50 evacuees expected at Red Cross camp

BENTON, Mo. -- An evacuee with a positive attitude is someone who outruns a killer storm for 600 miles and comes to rest on the New Madrid fault.

On Friday, Geraldine Brown defined herself as having that positive attitude, while staying at the hurricane camp in Benton, Mo.

She and husband John Brown, retirees from De Ridder, La., fled from Hurricane Rita on Sept. 22 and arrived the next day in Cape Girardeau. By the end of the day, they had contacted the American Red Cross and were settled into the hurricane shelter in Benton.

The Browns were the first Rita evacuees at the Red Cross shelter. On Thursday, 50 more arrived from Port Arthur, Texas, after they had stayed about six days at a church in Cardwell, Mo.

Geraldine Brown said she doesn't mind permanently moving to St. Louis, Mo., where she was born and raised. However, their income is at a standstill.

In April, her husband qualified for disability benefits through the Veterans Benefits Association, she said. They did not receive the last disability check because electrical outages halted direct deposits into their banking account in De Ridder.

After following advice to open an account in Cape Girardeau, Brown visited the regional office in St. Louis this week to redirect their checks. The office told her that they were unable to handle the checks from Rita, because they were still taking care of Katrina, she said. Next month's check was not guaranteed either.

Brown said she was told, "the president shares your pain and appreciates your patience."

With few reports about damage in De Ridder, they will likely move to St. Louis as soon as they can.

With everyone from the same town, their stay won't be so hard, said 34-year-old Marbelinda Hooker, who brought her 9-year-old and 4-year-old daughters.

"We're not around strangers. We go to the same church," Hooker said.

All the evacuees plan to move back home once the government allows it, so the shelter is prepared for short-term assistance, said shelter manager Saundra Blankenship. Until then, they have access to an on-site resource station with Internet connection and an area to manage job searches, housing arrangements, bills, social services and FEMA.

"We try to keep everything under one roof so that they don't have to go everywhere to do things," Blankenship said. Several children will attend Kelly School District, and some evacuees will likely take temporary jobs in the area.

Prior to Rita, the shelter had 16 steady evacuees from Katrina. Several will leave in the next week for permanent housing. Having found housing in Scott City, Mo., the last family will leave on Oct. 12.

jmetelski@semissourian.com