Catholic Charities of New Orleans still aids Isaac victims

As some residents devise a hurricane preparedness plan for 2013, others are still reeling from the aftermath of Hurricane Isaac a year ago.

It is the latter that Catholic Charities Archdiocese of New Orleans (CCANO) continues to assist through its Hurricane Isaac Disaster Case Management Program (DCMP), established after the hurricane struck Louisiana Aug. 28 and lingered slowly along the coast for another day, causing tidal surges to devastate 26 parishes in Louisiana.

CCANO’s Disaster Management program officially began in February 2013, said Toni Wright, director of Catholic Charities’ Hurricane Isaac Disaster Case Management Program. That’s when Catholic Charities was hired as the lead agency by the Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services to administer an $8 million grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to help 1,225 families.

Before that, a skeleton crew of case managers connected families to relief services, and area Catholic churches such as St. Joan of Arc and Ascension of Our Lord in LaPlace provided emergency food, services and volunteers. 

Since the swath of devastation was so large, CCANO worked with provider agencies in other areas, including Catholic Charities in Baton Rouge; TRAC (Terrebonne Readiness Assistance and Coalition) in conjunction with Catholic Charities; and Lutheran Social Services Disaster Relief (LSSDR) to connect families to resources they needed to rebuild, Wright said. 

CCANO has the largest team – with 35 case workers helping clients out of sites at Hope Haven in Marrero, and satellite offices at St. Anthony Church in Lafitte, Assumption Church in Braithwaite, St. Patrick in Port Sulphur, and St. Joan of Arc and New Wine Fellowship in LaPlace. 

Damage was so great in the local area that within the first 90 days of the program, more than the allotted number of families was helped.

“We are in the process of serving 1,255 (families) and have wait list of 1,100,” Wright said. “That is evidence of great need still existing due to Hurricane Isaac.”

She said the elderly and single-parent families were affected most. Many clients were self-sufficient prior to Hurricane Isaac but found themselves without extra money to repair storm-damaged homes or buy necessities. They also didn’t have the knowledge to navigate the FEMA process.

Now, a year later, many are living in conditions posing a dangerous health threat.

“Eighty percent of our client base is living in unsafe dwellings,” Wright said. “It gets worse and worse, and they don’t know where to go. We are hoping to advocate for repair dollars for clients.”

One of the more active offices of Isaac DMCP is in LaPlace, where CCANO has five case workers providing long-term case management in cooperation with a volunteer reception center run  New Wine Christian Fellowship on Airline Drive. Relief services were given here, too.

“We are really involved actively with the client,” Wright said. “We do home visits and assessments, which are important to meet the needs of the client. The need is to rebuild and repair.” 

Benita Corley, who is program manager for Hurricane Isaac DCMP, said she gets a lot of requests for replacement of furniture and appliances.

Wright is worried about what will happen to families once grant money runs out. She encourages monetary donations, donations of building materials and volunteer labor. To help, call Catholic Charities Archdiocese of New Orleans at 592-5685 or visit www.ccano.org. For disaster relief, call 310-8755 or the hotline at 1 (866) 891-2210. 

Christine Bordelon can be reached at [email protected].