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By
Maurine Jensen Proctor
Editor’s
Note: If you want to help the people at this shelter contact
Denise Allbee at
allbeed@sbcglobal.net
Denise
Allbee, an LDS mom in San Antonio, Texas is making an extra
big batch of chili and corn bread this morning to leave with her
seven children still at home—along with many notes of instruction
taped to the refrigerator door. Since last Friday, she has been
working 10 and 12 hour days at a shelter for refugees from the Katrina
devastation in New Orleans—and her children, who are independent,
mature and capable, are learning a lesson about sacrifice and service
they’ll never forget.
The
shelter, called Kelley USA, is on the site of the Kelley Air Force
base, and consists of a warehouse building the size of four connected
football fields. Now the warehouse has a sea of cots, line upon
line of them, filled with a swell of disoriented and traumatized
people who have been bused here—most of them from the New Orleans
Superdome.
These
are the victims who have seen their lives smashed in the last few
days by a toxic brew of relentlessly rising water. They are people
who can’t receive mail because they no longer have addresses.
Stories
to Tell
If
Denise asks, they have stories to tell, but they are slow to complain—and
slow to laugh. Not in the Kelley USA shelter is their much social
chit chat. Post-traumatic stress syndrome and depression is beginning
to set in. But also courage and stoicism and a sense that they
are being well cared for.
Though
national news stories dwell on needs unmet and a murky government
response, that has not been Denise’s experience. The American
Red Cross is running the facility but sheriffs, troopers, and motor
cycle cops have come from cities and towns all over the region to
help in 12-hour shifts. The recruits from Lacklund Air Force Base and the National Guard are on hand.
Denise
walked into a room where 500 troops were receiving instructions
from an officer. “You work. You work hard. You put in twelve hours.
You put in 14—even if you don’t sleep.” They were answering “Yes
sir. Yes sir.”
The
shelter already offers an array of services from Social Security,
WIC, Health and Human Services, chaplains and emergency response
teams. Refugees are pouring in every day.
“It
makes a big difference that the military is here,” she said. The
shelter is run with surprising order. “The kitchen is wonderful,”
she said. “We have showers. Smaller offices are designated for
a personal hygiene room or a shoe room.”
Denise
has been trained as a Red Cross shelter volunteer and so was placed
immediately working with the intake of refugees, a procedure involving
sitting with people and finding out about their lives pre and post
disaster, evaluating their needs and sending them on for services.
Nothing
Could Have Prepared Her
“I
met a lot of people that way, “ she said, and though she has seen
numerous films on how to do mass care, she admits, “I don’t think
I was prepared. I don’t think any briefing could have prepared
us to see what these people have been through. The suffering of
the children was really bad.”
The
refugees arrive filthy, often wearing garbage bags with holes cut
out for their heads and arms, having lost their clothing in the
floods. Duct tape holds the bag in place. Some people are in paper
scrubs. “Maybe 20% have shoes,” said Denise. “A lot of the footwear
are surgical booties. Nobody has socks
and they are hard to come by.
“Some
have arrived here by bus, having waited in the parking lot of the
Astrodome for six hours hoping for admittance there.
“One
little girl caught my eye, and she asked, ‘Can you get me some drawers?’
I answered that I could get her some. She just pulled those clothes
on so fast because she was so glad to get out of that garbage bag.
Denise
said, “I found one lady, probably of 69 or 70, sitting on the curb,
and I asked her if she could come over to intake so I could give
her a wristband.
“She
said that she just couldn’t walk. I went to get her a wheelchair
and learned they are impossible to find, so instead I brought back
an office chair on wheels to take her where she needed to go.
“Only
then did she tell her story to me about why her feet hurt so much.
She had stayed on a roof, where all the shingles had blown off,
for five days and the nails cut and slashed her feet. When she
was rescued, the helicopter took her and others to a railroad track
where they had to walk ten miles to find shelter in the Superdome.”
Another
woman told Denise, “I’m 91 and I’m just going to sit here for awhile.”
“Do
you want me sit with you?” Denise asked. Then the woman told her
that her husband fell off into the water and they are still trying
to find him.”
Denise
said they tell these horrific stories in a matter of fact way, without
whining or self pity. “It’s almost like they don’t want to talk
about it,” she said, “and then what has happened to them only comes
out as they talk.
Ask
for Nothing
They
ask for almost nothing. Denise said in the days she’s worked she’s
heard few requests, “Ma’am could you get me a towel?” some boys
asked. “Let’s feed you first,” Denise answered. “You haven’t eaten
in two days.”
“Oh
but, we haven’t showered in five days,” they answered.
“Are
telling me you’re going to take a shower before you eat?”
“Yes
Ma’am,” they replied. Denise quickly found a bar of soap and some
towels.
Diapers
were in such high demand at the shelter that they started handing
them out one at a time. A new refugee asked for a diaper—because
her child had been in the same diaper for two days.
Often,
the people arrive in big families—and even though the shelter offers
special care for the elderly or there are some with conditions that
may require intense medical care—nobody wants to be separated.
The aged grandmother will opt to stay with her family and forego
special care.
“I’m
an interpreter for the deaf,” said Denise. “A gentleman who was
deaf, blind and mute came in who needed total care. We suggested
that he could go to a nursing home where he could receive total
care and round-the-clock nursing.. His
family wouldn’t hear of it. They wanted to stick together at any
cost.”
“We
hear a lot of plans for the future,” said Denise, “and there is
talk about housing and jobs. We had a man show up on Friday saying
that he could hire some plumbers. Yet, she said, “I can’t get these
people to put one foot in front of the other. We get them fresh
off the bus. It’s almost like the first time their feet have been
on land. They are wondering, Is this actually a stopping point
for me?
“They
just don’t have the power right now to address any more. All they
need is for someone to minister to them, to meet their physical
and spiritual needs. They know that the shelter can’t be forever,
but they are so burdened, you can’t even ask them what they want.
“They
came through with a bullhorn asking for any volunteers who wanted
to go to a shelter in West Virginia on some buses to be closer to any family on the East coast.
They had to cancel the buses because nobody wanted to leave.
“A
cruise line was planning to send a ship to Galveston that would
hold 4,000, but they had to cancel because nobody would leave the
Astrodome.
“The
majority of them,” said Denise, “want to put their feet on the ground
and their head on the pillow and not think about it for awhile.
They want comfort.” That’s my job.
“I
make them laugh, because I don’t hear a lot of that.”
Tears
Stirred
with compassion as she works at the shelter, Denise has learned
to hold back her tears. She said if she wants to cry she’d go to
a closet or back out to her car. Yet, one time she couldn’t stop
the flood.
“Friday,
when I did intake,” she said, “I met a mother with five small children
who was deeply distressed because she had become separated from
her 13-year-old niece who was holding a 5-month old baby. They
never showed up where they were supposed to be. I wrote on a piece
of cardboard their information with a plea ‘Please, please find
them.’ “
Since
the Red Cross has put together a comprehensive computer database
to help people find missing loved ones and there are other ways
to check on the lost, Denise began a search, leaving her name as
the contact person. “I called every name, called every number looking
for these children,” she said. “I asked if anybody found them to
call me. I really, really tried.”
The
response was silence. Their names appeared nowhere, and it was
with a sinking heart that Denise approached the mother to tell the
bad news. Instead, the mother exclaimed, “Guess what! I found
my baby. She just showed up with her father.”
“She
jumped over the cot and kissed me and said they were going to stay
in an apartment in Houston.” Yet, Keanna
the 13-year-old was still missing; her name appeared nowhere, and
on Sunday, said Denise, “I was walking by their cots and said, ‘Here
are some of my favorite people,’ and I heard the aunt call Keanna’s
name. She had been found.
“At
that point, I could hold back my tears no more. I just broke out
crying. I couldn’t control it. She hugged me and I said, ‘How
in the world did this happen?’
Apparently
they went to the Astrodome and you had to be 14 to go in. So this
little 13-year old sat on the curb with the baby. This is where
a nurse found her and took her to the hospital because both of the
children were so dehydrated. The authorities there saw Denise’s
name on the computer trying to find the children and the nurse insisted
they be allowed on the bus to San Antonio because they were in medical
need. The baby’s father just happened to be on the bus and took
the baby and Keanna came on the next bus.
Picture
Album
The
following are pictures that Denise has taken in the shelter with
her descriptions.
click
to enlarge
“Friday
when the evacuees started to arrive, after several hours I made
it a point to walk the sleeping area and talk to the people. Gary,
in his bright orange shirt, was resting on his cot when I went
over to visit with him. He didn't have a story to tell and I
never ask. I just wanted to make sure he knew what services were
there for him.
“Later
that day I noticed a very long line in the hall. I decided to walk
the hall and ask what everyone was doing. I spotted Gary with
a few friends and asked him what the line was for. He told me it
was for clothes, clean clothes for everyone.
“It
looked like a 2 -3 hour line, and I tried to make light of it. I
told Gary not to give up because he really needed a new shirt. I
didn't want the security to think he was a prisoner, since
the prisoners on work patrol just showed up and they were dressed
in orange too!
“He
laughed and his friends got a good laugh also. I told Gary I would
come by his cot and say hi everyday.
“Saturday
I went to eat dinner and I could hear someone laughing in line and
it was Gary trying to hide from me. I ran up to him and said, "Oh
my, I didn't recognize you without the prisoner shirt! He grabbed
my neck and hugged me so hard.
“We
waited in line for dinner and the actor Tommy Lee Jones was serving
dinner that night. Sunday I looked for Gary for a few hours, and then
I spotted him watching the news on one of the several big screen
TV's someone brought in. We talked and laughed, I told him I would
come by and say good night.
“This
is how I found Gary a few hours later on his cot reading Revelations in
his newly- acquired bible. The lady next to Gary told us that we should read Revelation because
we were living through it and we wouldn't be so afraid. Wise woman.
“I
took some much needed time off today and had Family Home Evening
with the family. I bought Gary some books and both of them a rare
commodity CANDY! Everyone wants a copy of their picture.
“Here
is Gary, reading a Bible.”
click
to enlarge
“Here
is my new friend, Destiny, in the cafeteria. I went to get dinner
late Sunday night and Destiny came up and stood by me. She asked
me if I was hungry and waiting to eat. I told her I was, but I thought
they closed the kitchen. I took two styro-foam
containers and told her that we should hold them up to our
chins and look hungry every time someone looked at us.
“She
giggled and wiggled and could not keep a straight face. But we got
the attention we needed and the much-desired dinner! I asked Destiny
if she would sit by me and eat and she directed me where to sit.
It
was a long needed break for both of us. A DJ was playing Jazz and
Louisiana music while we ate with about 500 people. Destiny could
not sit still and started to dance in her chair between bites of
sausage and potato salad.
I
started to dance too and she would say like this, like this, and
so I followed her lead and we ate and danced and talked. She told
me her aunt's name was Denise, her favorite color was pink, she
was 10 years old, in the fourth grade, she was from New Orleans, she rode a bus to Texas and it was too far!
click
to enlarge
“This
is Destiny on her cot in the sleeping area, with a doll and toy
we found in the donations.
“Destiny
and I wandered around for about an hour checking out the new computer
area being set up, the shoe room, the phone room and the toy donations.
We finally made our way to the sleeping area where she asked me
to take care of her blistered lip.
“We
went over to the volunteer nurses at the tables designated "Over
the Counter Medicines." They offered me a popsicle
stick dipped in petroleum jelly which I applied to her lips.
“Then
she showed me her foot with a cut on it and very water-logged toes.
I applied a band-aid and some ointment on her toes, and when we
went to put back on her much coveted new socks one was missing.
The clean up crew must have picked it up. She wanted to make sure
that I told her mama that I lost her sock! Destiny followed me around
sleeping area one while I said good night to some of my new friends.
click
to enlarge
“Here
are two sleepy children in one cot.
“Grandpa
was in the next cot hoping they would soon fall asleep, while their
mother went to the showers. I'm not sure how 700 plus people, all
in one room, fall asleep. I love talking to the people. The sleeping
room is my favorite place to be.
click
to enlarge
“Here
is a picture I could not resist! Several young men set up a makeshift
'Barber Shop'
I
walked over to this young barber who was taking his job very seriously
and asked him what he was charging for such a great haircut. He
laughed and then got this look in his eye like, “Hey that's a great
idea.”
“They
had taken two chairs and stacked them together to make a high enough
chair and I assume that was someone's bedsheet
for a drape. They told me the clippers were in the donations room
in Personal Hygeine, along with the brush
and powder. The only thing missing was a mirror. I took several
pictures of previous clients as he wanted to show off his work.
I told them when I return in a few days I was going to put a sign
out front that read "Barbershop Sleeping Area One, $5 haircuts."
“Today
I did buy a large handheld mirror and I will ask my daughter to
make me a sign to put up. Anything to see them smile,
and laughing is a great bonus.”
click
to enlarge
“Make
that three sweet sleepy children. As soon as I snapped the
previous picture this little guy on the left popped his head out.
Grandpa came running over and said I thought you were asleep!
Help
from the Church
The
local bishop’s storehouse has recently supplied 150 cases of formula,
diapers, and shampoo for the shelter. Each week the Church will
be supplying an order for the shelter from the local bishop’s storehouse
and they have made their trucks—including a refrigerated truck—available
for use in transporting goods.
Denise
said that a local member has a frozen fruit business in Mexico, and he is sending shipments up that will be transported
in the Church’s refrigerated truck. “It may be strawberry shortcake
soon for the refugees in the shelter,” she jokes.
If
You Want to Help
“The
planes don’t stop coming and the buses don’t stop coming,” said
Denise. They told us we were going to take 25,000, and the other
day we heard that we were going to take 90,000.
“I’m
just going to take care of them,” Denise said. “I don’t think it
is appropriate that children come to the shelter. There’s
a lot of airborne diseases. Everybody’s getting typhoid and tetanus
shots. I’m very careful and I have asked for health blessings so
that I can continue doing the work I need to do.
Those
who would like to help can contact Denise at
allbeed@sbcglobal.net.
There is a need, among other things, for pictures of Christ, Bibles
and pass-along cards.
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