Public Employee Press

Katrina victims
Members open their hearts to help

By JANE LaTOUR

In late July, three weeks before Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, Local 1549 members Delphine Williams and Dorothy Drew participated in the AFSCME Regional Women’s Conference there. “It’s really heartrending to know that the city we saw isn’t there anymore,” said Ms. Williams.

“After Katrina struck, one of the women on my job found out that some of the evacuees were housed at the Radisson Hotel at JFK Airport,” Williams said. “We had to help,” said Drew, and both women volunteered immediately. “We started talking to the evacuees to see what was needed,” said Williams.

Since then, the two women have worked with others in the Administration for Children’s Services to collect money for items such as baby clothes, diapers and other personal items.

“Their morale is so low,” said Williams. “They’ve lost everything. Many are young and have never been away from home, so they’re scared. They needed someone and we all just pitched in.”

“My grandmother in St. Albans raised me and taught me to help others,” said Drew. “It’s nice to see people jumping in and working together.”

Public employees and the union showed their heart as appeals to help Katrina’s victims were answered with an outpouring of funds and volunteering. Contributions from members and locals are still flowing in to DC 37 and its parent union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. (See “How you can help.”)

Members volunteer
When Health and Hospitals Corp. President Alan D. Aviles asked for skilled hospital staff to help in New Orleans under extremely difficult conditions, 425 employees volunteered, including many DC 37 members.

Many members volunteered to lend their expertise in the hurricane-ravaged areas. Housing Authority computer worker Bill Betz, a Local 2627 member, served on a search and rescue team (see back page).

Some DC 37 members, such as Public Health Nurse Allison Scaccia, a Local 436 member, helped on their jobs. The Health Dept. assigned her to work with Katrina victims at a New York center established by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. “Some people needed assistance getting their medications or finding a doctor,” she said. “Some had lost everything. I don’t know how they coped with that. One woman was totally overwhelmed, but they were all grateful for the assistance and grateful that they were alive,” she said. Would she do it again? “Absolutely — in a minute.”

The union arrives
In the Gulf States, AFSCME members, like a million others, had their lives torn apart. AFSCME teams fanned out in Louisiana and from Mississippi to Texas, scouring shelters and knocking on doors to find union brothers and sisters in need.

They found former organizer Samson “Skip” Alexander — driven out of his home and staying at the Riverfront Centroplex Shelter in Baton Rouge with family members — and helped them get clothing. Michele Baker of AFSCME Local 872, which represents custodians in the Orleans Parish schools, escaped from her submerged home to the Superdome. Her family had no food or water.

“There were people everywhere — in the bleachers, on the field. It was unbelievable,” she said. They finally made their way to a shelter in Baton Rouge.

“I knew my union would come for me. I knew it!” she said when an AFSCME Katrina relief team, marked by their green T-shirts, walked into the shelter.