Survivors making new lives in Cape

Felix Lewis spent the night of Aug. 29, 2005, sleeping in water up to his chest. So did his mother, Lillie Mae Harris, and his then-17-year-old son Felix. Hurricane Katrina had filled his Ninth Ward house with greasy dark water.

The next day her grandson, a lifeguard, helped Harris leave to look for help. "We walked that water," she recalled. "It reminded me of the Bible." Eventually they made it to hell -- the sweltering Superdome, where only chaos was in charge.

Felix remained behind to take care of his animals -- he had goats, ducks and rabbits -- but the water wouldn't leave so he had to. He wound up at the convention center, a wild scene he compares to Dodge City. "Everybody was frustrated. It wasn't like anything I ever dreamed of."

For three weeks, the two halves of the splintered family didn't know if the others were alive.

Two years later, all three live in Cape Girardeau. So does Felix's sister, Lachia Rodriquez. They're attempting to make new lives for themselves. The elder Felix married a Cape Girardeau woman two months ago. The younger Felix is attending Southeast Missouri State University and has a daughter. The elder Felix is trying to open a day-care business in a house on South Sprigg Street and wants to begin operating the same youth development program he ran in New Orleans.

That is not to say they're settled. Their houses in New Orleans are still standing but need massive repairs. His is leaning and appears ready to fall down. So far, neither the Federal Emergency Management Agency nor any other organization has offered to help them rebuild. No house in their neighborhood has been rebuilt.

Lewis has held a couple of part-time jobs, but as a union carpenter he has been unable to find steady work here.

The storm may have passed, but people are still dealing with its consequences, he said. "Hurricane Katrina is still going on."

The 6-4, 300-pound man served in the Marines during the evacuation of Vietnam and the Panama invasion. He's used to maintaining a tough exterior. But recounting Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath sends tears down his cheeks. He struggles to pay rent and needs a place to board the horses he brought from New Orleans.

"I've got a lot on my heart and mind," he says.

The motorcycles in his front yard were in the flood and probably will never run again. He keeps them there because he knows children love motorcycles, and he wants children to come to his program.

After leaving New Orleans two years ago, Lewis first landed at a camp set up for hurricane survivors in Kennett, Mo. He met Becky and John Harding, who were working at the camp on behalf of Centenary United Methodist Church in Cape Girardeau. They encouraged him to come to Cape Girardeau. Her father, the late Jim Sides, helped him retrieve his horses from New Orleans and boarded them until his death last September. Sides was a trail rider.

The American Red Cross also provided the family with relocation help.

In New Orleans, Lewis worked as a carpenter and operated a youth program called Pony Express Yourself. Along with other activities, it provided children in the Ninth Ward the opportunity to ride horses. He had six horses in New Orleans and has brought four of them to Cape Girardeau. Through various programs, the not-for-profit organization attempted to teach youths 10 to 18 years old responsibility and how to keep from being taken advantage of. One facet taught children how to perform odd jobs.

He thinks youths in Cape Girardeau could benefit from these experiences.

Hurricane Katrina was devastating, but had its blessings as well, Lewis says. He met his wife, the former Brenda Ware, while both were working with Big Brothers Big Sisters. She now is employed by Educare at Southeast Missouri State University.

Cape Girardeau is becoming more and more like home. Robert Bell, a New Orleanian Lewis has known since seventh grade, also ended up at the camp in Kennett and now lives in Cape Girardeau.

Lillie Mae likes it here. "There are beautiful people here. Nice people. I love it," she says.

Surviving a tragedy like Hurricane Katrina leaves you much more attuned to the misfortunes of others, Lewis said. "People say 'I didn't think it would happen to me.' You just don't know where or when it will happen to you or how it will happen to you."

Lewis had jackets made up for his family with a patch in the shape of Louisiana. The words in the patch say "Hurricane Katrina Survivor. August 29, 2005. God is good. All the time."

"We are not refugees," he insists. "We are survivors."

sblackwell@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 137

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Tracking Katrina's survivors

Nancy Jernigan, executive director of the United Way of Southeast Missouri, heads the region's COAD, which stands for Community Organizations Active in Disaster. The committee is designed to coordinate the community's response to a tornado, flood or any disaster. When Katrina survivors began streaming into the region, the COAD was activated and began receiving grant money to help them.

More than 400 evacuees were identified originally through the American Red Cross. In May 2006 COAD knew of about 300 evacuees. At the end of last June, a COAD committee sent letters to 241 Katrina survivors to see of they were still living in Southeast Missouri. The list was obtained from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Only eight people responded. Thirty-seven letters were returned with no forwarding address. One person had died. Four had returned to their home state. Two had new Missouri addresses. No response at all was received from 189 people.

"A lot of people go back," Jernigan said. "... But they get back and there are no jobs. It's almost like they have to go through that.

"... The people who are still in need are the people who have always been in need," Jernigan said.

The COAD still has access to grant funding through the United Methodist Committee on Relief. That grant ends in October. Also available is one-time relocation funding through the Other Needs Assistance Program administered by the states and federal government. That program continues through February 2008.

The American Red Cross can still provide money to help hurricane evacuees through its Means to Recovery assistance program. Executive director Cheryl Klueppel said the assistance is limited to people affected by hurricanes. It can help them restore their home but does not provide for ongoing needs.

Klueppel said other programs have been available through other agencies to help survivors since the hurricane struck. "Our role has been to help identify resources for those clients," she said.

Jernigan said the Federal Emergency Management Agency is not opening any new Katrina cases.

-- SAM BLACKWELL