveled outside Louisiana, and their first trip on an airplane. After foraging for food, sleeping on a bridge and driving for hours to escape the devastated Big Easy, they flashed smiles and shed tears of joy when they landed.

... [Their] relocation was made possible by the Oakland Rotary Club and the American Red Cross.
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"It's just an outpouring of love you can't describe," [Rotarian Flora] Krasnovsky said of those who volunteered to help the family, including a social worker, accountant, nurse and hairdresser.

> Arkansas:

Escaping the confusion of Hurricane Katrina, Gulf Coast refugees found a surprise in Arkansas. The poor southern state, often beset by its own natural disasters, had beds, meals and an emergency plan that helped it absorb a 2.5 percent jump in its population.

"They treat us absolutely fantastic," said Leon Johnson of New Orleans, staying at a camp in Little Rock. "They got a group of people and they opened their arms out and make us as welcome as possible. They're taking care of our needs."

Arkansas took in more than 60,000 refugees after Katrina arrived - only Texas took in more. Gov. Mike Huckabee is out preaching the Golden Rule and reminding Arkansans of help they receive after the almost-annual ice storms and tornadoes.

> Harris County, Texas:

About 10,000 displaced victims of Hurricane Katrina were enrolled in Harris County public and private schools last week. About 2,743 of them, some from low-income families still living in the Reliant complex or the George R. Brown Convention Center, are now on Houston Independent School District roll sheets.

"This is, I think, the absolute largest and most rapid relocation of kids into other school districts that we've seen in this country," said Dr. Robert Blum, chair of the Department of Population and Family Health Sciences at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore.

In the past two weeks, the Houston Independent School District has ordered more textbooks, reopened campuses and hired about 180 additional teachers. It has added bus routes, held registration days and ordered more federal meals.

Schools across Harris County have had to make sure their newest students have clothes and supplies. They've had to borrow nurses, counselors, social workers and other medical experts from less-impacted schools.

Making sure these shell-shocked students are comfortable in their new environment is of primary concern, Blum said.

> Louisiana:

Rising enrollment in area schools is part of a movement that experts say is unsurpassed in the country's education history since the Civil War. Enrollment in Louisiana school systems as well as those in neighboring states is shaping to be the biggest student resettlement in the nation's history.

Area principals said schools are welcoming displaced students by providing more classrooms, teachers and textbooks for them. The total student displacement in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina is expected to be more than 200,000, including about 125,000 children from New Orleans.

Louisiana Department of Education officials are urging all state school districts to register students as quickly as they can. They're also asking districts to hire all teachers and support staff who seek shelter in their areas.

> Kansas:

One day after urging Kansans to be prepared for an emergency, Governor Kathleen Sebelius says the state is prepared for up to 500 evacuees from Hurricane Katrina that are due to arrive on Monday, September 12.

"Since the unprecedented flooding and devastation in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama began, Kansans across our state have answered the nationwide call for compassion. We have provided clothes, food, and places to stay for our neighbors in the Gulf Coast states and will continue to provide them with necessities and services," Governor Sebelius said.

> US Air Force:

"I have U.S. Air Force on my uniform, he has U.S. Air Force on his. That's enough for me," said Col. Scott Walker about why he had no worries about inviting an airman and his family displaced by Hurricane Katrina to stay with him.

The colonel was talking about the base's "Adopt-a-Family" program, where families here have opened their homes to servicemembers affected by Hurricane Katrina.

> NASA:

NASA has opened a Relocation Assistance Center at Marshall Space Flight Center to support NASA employees and contractors evacuated or relocating to the Huntsville area from Stennis Space Center and Lockheed's Michoud Assembly Facility.

NASA expects dozens of workers at Stennis Space Center near Gulfport, Miss., and Michoud near New Orleans - both hit hard by Katrina - to temporarily move with their families to the Huntsville area, according to a news release.

The support center, in Marshall Building 4200, Room G-13, can help evacuees and their families resolve financial concerns, find temporary or long-term housing, arrange physician appointments, seek crisis counseling and child care services, and obtain transportation. The center will also help Stennis and Michoud employees obtain office space, security badges and vehicle decals.

> Flagstaff, Arizona:

Flagstaff and northern Arizona residents are responding with an outpouring money and human resource support for Hurricane Katrina relief efforts.

City of Flagstaff employees have initiated an internal fundraising and phone card donation campaign with all proceeds going to the American Red Cross relief efforts.

Ninety percent of all financial donations will go to the International American Red Cross for its efforts in the disaster area, while 10 percent will stay with the local Red Cross in Flagstaff, according to a press release from the city.

In addition, city employees are sponsoring a non-perishable food drive to replenish the Northern Arizona Food Banks supplies, the majority of which have been sent to areas affected by the hurricane.

> Camp Katrina, Waveland, Mississippi:

When Beau Kring pulled into the Kmart parking lot in this devastated town two days after Hurricane Katrina had flooded his family's home, it was because it seemed inviting. It was because it was flat and dry.

There was already another extended family camping there - a couple with three children, their parents, a brother and his family. Eleven more people. Three more destroyed homes.

A member of the Mississippi National Guard, Kring put up an American flag almost out of habit. He took a discarded piece of plywood and spray-painted a name that could be seen from the highway: Camp Katrina.

That was enough to start it all: a symbol of resilience and a sense of place.

"In the Army, that's what you do. You go someplace, you hoist a flag," said Kring, whose home is awash in mud.

The parking lot is within a mile of the Mississippi coast hardest hit by the hurricane, facing U.S. 90 and along a section of devastated communities that include Waveland, Bay Saint Louis and Clermont Harbor.

Shelters are bursting. People are doing whatever they can, including creating a place to start over in a parking lot full of shattered glass and abandoned cars.

Cutting across class and race, the camp's residents all have something in common - they've lost everything. Whatever shape the rest of their lives will take, it will start now.

> From Camp Katrina, Waveland, to Alabama:

The benefactor, who has not been identified, "pulled up to our tent, he knew our names," [Vicky] Strong said. "He said the kids needed a better place." The family will move into a new home and [Robert] Peterson [Strong's boyfriend] will have a construction job.

Strong plans to get a job in a school or continue as a waitress, but with a renewed purpose: "I'm going to be proud to be a resident there."

> Mendon, Massachusetts adopts Waveland:

A dozen townspeople began developing ambitious plans last night to "adopt" the residents of Waveland, Miss., a small community largely destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.

Selectmen called last night's meeting to begin planning aid for the southern town, which is about Mendon's size and 35 miles east of New Orleans.

By the meeting's end, residents and officials formed the Waveland Hurricane Relief Committee to coordinate donations, collection drives and road trips to bring goods directly to the town.

"We need to remain focused on the end result, which is a hand reaching across the country to help some other folks," selectmen Chairman Kenneth O'Brien said.

> Indiana:

Northwest Indiana is already serving as home for 100 families evacuated from the area ravaged by Hurricane Katrina, but as many as 1,000 additional families are expected to arrive in the coming days.
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To help those arriving at an ever escalating rate, an organization dubbed Northwest Indiana Coordinated Response Effort has formed. Composed of Lake and Porter counties' United Way chapters, sheriff's departments, the American Red Cross, the Salvation Army, township trustees and other aid groups, the organization will raise funds to supply food, shelter and meet other needs of those arriving.
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"We are finding ourselves in the middle of a response effort and this community has been asked to help. It is something we must do... We're not talking about two or three weeks to get ready. We must be prepared now. We will have to meet social, medical, education, employment and a host of needs," [spokesman Lou] Martinez said.

> New York and America:

Several groups advocate making Sept. 11 a national day devoted to volunteerism, and such movements have begun to gain traction. One group, One Day's Pay, lists its mission as "working to establish Sept. 11 as a national day of voluntary service, charity and compassion." The group says thousands of Americans have committed to doing public service on Sunday, and its Web site recently was transformed into a forum directing people to various Hurricane Katrina volunteer opportunities.

Also, several dozen New Yorkers - many of them firefighters who survived Sept. 11 - gathered Friday morning at a firehouse on the Upper West Side. Part of a group called New York Says Thank You, they were about to depart for Illinois where they would spend the Sept. 11 anniversary weekend helping rebuild the small community of Utica, which was hit by a tornado in April 2004. Much of the town was leveled, and eight people were killed.

The group, which aims to help communities that sent aid to New York in the days after Sept. 11, already has vowed to spend next year's anniversary helping rebuild New Orleans and surrounding towns.

It is poignant that the Sept. 11 anniversary coincides with the myriad acts of generosity that have surrounded the tragedy of Katrina. U.S. charities by Tuesday afternoon had raised more than twice the $239 million donated in the 10 days after the terrorist attacks.