Family Evacuated From New Orleans Seeks To Start A New Chapter Of Their Life In Seattle

By Chris B. Bennett While the state of Washington is expecting to receive approximately 2,000 evacuees from New Orleans, some evacuees are already here. One such family, the Haynes family, has left behind all of their possessions and are hoping to make Seattle their new home. “We came up here because I decided I wanted to get out of the South altogether,” said Pastor Joseph Haynes of Jesus Christ In Time Bible Church in New Orleans. “We didn’t have time to board up our house (to prepare) for the storm. We just packed up our things and left.” According to Haynes, the reason why so many people were reluctant to leave was because in the past people had evacuated New Orleans only to get stuck in traffic and had to return to the city before the Hurricane was scheduled to hit. Haynes, who was an A-1 Diesel Mechanic for RTA Transit of New Orleans, along with his wife, Emma, their two sons, Joseph, Jr. and Jonalvin (both in their 20s), and Earl Mosby, a member of their congregation, began were among the many evacuees who were stuck in the long lines of traffic before Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans and were among the last cars allowed to merge on to Interstate 10 (I-10) heading west to Texas before traffic was diverted to I-10 east because the interstate couldn’t handle anymore vehicles evacuating New Orleans at the time. “We just made it before they re-routed people,” said Emma. They group, traveling in two vehicles, decided to head to Dallas because they had heard that everything in Houston was all booked up. But when they arrived in Dallas they found that the price of hotel rooms in Dallas were going at premium prices. “One girl, at a hotel, told me that because of all the evacuees from New Orleans that the hotel rates were double (their usual rate),” said Emma. In addition to the high hotel rates, they even had to pay an additional $10.00 for an extra cot to sleep on in the room. Fortunately for the Haynes, they had a son, Justin, who now lives in Seattle and despite not having any winter clothes with they made the trek through the mountain ranges in the western United States to Seattle with nothing more than the few items that they were able to bring with them. “We had nobody in Dallas, with him being up here (in Seattle) he was making contacts for us to get help when we got here,” said Pastor Haynes. Justin had previously received assistance from the Central Area Motivation Program (CAMP), one of the nation’s oldest anti-poverty programs, and called Annamichelle Justice, a housing assistant at CAMP last Saturday and told her that his family was on his way here from New Orleans and if she could help. Justin had been helped Justice before though CAMP and had stayed in contact with him to make sure he was doing ok. It was because of that connection Justin knew that he could get help for his family from CAMP. Upon their arrival, CAMP was able to provide the family with temporary housing for seven days, and providing them with clothes, food from their food bank, and a hot meal courtesy of CAMP’s community partners, Swedish Hospital. “We’re basically given them the support that they need in order to get settled,” said Justice, who has 140 family members of her own from New Orleans that are still missing. “I have four relatives who are in Houston right now,” she said. Things were going well for the Haynes in New Orleans. They had just opened up their church, Emma was operating a small business, their son Jonalvin had just completed job corps, they had just remodeled their home, and were in the process of getting resources for their businesses before the hurricane hit. But now the Haynes believe that there is nothing for them in New Orleans to return to. They have received reports from friends and neighbors in New Orleans that the area along the west bank of New Orleans where their home and church are located was completely engulfed in water. “I found out I had cousins at the Astrodome,” said Pastor Haynes. “They’ve lost everything.” “We lost over $30,000 in just remodeling,” continued Haynes, who estimates that the family has spent between $1,300 – $1,500 traveling to Seattle and that they only have enough personal resources to last about one more week. The Haynes are very grateful for the support they received from CAMP and clearly see the necessity of having organizations like CAMP to help people in times of need, since they had their own bad experience with the Red Cross. According to Mrs. Haynes, the called the Red Cross because they were told that they could receive assistance from them. She explained to them that she was an evacuee from New Orleans and was looking for whatever assistance was available to them. The people answering the phone acted like the didn’t know what was going on, she was transferred from one person to another, was eventually put on hold for a very long time only to have the call eventually be disconnected. “They had a very nasty attitude,” said Mrs. Haynes. “I didn’t know if they hung up or what.” Fortunately things got better in Seattle. They were able to re-unite with their son and granddaughter, Armani, and the local hotel where they are staying cut their prices twice for them to stay there. Although the Haynes still have yet to hear from some relatives, they are in need of clothing, toiletries, and a permanent place to live the Haynes are already looking for work and looking to make Seattle their new home. We feel fortunate in this particular situation that we were able to step up to the plate,: said Tony Orange, executive director of CAMP. “But we’re going to need support from the community to help stabilize them.” CAMP is working with state and local government and community partners in order to help this family and other families evacuated from New Orleans that are in the process of relocating to Seattle.