Katrina and Mississippi Gulf Coast Senior Citizens

Article submitted by Ada Reid, Senior Advocate

I know this has been a difficult time for the entire Coast and perhaps even more so for our seniors. Many of you, like me, lost everything in Camille and perceived that as a once in a lifetime event. None of you, like me, probably could imagine anything like our Coast is today from Katrina.

After Camille, I often spoke of B.C. (Before Camille) and A.C. (After Camille. Now I do the same with Katrina. A.K. (After Katrina), driving through streets with high piles of debris and household goods has been a frightening sight. And we have not been allowed into the worse hit areas. We were allowed to go south of the railroad on the second Sunday A.K. to attend church at First United Methodist Church in Gulfport, one of the three churches left standing that close to the beach. How blessed we felt as we entered our sanctuary with the beautiful dome still intact and our stained glass windows and could mingle with our church family, sharing and hugging and yes, crying for those who lost everything. In fact, 62 families in our church lost everything and everyone has damage. I feel so blessed that I only had roof damage, a window broken and trees down all over the yard, on my fences but my house is livable and I had water and gas and phone from the first and got electricity only a week.

A dear friend is living with me whose home had 6 to 7 ft. of water in it from Bayou Bernard (Gulfport Lake) and she has gone everyday to try and salvage anything she can. Her son came from Missouri to help but most of her beautiful antique furniture had to be tossed. She and her husband had gathered antique music boxes and clocks from across the world and the wooden music boxes just fell apart. It was a sad sight.

Like many of you, she has applied for a trailer from FEMA because there are so few rentals available. Like you, we traveled daily to pickup ice and water and some supplies and for two weeks after, I went to a site in Long Beach and picked up hot meals that the precious Baptist Disaster Group from Tennessee, Iowa and other points had come to prepare and serve with a gracious smile. I delivered them to some 17 people daily who were either working at their sites or not able to get there. Many of our elderly have had a difficult time coping in the heat and having their lives so drastically changed. One dear friend is in an assisted living facility in Dallas for a while, another is with a daughter in Texas and others are with relatives in different places.

Like many of you, who like me, started over after Camille, we will start over and keep on keeping on. In spite of the losses, when we have our families and each other and some place to lay our head at night, we are blessed. Know that I think of all of you and pray for you and that with God all things are possible. YOU WILL MAKE IT!