by Jay Copp

Not long after Hurricane Katrina slammed into her district in southern Louisiana, Vice District Governor Nancey Farr of 8-N ventured out to assess the damage and see how Lions could help. She encountered scenes stranger than any fictional tale.

The cries of a dozen newborns filled the Sunday school rooms of Judson Baptist Church in Watson. The beleaguered Woman’s Hospital in nearby Baton Rouge had asked church leaders to convert their facility into a makeshift maternity ward. At a junior high in Denham Springs Farr found 600 tired evacuees sprawled out on the gym floor. Overnight, the Christian Freedom Center in Walker had built outdoor wooden showers, complete with small hot water heaters, for its 60 evacuees.

The situation was far different for the 700 displaced people at a recreation center in Denham Springs. Children and adults suffered from pneumonia, fevers, burns and infections. A doctor was busy treating patients groaning with pain from embedded roofing nails.

At Faith Family Church in Watson, Farr discovered that 80 people were forced to sleep on pews that were unceremoniously pulled together. Farr arranged for food for the shelter residents and called a judge-friend to recruit young people to unload the trailers. Back in Walker, at a shelter in Calvary Baptist Church, she promised to send food and even stopped at a hair salon to arrange for the teen-age girls in the shelter to receive a free shampoo and style.
Throughout the Gulf Coast, Lions such as Farr reached out to those in need after Hurricane Katrina hit. Despite sometimes suffering damage to their own homes and communities, Lions responded to the disaster with an untold number of service hours and a flurry of relief activity.

Lions in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida staffed shelters and collected funds, food and supplies. They were greatly aided by LCIF. The foundation awarded a US$200,000 Major Catastrophe Grant so Lions could meet the needs of displaced people and issued US$10,000 Emergency Grants so Lions could issue vouchers for food, water and medicine. LCIF also quickly set up a committee of leading Lions from the affected states to coordinate relief and created a Web site to keep Lions informed and to connect Lions who wanted to help with Lions on the front lines.

LCIF Responds
LCIF awarded the US$200,000 Major Catastrophe Grant for short-term relief in three areas: 1.) providing shelters with unmet substantial needs such as food, clothing, personal hygiene items and bedding; 2.) offering health services such as eyeglass distribution; 3.) meeting needs of Lions camps and facilities housing victims of the disaster. As of press time, LCIF also had awarded seven US$10,000 Emergency Grants for Lions in the affected areas to issue vouchers for necessities for the storm victims.

LCIF Chairperson Clement Kusiak appointed a steering committee of four leading Lions from the four states most affected by the tragedy to serve as liaisons between LCIF, Lions in the disaster areas and Lions who want to help. These four Lions are:

• International Director Robert Eichhorn, 4301 St. Francis Street, Metairie, Louisiana, 70001, 337-237-7169 (temporary phone number), 504-525-7235 (business), 504-455-6951 (home), 504-525-7238, (fax), ethelchickadee@aol.com or execdirector@llef.gs.net.
• International Director Howard Jenkins, 850 Mt. Vernon Road, Columbus, Mississippi, 39702, 662-328-2756 (home number and fax), hjenkins@cableone.net.
• Past International Director Lowell Bonds, 1808 Hummingbird Lane, Hoover, Alabama, 35226, 205-322-6575 (business), 205-823-4941 (home), 205-328-3612 (fax), ljbonds@aol.com.
• Past International Director E. Robert Lastinger, 29743 Morwen Place, Wesley Chapel, Florida, 33543, 813-994-9604 (residence), 813-994-0844 (fax), edbobl@earthlink.net.

LCIF’s special Web site on Lions’ hurricane relief effort includes a Web-based Help Link to connect Lions who want to volunteer time or donate goods with Lions in the affected areas who are staffing shelters or otherwise helping victims.

LCIF’s normal policy is that Melvin Jones Fellow recognition is not allowed for designated donations. To encourage donations for Katrina victims, the LCIF Board of Trustees amended this policy. Donations to LCIF for Hurricane Katrina relief from Aug. 29 to Nov. 30, 2005 (postmarked by Nov. 30), are eligible for MJF recognition. To count toward an MJF, the donation must be a single US$1,000 payment or more from a donor. The Melvin Jones Fellow does not have to be named when the donation is made.

Lions Respond
Many Lions in heavily damaged Districts 8-S and 8-N in Louisiana evacuated their homes, as did the general population. Lions able to provide services did their part. Lions in 8-N, which includes Baton Rouge, distributed LCIF-funded vouchers to victims for food and looked after those needing oxygen or otherwise having special medical needs.

Louisiana Lions in 8-L, several hours north of New Orleans and generally not directly touched by the disaster, helped take care of thousands of displaced people who left New Orleans and other places before the hurricane hit. “I’ve never seen anything like this in my life, and I never want to see it again,” said District Governor Ann Sanders of 8-L. “People came here with only the clothes on their back. We have babies who need diapers and food.” Lions in her district quickly collected at least several thousand dollars to assist the evacuees, said Sanders. Lions from Connecticut, Massachusetts and Maine called her to offer help. The Lion from Maine who called coordinated a shipment of two 18-wheelers of supplies. A Lion from Lafayette, La., drove over with a car full of meat.

Lions assisted at improvised non-Red Cross shelters that have sprung up. Lions also staffed larger venues such as the gym at Louisiana State University in Shreveport, which held nearly 2,000 displaced people. Some Lions opened shelters in their capacity as a state or government employee. Vice District Governor Dinah Landry of 8-O was housing 500 displaced people in Cameron Parish, where she is head of the Council for Aging.

The Louisiana Lions Children’s Camp in Leesville was housing and feeding 114 people who fled north from New Orleans before Katrina hit. Half of them were Lions themselves. Just because they are displaced did not mean they forgot about their identity as Lions. “They’ve kept busy. They’ve cleaned the campgrounds,” said Ray Cecil, camp director. “They’re evacuees who’ve lost their homes and livelihood but they’ve been busy the whole time they’ve been here.” Lions were filling the unmet needs they came across. The Opelousas Club and Carencro Club in Louisiana got drug prescriptions filled for those in need. The Grandlake-Sweetlake Club helped churches put together packages of necessities for people at shelters.

The ability of Lions in the devastated areas of Mississippi to offer aid to others was initially partly limited because of damage to their own homes. “Most of us have to clear debris around our own homes, clean out freezers of spoiled food and take care of other household duties that could not be addressed during the power outages,” Raymond Roberts of Brookhaven, Cabinet Secretary of District 30-I, wrote in an e-mail to LCIF. Gas shortages and loss of communication services also made it difficult to launch a coordinated relief effort, he added.
Still, the Brookhaven Lions purchased $250 worth of paper plates, cups, napkins and toilet paper for two local shelters and gave children at four shelters oversized coloring books the club had been selling as a fund-raiser. The Wesson Lions Club staffed a shelter at a community college set up for emergency electrical power workers.

Gregory Crapo of Gulfport, Cabinet Secretary for District 30-N, reported to LCIF that “basically [there is] nothing left to this area. Very few homes and businesses survived. The majority of our schools and churches have been destroyed. Many parents are already relocating to get their children into school before it is too late. There are no prospects for jobs because there are no businesses left.” Yet Crapo said he and others remained undaunted. “Each day is a little better as power comes back to those buildings that are still standing,” he told LCIF. “I know the Lions are coming. We are getting contacts via various means from Lions and clubs all over the U.S. wanting to help. The local Lions are helping individually through the Red Cross and personally volunteering at the hospitals and distribution points.”

The Mississippi Lions state office asked clubs to purchase chain saws. “We figure one person can clear his home and then pass the chain saw on to the next person,” David Barham, council secretary, wrote in an e-mail to LCIF.

Lions in Alabama focused their efforts on the coastline area where 3,000 homes were destroyed. “Everyone keeps hearing about New Orleans and Mississippi and it’s like nothing happened in Alabama. But it did,” said Council Chairperson Rick Berry of Enterprise, Ala.
The Alabama Lions dispatched one of their eye vans to the coast to do screenings and eyeglass recycling for hurricane victims. A second eye van was serving the needs of displaced people who are in shelters in the middle of the state. The Dothan, Alabama, area has 4,000 evacuees, most of them from Mississippi, said Berry. At one shelter, Lions were helping to feed 80 to 100 people each night. Lions in 34-I sent a truckload of water and supplies to Mississippi. Anticipating the donation of goods, Lions in Alabama secured in advance a large storage space at a Wal-Mart building in Mobile. “Lions here are at work. We’re doing everything we can,” said Berry.

Support from Far and Wide
Lions far from the disaster quickly supported Lions’ relief efforts in the Gulf Coast. The Liberty Lions in Indiana collected and shipped a truckload of food and supplies to Lions in Alabama. The Host Committee of the International Convention in Hong Kong donated US$10,000 to LCIF’s relief fund. Lions in West Virginia provided glasses and did vision screenings for the 400 evacuees at Camp Dawson. A young boy about 7 years old cried in telling Lions that the flood washed his glasses away. A screening of an older man showed the onset of glaucoma and may have saved his vision.

Supported by LCIF, the Texas Lions Eyeglass Recycling Center distributed eyeglasses and offered eye care services to evacuees at the Astrodome in Houston and other nearby shelters. Fourteen Lions were scheduled to work with the Houston Ophthalmological Society on the project. “I cannot express my appreciation enough to the Lions who are supporting us in recovering from this disaster,” District Governor Robert Andrepont of 8-O wrote in an e-mail to LCIF. “LCIF was very helpful and timely with processing my grant application. I have received e-mails with promises of support and prayer from around the world. I cannot tell you how much we treasure our fellow Lions' thoughts and prayers.”