Thanks Giving For Katrina Victims
By Tatsha Robertson
25 November, 2005
Boston GlobeIf this were any other Thanksgiving Day, Jevon LeBlanc would be hopping from one relative's house in New Orleans to another, feasting on turkey and ham and local favorites like stuffed bell peppers, gumbo, and mustard greens. But this is not any other Thanksgiving: Many members of his extended family will not be together this year; they were displaced by Hurricane Katrina.
LeBlanc, 27, plans to spend his Thanksgiving in a motel in Queens, far from his five children, who are scattered around the nation. His mother is in Louisiana and said she might skip the yearly tradition altogether because her two sons and grandchildren are not around.
''I am just going to spend Thanksgiving around the house," said Patricia LeBlanc, who lives near New Orleans.
Families displaced by Katrina three months ago and relocated to Houston, Atlanta, Boston, New York, and other cities have had to alter longtime family traditions for the holiday. A lack of money or the means to travel has left families settling for smaller gatherings or skipping the tradition outright.
Thousands of others like LeBlanc who are living in hotel rooms are planning to have dinner with other Katrina evacuees in hotel lobbies, soup kitchens, restaurants, or churches to help ward off feelings of depression and isolation.
For the few who can travel, they will reunite today with family whom they have not seen in months. LeBlanc's brother Curtis and his wife are staying in Brooklyn with a host family, but this week they flew to Houston after her family scraped up the money for two airline tickets.
Chip Simms will also get to see his relatives. He said 30 family members from the Gulf Coast have driven to Atlanta, where they will have dinner at his house.
''Some of them I haven't seen since the storm hit," said Simms, a New Orleans native. ''So there is an excitement in the house. The pots are being pulled out."
Hattie Mills, a 72-year-old grandmother who moved to her son's home in Milton after losing nearly everything in the hurricane, has accepted the fact that the large Thanksgiving celebration she usually has at her home near New Orleans will be a smaller affair in Massachusetts this year. Her five children are in Milton, but many of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren are scattered around the country.
''I will be with my children -- thank God," Mills said, sighing. ''With my husband dead six years, that's all I have."
Mills said she made a pot of gumbo even before the holiday, but she did not think she had enough energy to stay up all night the way she does in Louisiana, whipping up pumpkin pies and baking macaroni and cheese.
The Rev. Barbara Abdurraheem of Children Services of Roxbury, the lead agency dealing with the needs of Katrina evacuees for the state of Massachusetts, said Katrina families are missing their relatives. But she said some are finding creative ways to carry on their traditions.
''They do on an everyday basis say, 'I miss my family; they are scattered everywhere.' " Abdurraheem said. ''This Thanksgiving some of the people are sad, but what they have done here is network with others living in hotels.
''They have created comradeship and will celebrate together," she said.
But holidays can be especially lonely for evacuees who are far from loved ones and isolated in hotel rooms, said Simms, who is also a cofounder of Home Action USA, a disaster relief program based in Atlanta. His organization planned to hold a dinner for 50 families on the evening before the holiday.
''The moment of stillness -- that's when they become down and sad and depressed," he said. ''That's why I was calling up families saying, 'We are going to eat, listen to music and have a good time.' "
While some Katrina victims say they are thankful to be alive and for the help they have received from family, strangers, and the government, they also worry about looming deadlines, finding permanent housing, and about perhaps wearing out their welcome.
Many evacuees were upset when the Federal Emergency Management Agency warned recently that it would stop paying for hotel rooms for everyone except those in Louisiana and Mississippi on Dec. 1. The agency has since extended the deadline to Jan. 7.
Donations for Katrina evacuees reached record levels recently, but the public is experiencing donor fatigue and is giving less to food banks that could benefit some of the displaced families.
LeBlanc said he is thankful for all the help he has received in New York, but said all he wants to do is get back on his feet.
In Milton, Mills also said that she is grateful for the help her children have given her, but that she worries about burdening them. ''I want my own little place because it's not fair for me to live off my children," she said. ''I want to have my little independence. I have to keep as much as I can."
LeBlanc has been spending his time with band members, all of whom live in the Queens motel. They spend their days looking for apartments and jobs, including gigs for the band. Mostly recently, they performed at a bar mitzvah in Manhattan.
Today, they will keep one another company; maybe watch DVDs, dabble with their PlayStation, or go to a restaurant.
''After we get everything straight I know we will have our family with us, so it's not like that will never happen again," LeBlanc said. ''I guess you have to keep your head up high and not get too depressed or negative."
© 2005 Boston Globe
