Katrina +10: The Salvation Army
With the 10 year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina around the corner, the Ohr O’Keefe Museum of Art continues to recognize those who helped with the recovery. Today, officials from the Salvation Army shared their experiences.
Damaged roadways, destroyed casinos, washed up homes: images from Hurricane Katrina that former Transportation Commissioner Wayne Brown hopes to one day forget. “It was a sad day indeed to come down and see the devastation; Not only to our roads, but our homes and our buildings.”
But for Brown, there is one image that sparks positive memories from Hurricane Katrina. “One of the bright spots of coming down was I saw the Salvation Army, and they had food, they had drink. And what a relief it was to know that these people were there on the spot.”
Many gathered at the Ohr O’Keefe Museum Café this morning to reminisce on the relief the Salvation Army brought to the Gulf Coast during such a catastrophic time. Assistant Director for the Ohr O’Keefe Museum Carol Messer said, “It’s important to just kind of see the recovery from the storm and how many people were involved and the stories behind it. It was a lot of different organizations and departments.”
Similar to after Hurricane Katrina, Salvation Army volunteers set up all around the Ohr O’Keefe Museum today, mingling with visitors and serving free food to all who attended.
Major Gary Sturdivant, area commander for the Salvation Army, said, “All of our Salvation Army officers and some of our volunteers are trained as critical stress management folks. And, so the Salvation Army comes in after a disaster and feeds, plus we pray, plus we listen. We just want to help the whole person.”
Help that disaster experts say often comes one step at a time.
“I hope we all gain from the Salvation Army being here today that we can all give back. We can all do our own part to help others. We were helped and now we can help others. And we’ve shown that we’ll do that,” said Brown.
Damaged roadways, destroyed casinos, washed up homes: images from Hurricane Katrina that former Transportation Commissioner Wayne Brown hopes to one day forget. “It was a sad day indeed to come down and see the devastation; Not only to our roads, but our homes and our buildings.”
But for Brown, there is one image that sparks positive memories from Hurricane Katrina. “One of the bright spots of coming down was I saw the Salvation Army, and they had food, they had drink. And what a relief it was to know that these people were there on the spot.”
Many gathered at the Ohr O’Keefe Museum Café this morning to reminisce on the relief the Salvation Army brought to the Gulf Coast during such a catastrophic time. Assistant Director for the Ohr O’Keefe Museum Carol Messer said, “It’s important to just kind of see the recovery from the storm and how many people were involved and the stories behind it. It was a lot of different organizations and departments.”
Similar to after Hurricane Katrina, Salvation Army volunteers set up all around the Ohr O’Keefe Museum today, mingling with visitors and serving free food to all who attended.
Major Gary Sturdivant, area commander for the Salvation Army, said, “All of our Salvation Army officers and some of our volunteers are trained as critical stress management folks. And, so the Salvation Army comes in after a disaster and feeds, plus we pray, plus we listen. We just want to help the whole person.”
Help that disaster experts say often comes one step at a time.
“I hope we all gain from the Salvation Army being here today that we can all give back. We can all do our own part to help others. We were helped and now we can help others. And we’ve shown that we’ll do that,” said Brown.
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