Gulfport still not back to normal
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By Matt Hutton
Daily Review Atlas
Thu Jun 11, 2009, 07:49 PM CDT
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MONMOUTH — Many people in the area don't know much about Pay it Forward ministries. Those who do have often fallen upon the hardest of hard times.
Pay It Forward ministries is a non-profit, faith-based community action group located in Henderson and Warren counties. Chairwoman and case manager Shawn Moede said the group is active in disaster relief and has spent much of its time and resources working with those in Gulfport and Henderson County in recovering from last summer's flood.
Several members of the organization attended the Illinois faith-based Emergency Preparedness Initiative meeting in Springfield last month. There, they had a chance to listen and speak with New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, among others.
"Speaking to (Nagin) in a one-on-one basis, we gained the understanding that what we're doing in Gulfport and Henderson County is a parallel to New Orleans," Moede said.
While the size of the affected area is different, both were growing communities that were essentially wiped out by the flood. Moede said the last estimates indicated only nine families and 26 people had been able to move back to Gulfport.
"The people are not there, their lives are not back to normal and the people are not back to normal," she said.
Another similarity between New Orleans and Gulfport is that most people were struggling financially, even before the flooding, making recovery difficult if not impossible. That is especially true because many families still must make mortgage, tax and insurance payments on their flooded properties, while having to live somewhere else and pay the same expenses again.
"The process is very slow. What people don't understand, unless they're in that area, is the money is not there to rebuild. For a lot of people it's not an option," Moede said. "A lot of people were at or below the poverty level to begin with. Take everything away and they did not have bank accounts to fall back on. So, you have to turn to FEMA money just so you can survive. Then you've depleted that money. How can you go back?"
Moede said Pay it Forward tries to help relieve some of the stress for those struggling to get back on their feet. Because they draw on a pool of volunteer services, Pay it Forward is able to do a lot of networking and legwork for people, be it finding a job, paying a power bill or getting food, clothing, furniture or supplies from a food pantry or other charitable organization.
"Beyond that, if you need someone just to listen to, we offer crisis intervention," Moede said. "We try to offset stresses and make life as normal as possible. But normal for them is not the same as normal for you and I and not what it was for them before."
At the same time, many people outside of the areas directly hit by the flood were affected. For example, some Warren County residents lost jobs because they couldn't get to Burlington while the roads were flooded or because their employers lost their businesses. The intense stress of the situations have also caused some to lose their marriages.
"It's impacted people who never touched water. Their lives will never be the same," she said.
Pay it Forward is also prepared to step up in the event of other disasters, several of which have been in the news recently.
As part of the Emergency Preparedness Initiative, members of the organization met with Illinois Department of Health Director Damon Arnold and went through training to respond to a pandemic. On Thursday the World Health Organization declared the swine flu, also known as H1N1, as the first pandemic flu in more than 40 years.
This week, Moede is at a training seminar for intervention teams that would come into a school or area following a crisis, like a school shooting or Wednesday's violence at the Holocaust Museum in Washington.
"I feel blessed when I'm able to help someone," Moede said.
Pay it Forward has offices in Warren County at the First Street Armoury and in Henderson County at 111 S. Sixth St. Oquawka.
For more information call 309-313-4973.
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