Plea for Temporary Housing for Katrina Victims

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weneedavacation
Posts: 4
Joined: Mon Nov 01, 2004 8:03 pm
Location: Pine Island, Florida
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Plea for Temporary Housing for Katrina Victims

Post by weneedavacation »

Millions of people evacuated before Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast of the United States. While the media is rightfully focusing on the plight of those who stayed behind, there are many, many more who also have lost everything and have no home to which to return. I think of these millions of people as the forgotten refugees.

I live on a small island in Florida which is just east of Sanibel. Last year Hurricane Charley was headed directly for my home. It suddenly was upgraded from a category 2 to a category 4 hurricane and I was forced to leave as I live on the water and could not withstand the predicted 20 foot storm surge and 145 mile an hour winds. I truly believed I would have no home when I returned to the island. I cannot tell you what that realization felt like!

As bad as the destruction was in my area, the devastation in the Gulf Coast area is immeasurably more horrific. Charley was only 25 miles wide and very fast moving. Katrina was 125 miles wide and just took her sweet time wiping a portion of the United States off the map.

As the Florida Represenative for weneedavacation.com, I contacted our vacation rental owners about the need for temporary housing and many came through! I worked with FEMA and local church organizations to place families into these generously offered rentals. We also found housing for insurance adjusters, contractors who came to help in the recovery and rebuilding, medical personnel who came in to help.

If any of you have housing you can provide for the short or long term, please email me at kathy@weneedavacation.com. I am working with the agency which is still here on the island helping out Charley's victims. They have the resources to get information on housing to the people who can properly coordinate it. Although housing is particularly needed within a 500 mile radius of the devastated areas, the apparent long time before which evacuees will be able to return to their home towns will make the offer of housing almost anywhere most welcome.

You can also register your rental with FEMA at https://www.swern.gov/emergency/asset_app.php. You can place an ad at http://neworleans.craigslist.org/about/ ... na_cl.html.

If you cannot provide housing, I urge you to contribute to the relief efforts by visiting http://www.comcast.net/hurricanerelief/. If you live in the States, you can take clothing or household items to the Salvation Army and request that they be sent to help the Katrina victims.

Anything you can do will be so very much appreciated.

Thank you, Paolo, for allowing me to post this message, unrelated to vacation home ownership, but so very important.

Kathy Jones
Florida Representative
www.weneedavacation.com
kathy@weneedavacation.com