Primary contact: Stephanie Ehmen ~ stephanie@eagleswingspublications.com
Telephone: 830-980-2745 or 210-488-8060
Angels and Quilt Pieces .....Our Journey with a Katrina Family
By Stephanie Ehmen
Common Questions/Sample Interview:
Q: How did you get involved in this adventure?
A: The churches in our area joined together to support a shelter for Hurricane Katrina and Rita evacuees. The shelter was housed in a very nice church/retreat facility located about 20 miles north of San Antonio. Each church agreed to provide volunteers to run the camp for 1 week.
Q: How were the families that came to the shelter selected?
A: There was a team that went into the larger shelters in San Antonio to find families that would be good candidates. The prospective family was carefully interviewed, and they agreed to a background check.
Q: Tell us a little about the Thornton family.
A: When we met them the first day that they arrived at the church shelter, the baby, Alonzo, was 8 weeks old. (He was just 3 weeks old when Katrina hit.) There was Roosevelt and Chantal and 5 children ages 8 weeks to 10 years. We were told that first day that when the shelter directors had discovered that Roosevelt and Chantal were not married, they had been informed that, “this was a Christian place, and they would have to get married in order to stay”. We were told that Roosevelt and Chantal had expressed a desire to get married, and that the wedding would be held the next day.
Over time we would learn that Chantal had 7 children in all, two of her older daughters had been evacuated to Houston with their grandparents. Only baby Alonzo was Roosevelt’s, but Chantal and her 4 youngest children had lived with him for several years, and he loved them as his own. We would also learn that Roosevelt was almost twice the age of Chantal. At the time he was 67 years old and Chantal was 34.
It seemed to us that Roosevelt and Chantal were still in a state of shock from their experiences. The children were very traumatized. Three-year-old Charlie was really out of control and five-year-old Anthonyione would jump into our arms, wrap her arms around our neck and hang on for dear life. We spent a lot of our time with the kids so that the parents could have time to work through their own trauma and emotions.
Q: What does it mean that you were “Sponsors” for this family?
A: The idea of the shelter was to provide volunteers as Sponsors to each family to help them get relocated in the San Antonio area, if that was their wish. When we agreed to do this, we really had no idea how much time, money and effort it would take to set up a house for this family with just the bare essentials.
The best way I can describe it is this: If you had been through this horrific experience, then dropped of in the middle of a strange country, where they spoke a “different language”, no money and no way to take care of your family, how would you do? This was how they felt.
Q: Why didn’t they evacuate before the hurricane?
A: Living all his life in New Orleans, and being very well acquainted with the city leaders and politicians, Mr. Thornton and many like him were very skeptical of anything the government told them. He was prepared to leave anyway, but Chantal would not go and he did not want to leave her and the kids behind.
Whether or not they had evacuated, they would have been in the same position, with nowhere to go and no way to start life over.
Q: How are you involved with the family now?
A: Chantal (the mother) returned to New Orleans in May, 2006, and is now living on the streets and has no permanent home. The four youngest children are living with Mr. Thornton and we help him as much as possible. He loves these kids very much and wants to give them a proper upbringing. At times we feel like we are “co-parenting” with him.
Q: Why doesn’t Mr. Thornton get a job?
A: Because of his age, his Social Security Disability (SSI), and the four young children, Mr. Thornton falls into a crack in our system. His SSI prevents him from having any kind of job, and if he gave that up, he would need to have a very good paying job with excellent health insurance to offset the benefits he would lose for himself and the kids. We feel that for him and these children who need to much extra time and attention, he is far better off to be at home with them, teaching them how to live productive lives. It is not easy for him to accept that he has to rely on the government for assistance, but he would rather do that than think of where the kids would be if he sent them to live with their mom on the streets of New Orleans.
Q: What does the title of the book – “Angels and Quilt Pieces” mean?
A: The Angels are all the people who have helped us and the Thornton family along the way, through monetary donations, by giving clothing or household items or with their love and support. Each time someone gave them a hug or a smile or a kind word, they gave the family a “quilt piece”. Someday we hope that they can put the pieces together and be able to wrap themselves in this imaginary quilt to comfort themselves and know that so many people cared.
Q: Is this story finished?
A: No, it will be ongoing. Our next challenge is to find a long-term housing plan for the family. With Mr. Thornton’s only income of Social Security, it is not enough to pay rent or a mortgage. We have a fund and a group of very caring people who are working on buying a house that they can live in. In the event that something would happen to Mr. Thornton, we love these kids, and we will be involved in their lives as long as they want us to be.
Q: Why did you write this book?
A: The purpose is two-fold. 1) To tell the story of the Thornton family and our journey in helping them make a new home in San Antonio, and 2) To help others understand how to go about helping those in need without causing more hurt and trauma. We had many friends involved in different types of relief efforts, and many of them were disappointed because the people they were trying to help did not act or react in the way that they anticipated. We don’t have all the answers, and we probably could have done much better, but we hope that it can at least start the thought process about educating ourselves about those we are trying to help.
Common Questions
Sample Interview
Eagles Wings Publications
© 2007 Eagles Wings Publications - All Rights Reserved