Welcoming storm victims with open arms

Published 6:07 pm Thursday, September 8, 2005

By Staff
As the flood waters still cover many of the homes and memories of victims of Katrina, people in the community are busy seeking ways to help.
As our city fathers, church leaders and concerned citizens offer clothes, food and shelter, soon more displaced families who have lost everything will be making their way north to what they hope will be recovery from this terrible tragedy.
It will be up to all of us to welcome them into our lives, schools and homes.
Unless we have gone through such devastating conditions we can't begin to know what they have gone through. Even those who listened to the warnings and were able to leave town before the storm hit, have no where to go back to. Their homes are destroyed.
Recovering will be a slow process. Many left without important papers or records. With businesses also destroyed, confirming people's records will be almost impossible.
Along with donations of time and money to the American Red Cross, we can welcome those who come our way. We also can learn a lesson from this tragedy.
The Red Cross for years has been offering ways to be prepared in an emergency. For those living away from the water, the warnings may be what to do in the face of a power outage, or a tornado.
We have seen first hand we can't rely on the government to come immediately to our aid. We need to head the warnings and think about what we would do in an emergency in our neck of the woods.