Vermilion Faith Community of Care
PO Box 554   Abbeville, La.  70511
 Voice/Fax: (337) 893-5589     E-mail:   vfcc@cox.net

Uniting the faith community of Vermilion Parish in service
through meeting critical human need.

Hello to everyone:

Just wanted to kinda fill you'll in with what we have been up to Abbeville, La.  Please keep these misplaced people and our workers in your prayers.

The community has managed to set up a commodities distribution center at the St. Theresa Holy Family Center on Charity Street.  It is under the direction of Dianne Broussard, the Clerk of Court.  She has set up a mini mall!!!!  Because of your generous donations, every classroom is filled with every imaginable item.  And as soon as it goes out to people, more just keeps on coming in.  Such a sight!  And every day, they get new people who need something.  They are desperate people in need of soooo much.  And they always do ask for everything they need.  You sometimes have to pry it out of them.  Remember most of these people have NEVER had to ask for anything, and now they have to ask for a toothbrush.  Your heart just breaks.  But the workers do make sure they leave a little happier than they came.

The clothing center on Regina Street is really a sight to see. Classrooms full of clothes.  They too have had many, many visitors.  Every day they get it in, and then turn around and hand it out. Such a good feeling.  I don't know much more on this, as I have not had a chance to go again and check it out.

Rebecca Shirley, Abbeville Chamber of Commerce, has done a wonderful job of putting together all of the information that a person could possibly need in this disaster.  Her clearing house of info is amazing.   If she for some reason doesn't have the number, she will find it for you along with her assistants.  I know today, Saturday, she met an evacuee at 9am to help him understand why he got turned down for FEMA help.  (Go figure) 9am on a Saturday!  Poor fellow didn't understand the letter and she was helping him redo his application.  I haven't had a chance to talk to her today, but I know she was doing all possible to get it straight.

And as for me, well, I am in charge of the food for about 400 every night.  We have managed to put together a cooking team for every night for the month of September!  Try doing that in three days time!  But everyone is so wonderful at wanting to sign their group up to cook.  They can cook whatever they want as long as it can feed 500. We are feeding at the Vietnamese center.  We feed everyday from 5 to 8 with the help of many volunteers.  We even have evacuees helping out! They really want something to do.  We have had Red Beans and Rice, Chicken and Sausage Gumbo, Sausage and Potato Hash, Hamburgers, Shrimp Spaghetti, Meat Sauce Spaghetti, you name it, we will have it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   So if you want to help with the feeding and cleaning, we get there at 5pm, set up the kitchen, the food comes in we hand it out and for 8pm start cleaning up.  We are out of there at 8:15pm because everyone does there part, so it doesn't take long.  Please come out and help.  We will be doing this everyday for September.  And we need the help.

A lot of people seem to always ask:  Why are you helping? I would like to say that I am doing this because of the baby that was born seven weeks ago and her mom had to walk through waist deep water to get them to safety and when she arrived here in Abbeville she had to be admitted to the hospital.  The mom has a staff infection, because that baby was delivered by caesarean.  And now she is sick with fever and infection.  

I doing am doing this for the 81 year old lady with no children to call her own, buried her husband three months ago and told me through tears that "She wished she would have died with him".  She misses him so much and now she has to live with her sister, her house being wiped out.  She said she relied on him for everything and now doesn't know how to live or that she wants to.  How sad.

I am doing this for the lady who used to work at Saks at Canal Place in New Orleans and her husband drove a Street (trolley) Car, now they have no house and no jobs.  And their two weeks at a hotel will run out soon.  He is a licensed CDL driver.

I am doing for the very older man and lady who cried in my arms; they too have nothing left and don't know how they will rebuild.

And I am doing this for my brother and sister in law, who luckily still has a house, but what good is a house when you can't go back to it.  At least for 6 months?  He was lucky to find a job in Houma.   I spent my day with my sister in law finding a trailer for them to move into because the drive is one and 1/2 hours away.  And with the price of gas is too far to be from. 

I am doing this for Jeffery, a 7th grader who wears XXL clothes, size 15 shoe, who had no house left, and only wants to play football!  That's all he wants.  He has two pairs of shoes and a few clothes.  That is it.  Help!  Do you know how hard it is to find size 15 shoes?

I could go on and on, and I know you'll all have heard these stories too.  It is a sad day, but with all of our community help, we will get these people through it. And beyond it.

Thanks. Talk to you later.

Liz

God Bless

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