Many were inspired to help hurricane victims

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Saundra Blankenship watched the endless array of gloomy images of the displaced people of New Orleans who had lost everything.

"I saw that people were dying from this disaster and it was unbelievable," said Blankenship, of Benton, Mo. "They were calling those that didn't die refugees and evacuees, right here in America. I just couldn't stay home and not help."

Blankenship called the Southeast Missouri Chapter of the American Red Cross to see what she could do. The Red Cross was understandably busy, but Blankenship was persistent. Eventually she learned that the Red Cross was setting up a camp in Benton for evacuees who were leaving New Orleans by the thousands and making their way northward.

Blankenship saw her chance.

She started volunteering at the shelter at the Charleston Baptist Association Camp in Benton. She lived there, along with the roughly 200 evacuees who came to the camp during the seven weeks it operated.

"I just took to it as if it had happened here," Blankenship said. "These were people in need, and the people of Southeast Missouri really stepped up to the plate."

Countless other Southeast Missouri residents were moved to lend a hand to fellow Americans who suddenly found themselves without homes, family members and all of their worldly possessions. People in the region donated time, money, household items and food and opened up their homes to help the estimated 1,000 people from the Gulf Coast who ended up in Southeast Missouri.

"The people of Southeast Missouri were just wonderful," said Kristi Thurman, director of emergency services at the Red Cross office in Cape Girardeau. "There was so much generosity. The people just couldn't get the shirts off their backs fast enough. As soon as there was a wish list, it was immediately filled."

She said the effort was truly communitywide, with help coming from churches, individuals and agencies like the United Way. Groups held fish fries to raise money and the Humane Society of Southeast Missouri collected money to help treat animals who came through the shelters.

Dan Steska, executive director of La Croix United Methodist Church in Cape Girardeau, said many Southeast Missouri churches adopted families, providing shelter, food and other items to make the evacuees feel as much at home as they could.

"There were just a number of people who were very willing to express love and generosity and acceptance," Steska said. "We had to learn how to do that as we slowly found out what the needs of the families were and what services were available."

Frank Nickell, director of the Center for Regional History at Southeast Missouri State University, spent two days at the other American Red Cross camp in Southeast Missouri, Camp McClanahan near Kennett, Mo. He interviewed the evacuees to document their oral histories.

The generosity of Southeast Missouri residents was not lost on the evacuees, he said. "I had a number of people say this is the best they had ever been treated."

Their experiences here were different from the way some evacuees had been treated in the Convention Center and Superdome in New Orleans. Many had been turned away from places like Houston and San Antonio. But he said they were greeted with open arms in the middle of a cotton field in Southeast Missouri.

One man told him: "Compared to what we have gone through, this is heaven."

Several hundred of the people who escaped to the Cape Girardeau area are still here. Many friendships have formed. Today Blankenship has invited two of those former evacuees to spend Christmas Day at her home.

"We're opening up our home for Christmas," Blankenship said. "Isn't that what we're supposed to do? Helping people makes me feel good and, after what I saw I'm proud to be an American. I know now that if something happened in Southeast Missouri, I know we would be rewarded back."

smoyers@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 137