Posted on 03/01/2006 5:10:11 PM PST by SandRat
SIERRA VISTA — Victims of Hurricane Katrina who fled to Southern Arizona to escape the devastation had to miss out on this year’s annual Mardi Gras celebrations.
So, Mardi Gras was brought to them.
Workers at Sierra Vista’s Department of Economic Security offices raised more than $500 to stage a New Orleans-style party for families displaced by the disaster last year.
The Veterans of Foreign Wars headquarters was transformed into a carnival of color and celebration, in honor of four of the 12 families who received help from the DES and are still living in Sierra Vista.
“We just thought it would be something they needed to cheer them up during Mardi Gras,” said Linda Thorp, manager of DES Family Assistance. “We also wanted to celebrate the fact that they made it out safely.”
Thorp said the staff worked hard to raise the money for the four families, two of which were unable to attend the party.
A traditional King’s Cake was ordered from a New Orleans bakery, and regional food was provided thanks to donations from Ricardo’s restaurant, Food City and Safeway in Bisbee.
Kathy Anderson had brought her grandsons Taylor, 6, and Brandon, 8, to Tuesday’s party.
The youngsters turned up at her Hereford home with their mother Joleen Lieberman just a day after the hurricane hit in August.
“I was scared to death,” she recalled. “Joleen had called me on the Friday and said she had been watching the hurricane coming on the television and would probably go to Jackson. But I kept telling her how this was an awfully big one.”
The following morning Lieberman realized just how big the hurricane was and decided to grab what she could and leave Chalmette with her family.
She fled to Jackson, but her mother persuaded her to drive to Hereford.
They have since been back to Chalmette, where they discovered Lieberman’s home had been flooded with 14 feet of water.
“The kitchen ceiling was on the floor, the living room ceiling was coming down, and there was mold on the walls. It was a real mess,” Anderson said. “The boys’ school was gone, but they are both doing well in school here. They’ve started to figure out that there wasn’t much left back there.”
Kathy Willis was forced to leave Mississippi with her partner Michael Cannon, her son Luke, her pregnant daughter Autumn Jones and son-in-law Dusty, along with three grandchildren and various pets.
They initially went to Florida, but decided to make the trip to Sierra Vista to stay with family.
“If it wasn’t for the DES, I don’t think we would have made it through,” said Autumn, who gave birth to a son a month ago. “We just left with what we had in our vehicles.”
Willis said she thought the DES Mardi Gras party was “a very kind gesture.”
“People think Mardi Gras is just a party, but it’s more than that,” she added. “It’s where families get together and where you hook up with friends. It’s a real community event where people come together, so for the DES to do something like this is marvelous.”
Bringing Mardi Gras to Hurricane Katrina Evacuees.
BTTT
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