A lesson learned

When Hurricane Katrina wreaked havoc on Louisiana and Mississippi in 2005, the country learned a valuable lesson about the importance of preparedness.

Three years later, Hurricane Gustav sent residents scurrying from the Gulf Coast region, some of whom took temporary shelter in the Shoals. This time, officials were prepared to meet them.

"Maybe it's true that we just really did learn from Hurricane Katrina that disaster can hit in a flash and we need to stay on our guard all the time," said NaKisha Martin, coordinator of the Shoals' 211 system.

The system, which will officially go online in October, is available to Colbert, Franklin, Lauderdale and Marion county residents in need of health and human services. Operating through the United Way of Northwest Alabama, the phone number links callers with the services they need for free. Nearly every state has a comparable service. In larger cities, such as Mobile, the help lines have aided in the coordination of social services for Gustav evacuees.

Martin said that so far, the 211 line has been used in a more limited capacity, but helped in the coordination of the recent relief efforts.

Some of the primary relief efforts were organized by VOAD, Volunteer Organizations Active in Disaster, a local collaboration of all the area's social service organizations.

Martin said that with greater knowledge and communication in times of disaster, many problems that were realized in the aftermath of Katrina were avoided with Gustav.

Greg Hammond, a customer service manager for Simon Solutions that operates the Charity Tracker software program in the Shoals, said bulletins are sent during disasters or other crises regarding each organization's efforts. The system helps prevent duplication of services, which ultimately allows local organizations to help more people.

"We were already having problems with duplication of services even before Katrina hit three years ago, but when that happened and we suddenly had so many evacuees, the problem was amplified," he said.

The result: Resources ran out.

"We knew we had to do something, and the result of some brainstorming was this system for tracking, the Shoals Emergency Assistance Network (SEAN) Tracker, also called Charity Tracker," Hammond said. "It's been very valuable in helping us be prepared and be of service to the evacuees this time."

Multiple churches and relief organizations helped with more than 2,000 evacuees last week in Colbert, Franklin and Lauderdale counties. The majority of those evacuees - about 500 - were housed at Northwest-Shoals Community College in Muscle Shoals. Almost 200 more were sheltered at the Phil Campbell campus.

From the Red Cross of Northwest Alabama to the Disaster Relief Team of the Southern Baptist Convention, agencies came together to provide assistance for all.

The Southern Baptist Convention team provided evacuees three meals a day.

"We were here for the duration to provide food for these individuals and do whatever we could to make them comfortable and help ease their minds during such a tragedy," said Barbara Ashcraft, a chaplain with the organization. "We all can only imagine what it would be like to be forced to leave your home because of a natural disaster and not know what you would return to."

Evacuees said they felt the concern and compassion from local residents.

"This is the first time I've ever been to Alabama," said Debra Francis, a retired nurse from Lake Charles, La. "I'd ruined my shoes in the course of getting here and this precious student from the college just came up to me and took her (Nike) tennis shoes off and gave them to me.

"I couldn't believe it. I knew she'd paid a lot of money for those shoes but she told me I needed them more than she did. It made me cry, just thinking of what a kind heart that young girl had toward a perfect stranger.

"I've also realized that Alabama, and especially the Muscle Shoals area, has the most hospitable people in the country. I thought we were good in Louisiana, but these Alabamians have been incredible with their pure kindness."

Catara Copeland, a student at Northwest-Shoals, realized Tuesday morning when she arrived at school for classes that there were hundreds of visitors on campus.

"I live just a few minutes from here, and there was no way I could not help out," she said, adding that she mainly played with the children and visited with the evacuees, listening to their stories. "It just really broke my heart for their situation. There was no way I could go home and relax, knowing these people were here dealing with all this uncertainty."

College officials said the process of providing help for the storm victims went as smoothly as could be expected.

"Everyone pulled together to meet the needs of these people," said Northwest-Shoals President Humphrey Lee. "I've met some wonderful people who somehow managed to keep a good attitude under some very difficult circumstances."

Mike Melton, Colbert County's Emergency Management Agency director, said the help efforts went smoothly because of the organization and willingness of the volunteers to "do whatever was needed."

"VOAD made a huge difference in making sure we had the resources we needed, from the ability to provide triage to food to busing people to the Help Center (in Florence) for clothing needs," Melton said. "I can't say enough about the abundance of help we had. It was a total community effort. We just took the attitude that these are our people and we're going to do everything we can to help them. I've never seen such appreciation in my life."

Lisa Singleton-Rickman can be reached at 740-5735 or lisa.singleton-rickman@TimesDaily.com.