When we ran associate Ann Collins' profile
a couple of issues ago, we mentioned what a joy it was to have
her in our office, and how she made every hard day of work
easier to swallow with her small kindnesses. When we
heard this story, against her loud protests, we couldn't
help but share it with the world.
Ann, like so many others, has family that
was affected by Hurricane Katrina. She recently spent a week of
her vacation helping her brother-in-law Ira pull a trailer back
to his hometown in coastal Mississippi. He will live in a
campground there indefinitely until the insurance is processed
for his hurricane ravaged home. While Ira was lucky enough to
be able to purchase a trailer to live in, many of his fellow
residents at the campground were not as blessed. A waiting list
of six to eight weeks for FEMA trailers has forced families of
all ages and sizes to live in tents as they tried to pick up
the pieces and get back to "normal." Getting children
accustomed to routine is difficult enough under everyday
circumstances, but with the heavy burden of the hurricane on
families, parents and children alike were having a difficult
and stressful time with the daily activities of getting off to
school, cooking meals, and trying to entertain each other to
distract from the obvious sorrow.
One afternoon, Ann was walking through the
campground when she noticed a long, locked building on the
property. She asked the owners about it, and was told that it
was the community building for the campground. It currently had
flood damage, and they had cleaned it out, but did not have the
time or funds to do more.
Later, Ann was talking with some relief
workers and mentioned that the building would be a great place
for the children to play in cold weather. The campground
owners agreed. To her surprise the relief workers showed up at
the campground the next day to look at the building.
Just as quickly, plans were made to work
on the building. The day before Ann left, the community
building was filled with off duty workers from nearby Salvation
Army, Red Cross Chapters and church groups. Someone had
gotten paint and indoor/outdoor carpet donated, and others had
managed to get a television and stove. When the families
living in the campground saw what was going on, they pitched in
too.
By the end of her vacation, Ann's
campground playroom had a fresh and cheerful coat of paint, new
carpet and a working stove. Promises of toys, chairs and
tables added to the hopeful atmosphere of the playroom.
But the best addition to the room was the joyful smiles
and shouts of the campground's children as their parents
brought them to see their new place to play.
