- Joined
- Feb 28, 2003
- Messages
- 3,591
- Reaction score
- 0
got this email today
Hello friends,
Your emails are finally getting through to us. Our heartfelt thanks to
all of you for your concern and support in this tragedy. It is sinking
in to us that this is not something that will go away next week. Our
lives here in Louisiana have changed and will never be the same.
LSD's campus and facilities came through unscathed, allowing us to
devote our attention to assisting the homeless. Our priority has been
to locate our New Orleans area students and get them back in school.
We have contacted students and their families in Florida, Tennessee,
Arkansas and Texas, as well as all over Louisiana. They are beginning
to make their way to Baton Rouge to bring their child back to school.
In most cases, this means providing shelter for their families. This
morning we have 11 families (49) people living in one of our
dormitories. This is a number that fluctuates daily. Families find
apartments to rent and move out, or they connect with relatives
outside Baton Rouge and move on. Example: one little girl's extended
family (17 members) found an apartment to rent and moved out last
Friday. We expect several more families to arrive today. These folks
are in need of clothing and basic supplies.
We are also housing LSD staff members and their families who lost
their homes or have been without electricity for an extended period.
The daytime temperature here continues to be in the mid-90s. Thank
God this has been a small number.
Re: the deaf community for whom we've provided shelter, this number
has also fluctuated. We've had as many as 12 or more and that number
is down to two this morning. They come here, catch their breath, eat
a hot meal, wash their clothes, get a hot shower and an air-
conditioned night's sleep. We then help them contact friends or
relatives who can take them in. We had two elderly brothers, both
deaf-blind, who miraculously made their way out of New Orleans to a
shelter near Baton Rouge. One of the volunteers in that shelter was
the daughter of an interpreter. She told her mother who contacted
LSD and then drove the two gentlement to LSD. They were with us
several days until they could contact friends who came to get them.
The local service providers (Louisiana Commission for the Deaf,
Louisiana Association of the Deaf, Louisiana Career Development
Center,Catholic Deaf Center, First Baptist Deaf Church, Assembly of
God Deaf Church, and Louisiana School for the Deaf) are coordinating
services for deaf refugees. The Baton Rouge Deaf Action Center will
do initial screening and connect the deaf refugees with Food Stamps,
Unemployment,Social Security, FEMA, counseling and comforting, etc.
and provideinterpreters. LSD will provide temporary housing, food
and clothing until the refugees can be relocated with friends or
relatives. Once this is publicized, we expect a large number of
homeless deaf people to be processed through LSD.
Our most pressing need is and will be monetary donations. As most of
you know, I am limited by laws and regulations as to how I can spend
our state appropriation. Monetary donations earmarked for a specific
purpose(hurricane relief) I can spend as needed. We have established a
special account through which these donations will flow. This money
would go for clothing, toiletries, and food for the families of LSD
students and the homeless deaf people who will be housed at LSD.
Donations in lieu of material goods gives us the flexibility to
purchase the exact items and sizes needed and we should be able to
save by purchasing some things in bulk. In addition, it would go for
gas, bus tickets, train tickets to reunite these people with their
friends or relatives, if possible.
Please make checks payable to the Louisiana School for the Deaf, with
a
notation "for hurricane relief," and send to my attention at the
address below.
Please remember us in your prayers.
Bill Prickett, Superintendent
Louisiana School for the Deaf
P.O. Box 3074
Baton Rouge, LA 70821
(225)769-8160 V,TDD
(888)769-8111 (instate only)
(225)757-3424 FAX
bprickett@lalsd.org
www.lalsd.org
Hello friends,
Your emails are finally getting through to us. Our heartfelt thanks to
all of you for your concern and support in this tragedy. It is sinking
in to us that this is not something that will go away next week. Our
lives here in Louisiana have changed and will never be the same.
LSD's campus and facilities came through unscathed, allowing us to
devote our attention to assisting the homeless. Our priority has been
to locate our New Orleans area students and get them back in school.
We have contacted students and their families in Florida, Tennessee,
Arkansas and Texas, as well as all over Louisiana. They are beginning
to make their way to Baton Rouge to bring their child back to school.
In most cases, this means providing shelter for their families. This
morning we have 11 families (49) people living in one of our
dormitories. This is a number that fluctuates daily. Families find
apartments to rent and move out, or they connect with relatives
outside Baton Rouge and move on. Example: one little girl's extended
family (17 members) found an apartment to rent and moved out last
Friday. We expect several more families to arrive today. These folks
are in need of clothing and basic supplies.
We are also housing LSD staff members and their families who lost
their homes or have been without electricity for an extended period.
The daytime temperature here continues to be in the mid-90s. Thank
God this has been a small number.
Re: the deaf community for whom we've provided shelter, this number
has also fluctuated. We've had as many as 12 or more and that number
is down to two this morning. They come here, catch their breath, eat
a hot meal, wash their clothes, get a hot shower and an air-
conditioned night's sleep. We then help them contact friends or
relatives who can take them in. We had two elderly brothers, both
deaf-blind, who miraculously made their way out of New Orleans to a
shelter near Baton Rouge. One of the volunteers in that shelter was
the daughter of an interpreter. She told her mother who contacted
LSD and then drove the two gentlement to LSD. They were with us
several days until they could contact friends who came to get them.
The local service providers (Louisiana Commission for the Deaf,
Louisiana Association of the Deaf, Louisiana Career Development
Center,Catholic Deaf Center, First Baptist Deaf Church, Assembly of
God Deaf Church, and Louisiana School for the Deaf) are coordinating
services for deaf refugees. The Baton Rouge Deaf Action Center will
do initial screening and connect the deaf refugees with Food Stamps,
Unemployment,Social Security, FEMA, counseling and comforting, etc.
and provideinterpreters. LSD will provide temporary housing, food
and clothing until the refugees can be relocated with friends or
relatives. Once this is publicized, we expect a large number of
homeless deaf people to be processed through LSD.
Our most pressing need is and will be monetary donations. As most of
you know, I am limited by laws and regulations as to how I can spend
our state appropriation. Monetary donations earmarked for a specific
purpose(hurricane relief) I can spend as needed. We have established a
special account through which these donations will flow. This money
would go for clothing, toiletries, and food for the families of LSD
students and the homeless deaf people who will be housed at LSD.
Donations in lieu of material goods gives us the flexibility to
purchase the exact items and sizes needed and we should be able to
save by purchasing some things in bulk. In addition, it would go for
gas, bus tickets, train tickets to reunite these people with their
friends or relatives, if possible.
Please make checks payable to the Louisiana School for the Deaf, with
a
notation "for hurricane relief," and send to my attention at the
address below.
Please remember us in your prayers.
Bill Prickett, Superintendent
Louisiana School for the Deaf
P.O. Box 3074
Baton Rouge, LA 70821
(225)769-8160 V,TDD
(888)769-8111 (instate only)
(225)757-3424 FAX
bprickett@lalsd.org
www.lalsd.org
What a wonderful thing Louisiana School for the Deaf is doing for their deaf community. They are really reaching out to the deaf and helping them feel less hopeless and give them the hope they need to get back on their feet, be reunited with their family. My heart goes out to the deaf community who have suffered terrible losses in this hurricane tragedy.