'Davy Jones Locker’ Brings Aid, Comfort to Katrina Survivors

Navy NewsStand ^ | Sep 30, 2005 | Journalist 2nd Class Barrie Barber

[SandRat]

STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. (NNS) -- Hurricane Kartrina victims at one Navy command here have a place to shop without cost thanks to an outpouring of donations across the naval service.

Davy Jones Locker is a volunteer-run store serving Navy and civilian personnel and their family members at Stennis Space Center near the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Now a makeshift store inside the Matthew Fontaine Maury Oceanographic Library, it has a bevy of items, from soup to soap, and from clothing to cat food.

The Stennis-based Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command and the Naval Oceanographic Office have 441 employees who lost their homes, and hundreds more who sustained damage to their houses. Hearing the call for help, Navy personnel and others have sent in donations from coast to coast.

“We will be here until we satisfy the needs of the employees,” said F.J. Cutting, store manager. “Those donations have been made by Navy, for Navy.”

Cutting knows the pain her “customers” are going through. She and her husband, Navy Reserve Cmdr. Robert Cutting, lost their home in Long Beach, Miss., to the hurricane.

A “personal shopper” escorts everyone who comes in the door looking for something.

“Our families come in and maintain a little dignity,” she said. “One of the things that is very important is to have someone here walk them through, because so many are in shock and have high anxiety.”

Volunteer Susan M. Parnell of Picayune, Miss., said customers appreciate the personal touch.

“I know lots of people who lost everything and have a need for a service such as this,” she said. The store “helps them build those ties that bind them to a place, because people have lost everything that grounded them.”

“We’re not trained professionals, but you can try to help people make a connection,” she said.

Navy physicist Lewis Gray shopped at the store for basics like dish detergent and plates as he prepared to move into a trailer as temporary quarters.

“It gives them essentials,” said Gray. “It gives them hope. The Navy community is pulling together. It’s teamwork - brothers and sisters. It makes me proud to be a part of the Navy family.”