Parishes stepping up as potential distribution sites for Ida aid

By Peter Finney Jr.
Clarion Herald

Several parishes across the Archdiocese of New Orleans have expressed interest in becoming distribution sites for Catholic Charities, Second Harvest Food Bank, The Salvation Army and other community agencies to distribute food and supplies and provide case management services in the wake of Hurricane Ida.

Deacon Martin Gutierrez, chief operating officer of Catholic Charities Archdiocese of New Orleans, said several pastors have offered to make their parish campuses available as staging areas for the emergency efforts.

The interested parishes thus far include Divine Mercy in Kenner; St. Anthony in Luling; St. Luke the Evangelist in Slidell; St. Joan of Arc in LaPlace; St. Peter in Covington; St. Anselm in Madisonville; and St. Peter Claver and St. Rita in New Orleans.

Also, on Thursday morning, Father Daniel Brouillette, pastor of Annunciation Parish in Bogalusa, is leading a caravan of parishioners to St. Charles Borromeo Parish in Destrehan to prepare 1,000 meals for residents in the area. 

Archbishop Gregory Aymond, Deacon Gutierrez and Marianite Sister Marjorie Hebert, president and CEO of Catholic Charities, will make a pastoral visit to St. Charles Borromeo and then go to St. Anthony Parish in Luling.

Deacon Guitierrez said the distribution sites must have a corps of parish volunteers and large parking lots to accommodate the supply trucks and the expected long lines of automobiles. 

“What we've been doing is reaching out to certain parishes in the impacted areas,” Deacon Gutierrez said, saying Archbishop Aymond and Sister Marjorie personally helped by making phone calls. “We’re trying to connect the dots with groups and individuals who are trying to provide basic assistance, meals, cleaning supplies, things like that. We’re trying to identify locations where Second Harvest and perhaps other groups (like The Salvation Army) can do distributions of different items.”

While the parish outreach was underway Wednesday, Catholic Charities got the help of the National Guard to relocate 30 residents of Padua House, a home for the severely developmentally disabled in Belle Chasse, to Our Lady of Wisdom Nursing Home in Algiers. 

The residents had to be moved because of generator problems at Padua House.

“This is the beauty of being part of the archdiocese,” Deacon Gutierrez said. “The first thing I thought of was Deacon Jeff (Tully) at Notre Dame Health, and we asked, ‘Do you have any space somewhere?’ and he made the space. It's beautiful at Our Lady of the Wisdom.”

Archbishop Aymond wants to visit the hard-hit Lafitte area as soon as possible, but Deacon Gutierrez said “there’s still water over there and they’re still rescuing people.”

He said Jefferson Parish sheriff’s deputies were going door to door to determine if any residents remained stranded.

Deacon Gutierrez said while the impacts of Hurricane Ida and Hurricane Katrina varied widely, there was still a consistent thread in the disaster response.

“What reminds me of Katrina is the fact that a lot of our staff is spread out all over the southeast of the United States,” he said. “So, right now, it's hard to determine who's in town, who's not in town. We’re doing a survey to determine if their homes are damaged or not, and, if they are not damaged and electricity was available, would they be able to return right away?

“We're trying to get a sense of that because we know that we're not first responders, but we do call ourselves early responders. We also call ourselves long-term responders. Our strength is case management, and we know that we have a big role to play. We can help families navigate the FEMA process, the insurance process and meet any other unmet needs. There are a lot of people who do not have insurance that are probably going to need help trying to get resources from the community.”

 “The other thing that reminds me of Katrina is the separation of families. But the damage is not as bad as Katrina.”