Salvation Army Back to Work in Gulfport
Robert Siegel checks in with Sally Lohrbach about how Gulfport, Miss., is coping after Hurricane Katrina. Siegel first spoke with her about two weeks ago, just after the hurricane had hit. Lohrbach is the office manager for the city's Salvation Army.
MELISSA BLOCK, host:
This is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News. I'm Melissa Block.
ROBERT SIEGEL, host:
And I'm Robert Siegel.
This week we're checking back with some of the people we heard from in the days right after Hurricane Katrina hit. Back on Wednesday, August 31st, we spoke with Sally Lohrbach of Gulfport, Mississippi. That's where she's the office manager for The Salvation Army.
And, Ms. Lohrbach, you described for us back on that Wednesday how you had stayed at home with your husband, spent the night upstairs in the attic praying as the hurricane struck. How's life since then?
Ms. SALLY LOHRBACH (Office Manager, The Salvation Army): Well, life has been different than it has ever been before. We spent four nights sleeping in my office. I've never slept at work before. And then thanks to the wonderful people at The Salvation Army, they found us some hotel rooms for the disaster team and my husband's company, Mississippi Power, they have provided us a travel trailer to stay in until we can do something about our house.
SIEGEL: What kind of condition is the house in?
Ms. LOHRBACH: The house is standing still, and we have had so much help from our church, the Presbyterian Church in America, disaster relief team to just sort of muck out the house and carry out all of the flooded goods and start helping with the decontamination process. But we're not sure yet if it's still structurally sound enough to rebuild. So we're in limbo about what to do about the house, other than trying to salvage irreplaceable objects.
SIEGEL: Were you among the lucky small number that got a $2,000 debit card or a direct deposit to your bank account?
Ms. LOHRBACH: We have not at this time. I'm not even certain that my husband has requested that. We feel so blessed that we both have jobs, that we haven't missed a paycheck, and we've been provided for by friends and family and church in so many ways that I don't believe he's made any request for that. You just don't have to take something just because it's available.
SIEGEL: Really? You feel that even if the benefit is extended and you've been hit so hard by this, you wouldn't apply for it?
Ms. LOHRBACH: I'm just saying I don't believe that he has at this point in time, and there are so many who do not have and who need those funds right away. I mean, they need them to survive that I would just say we'd step to the back of the line.
SIEGEL: A couple of weeks ago you described for us a loss. It was of your husband's journals that he had kept from childhood. Every day of his life, he'd kept a journal and all of it washed away. Just no...
Ms. LOHRBACH: They're all washed away. They're in boxes that we haven't been able to open yet that were fully submerged, and we know they're contaminated, and I don't know if he's even going to try to open the boxes to look for them. They're out by the curb along with all of the rest of the debris from our house. And the sweetest thing happened. Claudia Madsen(ph) from Casco, Maine, sent a donation to The Salvation Army after she heard your program, and included in that was a letter to me and a brand-new journal and a note in her letter that said she hoped that Loren(ph) would find the heart to write again, and it was so sweet.
SIEGEL: Well, Sally Lohrbach, thank you very much for talking with us once again.
Ms. LOHRBACH: Thank you for the opportunity.
SIEGEL: That's Sally Lohrbach, who is the office manager in Gulfport, Mississippi, for The Salvation Army, whom we spoke to a couple of weeks ago after she and her husband had weathered Hurricane Katrina in the attic of their home.
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