Catholic Charities Providing help. Creating hope.

No time off for hurricane recovery work  

By Judy Bokorney
Web Site Editor

Hurricane relief efforts will not cease anytime soon as many victims of the tumultuous 2004 storm season are still struggling to get their lives back together. Catholic Charities estimates it may take over two years for full recovery to happen.

Assistance continues to take place throughout the 10 counties of Southwest Florida, especially in Charlotte, Lee, DeSoto and Hardee counties.

In Charlotte County, a toll free phone number has been set up by Catholic Charities (1-877-275-7789) for people to call for hurricane help.

“FEMA and Red Cross are referring people to us for financial assistance, case management and counseling,” said Eileen McIltrot, director of Catholic Charities hurricane relief in Charlotte County. “Assistance with food and household items is now being handled by the St. Vincent de Paul groups at St. Charles Borromeo Parish in Port Charlotte and Sacred Heart Parish in Punta Gorda,” she said.

According to McIltrot, the struggles and issues for her clients include lack of affordable housing, employment opportunities and financial resources to meet daily living expenses. “The housing market is depleted,” she said. “People are grateful for FEMA trailers, but they are not ‘home.”

In some instances, McIltrot said, landlords are waiting on insurance money to repair rental properties, and tenants are paying rent on a house or apartment that is damaged. Tenants have replaced carpets, removed trees, and assumed responsibility for minor repairs at their own expense because landlords are not in the area, or have not done the repairs themselves.

“Many Charlotte County businesses are struggling to get back on their feet and some have folded and those jobs are lost,” McIltrot said. “The job market is stressed. People are feeling the tensions of being out of work and unable to find other gainful employment. Consequently, they cannot pay bills and meet everyday costs,” she said.

McIltrot added that the holiday season has brought on more anxieties to many victims. “People expressed concerns about not being in their homes or not being able to provide for their families as they have in the past for the holidays.”

There is a large elderly population in Charlotte County who has suffered damage to their homes, according to McIltrot. “Unfortunately they are using their savings to meet repair costs,” she said. “Medical conditions have been exacerbated by the stress of the four storms and some are in need of help to pay for medical prescriptions."

McIltrot works with hurricane victims to connect with other agencies and utility companies to put together financial packages to pay a client's bills. “Most agencies have a financial cap for the amount they can assist any one client. When the amount due exceeds the cap, other resources are used. It involves a lot of coordination and phone tag, but it eventually gets done,” she said.

In one case, a family of four suffered major damage to their home. It was not habitable, and the family needed to find other living arrangements. “I received an offer of a double wide trailer and offered it to the family,” McIltrot said. “The parents and children were thrilled at the prospect, and eagerly attempted to have the trailer put in the yard of their damaged home."

Unfortunately zoning regulations prohibited the move and once again the family felt downcast. “I encouraged the family to continue to look for other housing options. Catholic Charities provided food and household items to them in the early days of the relief efforts, and gift cards to the grocery store as the days rolled on. Finally a house was found, and the family was assisted with the moving costs and received furniture from a Catholic Charities donor. It took persistence but they hung in there and got what they needed,” she said.

“I know there are a lot of people out there who are still not sure where to go for help, and have become weary just trying to navigate the community resources and processes they must go through to receive certain kinds of help,” McIltrot said. “Catholic Charities will continue to help in whatever ways they can.”

According to Peter Routsis-Arroyo, president of Catholic Charities in the Venice diocese, the organization plans to build 32 permanent housing units in Charlotte County to address the shortage of affordable housing. “We also are applying for a $3 million USDA grant to provide farm worker housing in Arcadia. This grant will be used to build the first phase of what eventually will be 100 units,” he said.

Blue tarps instead of roofs

In Arcadia, a community where most residents are either working poor or migrant farm workers, many homes and businesses were damaged or destroyed. St. Thomas More Parish in Sarasota and St. Paul Parish in Arcadia, along with Catholic Charities organized roofing seminars for local residents to learn how to repair roofs.

“There is not enough qualified roofers around to make all the repairs,” said Sister Ann De Nicolo, program director for Catholic Charities in Arcadia. “The roofs are leaking and damage is continuing to get worse and items inside the homes are getting ruined,” she said.

A professional roofer, who volunteered his time, has taught groups of people to repair roofs. All have received their roofing permits and as a group they are repairing each other’s damaged roofs.

“St. Thomas More Parish has offered to buy all the materials to fix the damaged roofs,” Sister De Nicolo said. “Many of the victims taking the seminar have little or no home insurance, or enough extra finances to afford the insurance deductibles. Many have lost their jobs due to the hurricane. It has put a financial burden on so many in this community.”

According to Sister De Nicolo, the roofing seminars address the two issues hindering the needy of Arcadia from recovering from the hurricanes: lack of funds to pay for repairs and a shortage of qualified roofers. “This will help them get back into their homes,” she said.

Sister De Nicolo also sees the seminars as a way for the attendees to learn a new skill. “Maybe some of them will start up their own roofing company,” she said.

“This is just one of the many ways we have had to be creative to help hurricane victims,” Sister De Nicolo said.

Along with several other social service agencies, Catholic Charities is a member of the Voluntary Organization After Disaster (VOAD) group that is conducting door-to-door home assessments in Arcadia and DeSoto County. Over 1,400 homes already have been visited. “We are trying to reach everyone in an organized way,” said Sister De Nicolo.

As the migrant workers come back to Florida for the farming season, Sister De Nicolo said many are finding damage to their dwellings. “We are getting more and more clients who need money for repairs along with utilities, rent and food,” she said.

According to Routsis-Arroyo, Catholic Charities has established a program to address those types of needs. “We have created an account with funds that can be used for individuals and families who have fallen into debt because of hurricane expenses,” he said. “It is a one time, large donation that will help  victims to move forward.”

Routsis-Arroyo said clients are assessed by a caseworker and receive the direct assistance in the form of paying a utility bill, rent or mortgage, car payment, medical bills, insurance deductibles or repair costs.

Through the diocesan hurricane relief fund, Routsis-Arroyo said, Catholic Charities has distributed $165,000 to 11 parishes in Highlands, DeSoto, Hendry, Glades, Lee, Hardee and Charlotte counties. “This money is to be used for parishioners who have suffered from the hurricanes,” he said.

Afraid to ask for help
The Hispanic community in Wauchula and Hardee County is the majority of those in need year round and in the aftermath of the hurricanes their struggles deepened. Many were afraid to seek assistance because of their illegal status.

No housing or employment, the need to pay utilities and rent, along with insufficient medical care and prescription medicines are the greatest trials facing victims living in this area. But the hardest obstacle is trusting those who offer help.

“You have to be patient. You have to be inventive,” said Lucille Acken, who led the Catholic Charities hurricane relief efforts in Wauchula at St. Michael Church. She has turned over direction of long-term hurricane relief efforts to Sister Barbara Makar and Sister Eilleen Marcinko, V.S.C., of the parish. “If the victims do not come to us, we go to them,” she said.

Many volunteers initially brought food, water and household items to reluctant victims and encouraged them to go to St. Michael’s Church for additional help. “Eventually they started to come,” Acken said.

For example during the first month after the storms came through Wauchula, St. Michael’s received a large shipment of MRE military ready to eat meals. “These meals did not resonate well with the Hispanic community but they were in need of nutritious food,” Acken said. “People would discard them.”

Relief workers decided to cook up some MREs at the recovery site and conduct a taste testing for victims coming for help. “We would try the meals first and offer exaggerated ‘Mmmm’ noises to get them to try it. It sounds silly but we had to move healthy food into the Hispanic community. Most of them were doing without good food in the first several weeks after the hurricanes,” Acken said.

“This community is poor and the hurricanes have heightened their problems,” Acken said. “We will be here for them.”

Photos 1: Catholic Charities worker Maria Maton conducts a home visit to hurricane victims still in need of help in DeSoto County.

Photos 2: Pine Island residents receive a helping hand from Catholic Charities caseworker Maria Perez.

Photos 3: Sister Ann De Nicolo, program director of Catholic Charities in Arcadia, assesses the current situation of a hurricane victim to determine the assistance he will require to get back on his feet.

All photos taken by Laura Sykes of Catholic Charities USA