It has been a very trying week for people all over the coastal sections of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.
The General Manager of the Hampton Inn hotel that I manage in Houma, Louisiana, forty miles southwest of New Orleans, is a wonderful lady and fine person. She rode out Hurricane Katrina in the hotel, which is just a few miles from the Gulf of Mexico.
The property came through with very little in the way of damage, except for the roof, and has remained full of evacuees and families of team members throughout the event.
Brazette says that the stories of the people that are stranded there are so sad. When the cable finally came back on Thursday, people crowded arond the large screen television in the lobby to view news reports from their beloved New Orleans. The scenes shocked them. Many tears were shed as they realized the worst had occurred.
We have been able to do some things to assist Brazette from our offices in Birmingham, mainly using the computer. This morning, I received an instant message from Brazette saying that a 79 year old gentleman named Mr. Joseph C. Jones and his daughter Desiree Jones from Harvey, Louisiana had gotten separated right after the storm. Brazette said that Mr. Jones was nearly hysterical.
He arrived in Houma and was staying at another hotel. Since the Hampton is the only one with internet now, Brazette was asked to post his information on the Red Cross website. She asked me to do it for her since the Red Cross website was busy and kept timing her out.
I went to the website, www.redcross.org, and found the specific page for posting names. I had little hope that Ms. Jones would see it. I posted as much information as I could. I had to do it several times, but it finally went through.
Tonight, I received a joyful message from Brazette that Ms. Jones had indeed spotted her fathers name on the Red Cross site and had experienced a tearful reunion by telephone tonight. She was in Jackson, Mississippi. They will be reunited tomorrow.
A little happy news...
The General Manager of the Hampton Inn hotel that I manage in Houma, Louisiana, forty miles southwest of New Orleans, is a wonderful lady and fine person. She rode out Hurricane Katrina in the hotel, which is just a few miles from the Gulf of Mexico.
The property came through with very little in the way of damage, except for the roof, and has remained full of evacuees and families of team members throughout the event.
Brazette says that the stories of the people that are stranded there are so sad. When the cable finally came back on Thursday, people crowded arond the large screen television in the lobby to view news reports from their beloved New Orleans. The scenes shocked them. Many tears were shed as they realized the worst had occurred.
We have been able to do some things to assist Brazette from our offices in Birmingham, mainly using the computer. This morning, I received an instant message from Brazette saying that a 79 year old gentleman named Mr. Joseph C. Jones and his daughter Desiree Jones from Harvey, Louisiana had gotten separated right after the storm. Brazette said that Mr. Jones was nearly hysterical.
He arrived in Houma and was staying at another hotel. Since the Hampton is the only one with internet now, Brazette was asked to post his information on the Red Cross website. She asked me to do it for her since the Red Cross website was busy and kept timing her out.
I went to the website, www.redcross.org, and found the specific page for posting names. I had little hope that Ms. Jones would see it. I posted as much information as I could. I had to do it several times, but it finally went through.
Tonight, I received a joyful message from Brazette that Ms. Jones had indeed spotted her fathers name on the Red Cross site and had experienced a tearful reunion by telephone tonight. She was in Jackson, Mississippi. They will be reunited tomorrow.
A little happy news...