Group joined by CDF National President
NEW ORLEANS – “It’s some good stuff and great conversations going on in the city this weekend,” said Mary Joseph, director of the Children’s Defense Fund’s (CDF) Katrina Resource and Referral Project, as she opened the fifth reunion of the Katrina Citizens Leadership Corps (KCLC) on the University of New Orleans campus.
The KCLC, formed by CDF to track, reunite and help Katrina survivors, held meetings across the Gulf Coast. “Our Mississippi members are into stuff over there. Folks in Georgia are tracking displaced people there, and of course, they are busy over in Texas,” Joseph said.
The reunion took the form of a walk down memory lane. Members shared the blows they suffered. Veteran CDF volunteer Almarie Ford said she learned what homeliness is, living out of a suitcase, going from house to house. “I literally carried my night clothes under my arms from the trunk of her car each night,” she said.
Members say Katrina is not over because the deep psychological impact has not been addressed. “Our children have been robbed of that piece of their life,” one member stated. Dryades YMCA Board Chairman H. Kenneth Johnston said, “My mind isn’t ready yet.” He said his house looked like something in the Vietnam War.
Francis Mitchell Ware stated, “[In Biloxi] Where I grew up, my grandmother, everything; just gone,” fighting back tears. Another said she hated to see her 80 year-old grandfather cry over the loss of his church. It was also shared that some affected have committed suicide. KCLC believes the more people talk about it, the better the healing process. The group was in Washington earlier this year making recommendations to the Stafford Act on how to better protect children during future disasters.
Other activities included a youth symposium by the New Orleans Freedom School, a bus trip to Plaquemines Parrish, La. where Katrina made landfall Aug. 29, 2005. The group was joined by CDF National President Marian Edelman who shared latest developments at the national level. She was also entertained by Plaquemines Parish’s youth of the Zion Travelers Community Center (ZTCC) summer campers in Pheonix, La.
Trying not to get emotional, the youth also bravely shared their experiences with Katrina. They were applauded for their resiliency and eagerness to restore and enhance their community.
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