AMURT & AMURTEL volunteers are active in Baton
Rouge, Louisiana about 80 miles from New Orleans as
well as Houston, Austin and San Antonio Texas.
The volunteers work in refugee centers sorting and
distributing in-kind donations, providing medical
assistance, locating housing and administering
compassionate counseling for trauma and stress. They
are cross racial and cultural, professional and lay,
men and women, and range in age from early twenties
to their fifties.
Our volunteers work with individuals and families to
make them feel as comfortable and as cared for as
possible. Verna, an elderly woman in a wheelchair,
spent 4 days on the roof of her New Orleans home
without food and water. She was deeply traumatized
when she arrived at the Houston Convention Center.
Our volunteers comforted her and met all her
immediate needs, helping to ease the pain of her
struggles.
Volunteers in San Antonio
counsel displaced people.
Our volunteers are vigilant for people who are
falling through the cracks of the shelter system.
They work one on one with mothers with children and
the elderly who don’t know where to go or what to
do. Not only do they steer them through the system,
helping them find and use the shelter’s services,
they take everything a step further than the system
offers.
They noticed that children are drawing pictures of
their houses and drawing each family member standing
in front of it. Some children can’t draw and beg
adults to help them. Some of our volunteers are
specially trained to work with children.
Young volunteers make
new arrivals feel welcome.
Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf coast and wreaked
havoc in the states of Louisiana, Mississippi and
Alabama. Thousands died and more than a million are
displaced.
A Massive relief operation, the largest in U.S.
history, is under way. Government agencies,
community groups, and organizations such as ours
work hand in hand to overcome the incredible
logistics involved. We need your help to give the
people who have been displaced a safe and uplifting environment.
