Vincentians gather, work, and pray in New Orleans

NEW ORLEANS, La. — The Vincentian Family gathered in solidarity in New Orleans to lend a heart and a helping hand April 10-13.

The theme for the gathering was "Solidarity in Action." Members of the Ladies of Charity, Congregation of the Mission, Daughters of Charity, Sisters of Charity, Society of Saint Vincent de Paul, Trinitarians, Vincentian Young Adults, Vincentian Service Corps, and affiliates, brought their hearts to love and their hands to serve.

We listened to stories that happened in 2005, but with some of the devastation still clinging to the city, it was as though it happened yesterday. We prayed for those who did not survive, for those who did to regain their quality of life, and for a better future for New Orleans. When we left, we understood the situation of New Orleans much better after having toured the 9th Ward where the 17th Street Canal levee broke causing most of the devastation. We learned the people want to rebuild, so we painted, we gardened, we did carpentry work, we swept, we hammered, we laughed, we cried, and we hugged.

Our goals were to listen to the stories of hope and despair of New Orleans, experience collaboration in renewing New Orleans, and to discern our future commitment to be a voice with the voiceless in bringing about systemic change.

There were 200 who gathered. We stayed in a hotel in the French Quarter where there was only minor flooding. So there the spirit of the city is back to normal almost three years later.

We toured the city riding in five busses to the 9th Ward. Each bus had its own police escort equipped with sirens. As you leave the French Quarter and travel toward the 9th Ward, you see houses marked with an X stating it was searched, how many were found dead, if the gas was off, if dogs were found, and who had searched the home, which left you with a sick feeling. It was depressing to see a home where an owner had returned to rebuild his home in an area where no one else or very few had returned. How must that feel to live in such an area?

The bus ride took us to the Catholic Charities Shirley Landry Benson PACE Center at St. Cecilia’s in the upper 9th Ward. St. Cecilia’s was a Catholic Church now converted into a holistic care center for the elderly. They receive dietary care, physical therapy, podiatry services, transportation, recreation, physical examinations, and much more.

The Gentilly area was heavily damaged after Katrina because of the breach at the London Avenue Canal. Pontchartrain Park sat under water that was above the roof line of many homes. The neighborhood is fighting back with the help of civic organizations. In that area we visited the St. Vincent de Paul thrift store, pharmacy, and adult learning center. The pharmacy is run by two volunteer intake screeners and two volunteer pharmacists, which had eight before Katrina. People are lined up much before the pharmacy opens. All of the prescriptions are filled for free and the medications are donated. Clients must show picture ID, a copy of their paycheck, a bank statement showing regular deposits, an award letter from the Social Security Office, and W2 forms or current income tax returns. They must have an original prescription from a doctor, and verification of client or household expenses.

The adult learning center is to strengthen people with basic educational skills, prepare them for the GED test, get them ready for employment, and deepen their faith, hope, and love, and all classes are free.

We also visited St. Joseph Catholic Church Rebuild Center. There are 12,000 homeless in the New Orleans area. The 800 bed shelter was reduced to 200 beds after Katrina. The day center has been built with showers, toilets, a hot meal, a place where homeless people can receive mail, a place where they can spend the day, read a book, and make telephone calls. The center also has a mobile medical unit. The ambiance of a mural of Noah and the Flood, the Parting of the Red Sea, Peter being saved, and the baptism of Jesus offers peace and compassion because these people sleep in pup tents under the freeway overpass called Tent City at night. The working poor’s average income is $700 per month.

Housing is just one aspect of New Orleans that is trying to recover. A small home with one or two bedrooms that was $300 a month before Katrina is now $1,200 a month. Some employees from Catholic Community Services were helping people with their housing problems, while they, too, had lost everything. They are just now being able to recover their losses, and are just now feeling the effects.

The service projects the Vincentian family participated in included planting flowers, visiting residents in a nursing home, working in a garden at a health care center, working in a neighborhood boarding up a house that was devastated by Katrina, and helping to rebuild a playground in Chalmette destroyed by the breach in the 17th Street Canal levee. In the park we laid layers of mulch and uprooted a brick road which would later be put back down and smoothed. But what was most interesting was hearing Judy Hoffmeister’s story of the day Katrina touched land.

"At first the water was up to our knees, so we started bringing up boxes to higher floors," said Hoffmeister, parish council member. "The next trip down it was up to our waist. Then we realized we had better go up to the roof because the water kept rising. It rose 22 feet. Word out was that we had all perished. The telephones were not working, so there was nothing we could do. Night fell and it was totally dark. There was no skyline and no stars. Helicopters were flying over with search lights, but they could not see us. We could hear echoes of hell and people crying out trying to swim over to us. There was oil in the water and it was so contaminated.

The next morning we realized we had to find dry land. We had one row boat, no water and no food. When they came back later that evening in the row boat they said there was no dry land, everything was under water. By the sixth day, we were starving and thirsty. We rowed over to a building and broke into a vending machine. We bonded and put together our skills. We were finally rescued by members of our own fire department, some of whom were on the roof with us."

To end the Vincentian Family Gathering, Gene Smith, executive director of Seton Institute challenged each group to raise $1,000 which will be matched by the St. Vincent de Paul Society to implement systemic change and our commitment to help the voiceless in New Orleans.

Since Katrina, Catholic Charities has provided case management to 45,329 families and individuals. They have supported 10,469,127 in direct assistance. They have gutted 1,874 homes, rebuilt 48 residences, and are in the process of developing 1,795 more homes.