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July 3, 2006 • VOL. 44, NO. 13 • Oakland, CA
Katrina victims
celebrate triumphs of survival
in East Bay
The Katrina
and Rita hurricane disasters turned their respective lives upside down,
sending them from Louisiana to California. But Arthur Thompson and Cheryl
Murdock won’t be heading back down south, at least for right now.
The salaries and jobs are better here in the East Bay for both of them.
So is the environment.
“I’m a fisherman at heart and I stay around the water all
the time,” said Thompson, grinning.
“The weather – the mountains, the ocean – they’re
just awesome,” said Murdock, her voice full of wonder.
Thompson and Murdock talked about their lives, past and present, during
a recent Juneteenth party at Catholic Charities of the East Bay.
They were among 50 men, women and kids, all Katrina survivors and Catholic
Charities clients, who gathered June 19 for a party celebrating their
triumphs and milestones over the past nine months, since Katrina and Rita
washed away their homes, jobs, schools and everything else dear to their
lives.
Millie Burns, deputy director of programming at Catholic Charities, decided
that Juneteenth, the oldest known celebration commemorating the ending
of slavery in the United States, would be a good time for her organization
to gather clients together for an evening of story telling and feasting
“because it is about celebrating, reassuring one another, for praying
and for gathering remaining family members,” she said.
It was on June 19,1865 that the Union soldiers landed at Galveston, Texas,
with news that the war had ended and the enslaved were free, more than
two years after President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation.
The printed program for the Catholic Charities guests noted that “many
former slaves had nowhere to go, but felt that leaving the plantation
would be their first grasp of freedom.”
Catholic Charities’ Juneteenth celebration likewise marked “a
grasp of freedom” – from homelessness and job and school displacement
after the hurricanes — to self-sufficiency, stability, and a place
to call home once again.
Cheryl Murdock lived in the Ninth Ward of New Orleans, one of the worst
hit by Katrina’s flood waters. “My house was one block away
from the levees,” said the mother of three young adults.
The Red Cross sent her to Baton Rouge, but Murdock became weary of standing
in line for everything. When the Red Cross referred her to a new web site
address where victims could go on line to search for cities in which to
relocate, she found Marilyn Bell of Union City. Bell offered her a place
to stay.
Murdock eventually connected with Catholic Charities, which has helped
her cope with her deep sadness at what transpired. “There were so
many horrible things” after Katrina, she said.
Murdock had much to celebrate on Juneteenth – a new job as a BART
station agent, which means she can quit her $7 an hour cashier’s
job at a Fremont restaurant.
Back home in New Orleans she was working two jobs – one in a supermarket,
and the other, as a customer service representative at the Superdome.
“I can’t believe I’ll be making enough money to help
pay my kids’ college tuition,” she exclaimed. Two of her three
children were in college out of state, and they stayed there after Katrina,
she said. The other is working out of state. Murdock credits Catholic
Charities “for keeping me upbeat. They care so much. They embraced
us all without a second thought.”
Arthur Thompson knows just what Murdock means. After the Dulac, Louisiana,
native lost everything in Hurricane Rita, he just wanted to get far away.
The Red Cross in nearby Thibodaux sent the displaced Avondale shipyards
electrician to Oakland.
“I moved in to a Best Western Inn, and people started helping us.”
One of Thompson’s helpers was Catholic Charities, which had quickly
organized groups of parish and community volunteers to assist refugees.
Linda Kiehle, a member of the Berkeley Kiwanis Club, decided to become
involved because she’s a survivor of the 1991 Oakland Hills fire.
“I lost everything. I know what it’s like to have nothing
and no place to live. It took me five years to recoup,” she recalls.
Kiehle considers herself a “Katrina survivor by osmosis.”
She went to work collecting clothing, household items and toys -- “enough
for 150
households.” Things are still coming in, she said.
Kiehle and her husband have been providing “household starter kits”
for CCEB’s hurricane survivor clients. They include kitchen and
bath items, a lamp, one piece of art, and a silk plant.
Kiehle also bought a seven-unit apartment building in West Oakland to
rent out to hurricane survivors. Thompson is one of her tenants. Each
tenant pays rent at an amount he or she can afford.
Thompson is currently working in a local school district in the maintenance
department. He also has a second job as a sound and communications technician
for a local union.
Does he want to go back to Louisiana?
Thompson doesn’t think so. “I’m making $26 an hour here.”
Besides, everything about the Bay Area appeals to the ardent outdoorsman’s
heart.
Young people are also part of the success stories. Several middle and
high school graduates were at the party. Ashanta Peterson, 18, of New
Orleans recalled the harrowing three days and nights that she, her mom,
grandmother and two siblings stayed in a motel room without anything to
eat or drink.
The family was later taken to the Convention Center for a few more days.
Ashanta said her grandmother almost died after running out of heart medicine.
Fortunately, the family located a Hayward relative and they moved in with
her on Sept. 15.
At first, it was difficult to catch up in school, but Ashanta did it.
“I made a lot of new friends at Tennyson High School and played
forward on the basketball team.”
Millie Burns says that Catholic Charities could not have helped all of
the hurricane survivors without the efforts of Oakland parishes and volunteers.
“They are all marvelous people.”
Their contributions have enabled the organization to assist 420 families
– a little over 1600 people. A recent two-year grant for $495,000
has enabled Burns to hire four case managers. The organization currently
has 157 active hurricane cases, said Burns.
Armani (left), Syreeta (center) and Alias Dickerson pause during the Juneteenth celebration for Katrina survivors at Catholic Charities of the East Bay, June 19. Dad Jermaine Dickerson also attended. The Dickersons are among the 420 families displaced by Katrina who have received help from CCEB.
Bill Hanawalt, a local landlord who has helped Katrina survivors with housing, joins in the celebration, wearing one of the baseball caps donated to all who attended the party.
Arthur Thompson, who lost everything when Hurricane Rita washed over his Louisiana home, plans to remain in the East Bay, where he has found two jobs, which pay more than his prior employment.
BAU TA PHOTOS
