Catholic Charities is a 'long-after' responder

By Peter Finney Jr.
Clarion Herald

It’s hard to believe that nearly a year after Hurricane Laura devastated southwest Louisiana – a natural disaster made even more challenging by the COVID-19 pandemic – there are still dozens of former Lake Charles residents, mostly seniors, who are being assisted by Catholic Charities Archdiocese of New Orleans (CCANO) in creating a new life in homes 200 miles away.

“We’re always very clear that we are not the first responders, but we are the immediate emergency responders when we’re permitted, with the direction of first responders, to get to the scene, to do assessments and prepare responses,” said Marianite Sister Marjorie Hebert, president and CEO of CCANO. “And, of course, we are ‘long-after’ responders. We don’t assess in the first few weeks and then move on.”

Nowhere is CCANO’s long-term commitment to caring for the needs of others more evident than in its response to Hurricane Laura in August 2020, which in terms of total property damage was second in Louisiana history only to Katrina in 2005.

Since New Orleans was unscathed by Laura, hundreds of southwest Louisiana residents fled east and landed in New Orleans, where CCANO and other nonprofit organizations such as the Red Cross worked with evacuees to meet their most pressing needs for food and shelter.

CCANO case managers worked to obtain temporary housing for 400 Lake Charles-area residents, with most housed in three local hotels, and then assessed what it would take to get them back to their hometowns.

“We stationed ourselves in the hotels and collaborated with the other agencies,” Sister Marjorie said. “We did case management and tried to guide them. One of the biggest factors we faced was when the officials made a big move to reduce the number of people in the hotels. We got very engaged with our other partners to provide daily meals for the families.

“In many instances, we helped people return with gift cards for gasoline, buying (bus) tickets, helping to repair cars, arranging transportation. And, we stayed in close contact with our sister Catholic Charities entity in Lake Charles to put them in contact with each other.”

As for the seniors from Lake Charles who remain in New Orleans, Sister Marjorie said, in many cases “there is nothing for them to go back to,” so permanent housing options are needed.

“Every disaster has its own nature and its own demands to respond to, and we do our best to be ready,” Sister Marjorie said. “When the Hard Rock Hotel collapsed, we were very much involved with the families of the victims (with material and grief support). Actually, it feels as though we’ve never shut down from disaster relief, particularly in the last 24 months. There was COVID and then there was the hurricane season. We’ve had other disasters just with heavy rains or heavy winds causing damage to buildings.”

Sister Marjorie said the Lake Charles arm of Catholic Charities is still dispensing food from its warehouse, but the biggest needs are for cash donations and gift cards to Walmart, Lowes and Home Depot to pay for construction tools and supplies.

“Sadly, the people in Lake Charles have not gotten a real boost from FEMA as far as disaster relief,” Sister Marjorie said.   

During the upcoming hurricane season, Deacon Martin Gutierrez has assumed responsibility for CCANO’s emergency operations. His responsibility is to be the liaison between CCANO and civil authorities in each of the eight civil parishes that comprise the Archdiocese of New Orleans.

“We’re in all the civil parishes, and they know who we are and we know their personnel,” Sister Marjorie said. “Another very important thing is that all of my colleagues, the directors of Catholic Charities in each diocese of Louisiana, stay in touch with each other so that we can better respond when the state calls upon us.”

That network of Catholic Charities agencies performed well during Hurricane Laura by coordinating deliveries of supplies to the Lake Charles center or to church parishes in the areas where meals, tools and cleaning supplies were being distributed.

“We all made ourselves available, sending in case managers,” Sister Marjroie said. “And Catholic Charities USA does a great job during disasters by putting out the call for volunteers across the nation.”

One of the positive outcomes of Katrina was learning how to respond to a major disaster more effectively, she said.

“It really did lay a strong foundation upon which we have built, year after year, disaster after disaster,” Sister Marjorie said. “For a long time, we in New Orleans just had smaller disasters that were more local, like flooded streets, but we have built stronger bonds with other agencies across the state. You learn something from every experience.”

Aside from natural disasters, CCANO dealt with the pandemic in 2020 by keeping open in some form each of its 25 services to men, women and children. Counseling services shifted to an online delivery system, and calls for assistance of any kind were “triaged” to get the most effective response. Head Start preschool programs stayed open through computer learning.

With a donation from Hancock-Whitney Bank, CCANO launched a food pantry in June 2020 at the Hispanic Apostolate (2525 Maine Ave., Metairie) that now serves 70 to 90 families a week and has provided 6,100 bags of groceries. CCANO recently reopened direct day-care service to seniors through the PACE Greater New Orleans program and brought the elderly participants to be vaccinated at neighborhood clinics run by the Daughters of Charity Services of New Orleans.

The agency helped people apply for food stamps, Medicaid and Medicare. CCANO’s board also approved the use of $350,000 in emergency funds for direct assistance.

“Our donors have been extremely generous,” Sister Marjorie said. “Our last capital campaign was in the midst of COVID, and we met our quota.”

June 1 is always a red-letter day, but Sister Marjorie says CCANO remains ready throughout the year.

“Every disaster is unique, right?” she said. “We have staff who are committed to the work and the purpose of Catholic Charities on the good days and on the tough days. We do what we have to do to adjust to the situation and bring a full response. We’re going to be here when there is a need for us.”

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