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Survivors
RAI Ministries Expands Case-Management Program into Louisiana
October 5, 2009
Since June 2008, RAI Ministries has contracted with the State of Mississippi and, more recently, the State of Louisiana as an affiliate in a Federally-funded case management pilot program. The goal is to determine the best form of case management to deploy in future disasters, while equipping Katrina survivors still living in FEMA-assisted housing with a comprehensive recovery plan that will connect them with permanent, affordable housing solutions.
In Mississippi, the pilot program began in June, 2008. RAI was initially assigned 800 clients in Mississippi: Katrina survivors who were still living in hotels, motels, travel trailers, mobile homes, or still displaced in other states who were receiving housing assistance from FEMA. To date, approximately 166 of the 800+ cases remain open; 75% have been closed due to recovery plans achieved or primary goals met. Due to the effectiveness of case management delivery by the consortium of affiliate organizations, RAI Ministries will be receiving another 277 cases in Mississippi. Currently there are 19 case managers, three supervisors, one director and two data entry specialists funded through the grant, with administrative and IT support not funded by the program.
The new case management team for Louisiana.
In Louisiana, RAI was awarded a similar program on August 17, 2009 as a result of a proposal that scored a perfect rating of 100. There are 40 case managers, five supervisors, and one program director on the Louisiana side, with similar administrative and IT support. Like the Mississippi project, clients were provided by FEMA who were in need of permanent affordable housing. After initial assessments and triaging took place, RAI was assigned 551 clients. Initially, case work was conducted out of the dining hall at Camp Restore, during the annual slow months for volunteers of August and September. The case managers will be spreading out into the area just as the fall surge of volunteer groups begins to arrive at camp.
Hard at work at Camp Restore.
In addition to the clients assigned by FEMA as part of the grant contracts, hundreds more families on Camp Biloxi and Camp Restore’s waiting lists may be able to be integrated into the program, but resources are limited. At Camp Restore alone, RAI Ministries is averaging over 15 new requests a month for assistance with home reconstruction.
“Case Management goes through the bureaucracy to get to resources,” explains Director of Case Management Maria Morris. “That’s challenging, especially for clients who are already frustrated.”
Finding God in the Storm
Since his wife was scheduled to fly home on August 28, John Coyle and his son did not evacuate for Hurricane Katrina. They lived in North Biloxi, MS, an area that was not prone to flooding. Many of the neighbors didn’t evacuate, either, knowing that Hurricane Camille in 1969 hadn’t even touched their neighborhood. But John’s wife’s flight was canceled due to weather conditions, leaving him and his son to wait out the storm.
Katrina hit sometime before dawn, and John and his son awoke to the streets flooding. Their house was on a small hill from the street, so they watched as the water got closer and closer to their door, wondering if it would stop soon or if they would need to retreat to the attic. The strong winds uprooted a tree and threw it through their roof. At that point John and his son, worried and unsure, decided to pray.
“We prayed on the couch,” John says, “and the winds started going the other way.” This was a sign that the worst of the hurricane was over; the eye had passed them. As the water receded, furniture, boats, clothes and other miscellaneous items washed up from the street.
John has seen God “in just about everything we’ve done.” He sees his decision to work for Camp Biloxi as a valuable and life-changing experience. He also saw a positive change within his own church. “We became stagnant for many years,” he says. “We lost our works, were less mission-minded.” When the hurricane hit, his church reached out more to people in need, and continues to support the mission of Camp Biloxi. John appreciates faith-based groups connecting with homeowners that are unchurched, as many have come to know Christ through them. “The homeowners started going to church because they saw God’s hand with the volunteers.”
John stands for a picture by an image of the flooding in Biloxi.
Miss Leila
Miss Leila lived half an hour from Biloxi in Gautier, MS near Pascagoula Bay. There was seven and a half feet of water in her house even after it was raised four feet off the ground. She evacuated to Mobile, AL with her sister, but the traffic was so bad that it took them three hours to travel 47 miles. Her daughter drove by their house first, calling and telling her, “Mom, do not come home. There are gas tanks in the street, I had to climb over trees and furniture and it’s just a mess.” Everyone told her not to return, but she had to see it for herself.
She returned about a week after the storm and immediately began working on restoring both her home and her sister’s with the help of various volunteers. “People were so giving and so understanding. The volunteers were sent from God,” Miss Leila said. “They never complained. They were always smiling and singing.”
God provided everything they needed when they needed it, but sometimes when they thought ahead they became worried. The insurance company, which had recommended against flood insurance, did not help, and they were left to wonder how they would ever get new sheetrock.
One day Miss Leila and her sister were taking a break from working as a man passed in front of them and asked what they were working on. “I have a truck full of sheetrock coming in to Bethel church,” he shared. When the women visited Bethel, they received much more than that – enough insulation, sheetrock, mud and nails for both of their homes. Volunteers even came to help them install everything.
At a neighborhood meeting one day, a lady approached her and said “excuse me, did I overhear your sister needs flooring?” The stranger left a phone number to call. When Miss Leila called that night, a man answered and said he would be there the next morning to install a new floor for her sisters. “Miracles were coming like the wind blowing the trees during the storm,” she said.
“In a way, I’m grateful to Katrina because it has truly changed my life for the better. You had to be there to see the devastation, to see the volunteers… they worked in the worst conditions, no air conditioning, no light, no plumbing… and they never frown, never fuss. All the while they’re singing and smiling.”
Miss Leila’s name has been changed by request.