I WOULD LIKE TO HELP PERSONS WITH AUTISM AND AUTISTIC SPECTRUM DISORDERS REPLACE SOME OF THEIR PERSONAL ITEMS. THEIR NEEDS ARE VERY SPECIFIC. I HAVE A SON WITH AUTISM AND HE WOULD BE COMPLETELY SHATTERED IF HE DIDN'T HAVE SOME OF THE THINGS HE NEEDS TO KEEP CALM. I DEEPLY WANT TO HELP THESE PEOPLE IF I CAN.
Hi, that's wonderful that you would like to help families with ASD children. Our organization does the same. Please go to our website at www.autismcares.org and register to help. If you know of a family who needs help, please have them register on our site, or call us at 1-800-960-1844. thanks!
Holly Bortfeld
AutismCares Care Package Coordinator
800-960-1844
http://www.autismcares.org
AutismCares is a coalition of National Autism Organizations who have come together to help families dealing with autism who are victims of the Gulf Region Hurricanes.
I am looking for a 28 year old woman with PDD named Laura Krasney and her mother, Gretchen Krasney. They lived across the street from each other north of Metairie. If anyone has heard from either Laura or Gretchen, we have been very worried. I would appreciate hearing that they are alright.
Hi, My name is Lisa DiCiccio. I am helping the family of Marcel Farrell Colar aka Dean look for him... he was born 4/21/1929.. he is 76 years old.. the has Parkinsons and Alzheimers and takes medication for his Thyroid.. I have been on red cross' website and it says that he is at the Austin center in Texas... He is not there and never has been. I can not get any information from any nursing home because of the HIPAA law.... i called another organization in LA and was given incorrect special needs shelter phone numbers... I am at a loss here... I will not stop til I help find him... If you would like more information about him...please see this site
www.looking4marcelcolar.com
Thank you...
Lisa DiCiccio
707-720-7313
lisa_diciccio@yahoo.com
Hi, I am also looking for Gretchen Krasney. She painted portraits of my children and I am ready for her to do another. I have no idea where she is. Have you been able to locate her? Thanks, Pam
Hi
I just signed up to help gather information for Louisiana. Wow! What an exciting opportunity to actually accomplish something! I am in Central Louisiana, where the hurricanes passed on either side, Katrina to the East, Rita on our West. Believe me, that was close enough! I feel very blessed that I only witnessed a little wind, (60+ mph) rain (10+ inches), few downed trees and short power outages. There are people who lost everything, others who still have homes but must wait longer to go back. I see them all around me.
One thing I know: Every person in Louisiana has been impacted greatly by these hurricanes. At first it wasn't a matter of rebuilding, it was a matter of surviving. When you can't find rice, sugar and coffee on the store shelves and you were over 100 miles from New Orleans, you know New Orleans has come to your neighborhood! Then along came Rita. Whew! We are still surviving.
Somewhere I heard even in tragedy you can find beauty. The beautiful part of the last five and one-half weeks (yes that's all it's been) is the response. Everyone has a hurricane story. Everyone wants to help. Everyone is tired. Every corner of the state is completely overwhelmed. But still we carry on and meet needs. Please take this opportunity to help us pull things together in one place. Tell us your hurricane story, or if you know of a great relief job being done, or a need still waiting to be filled. Help us help.
Thanks
Carla
There seems to be quite a few differing stories as to what aid is available for disabled hurricane victims.
FEMA has told me the $2358 for rent assistance is all my brother will get, and that I should try to get aid from the state for further rent assistance. I have heard stories from different people who seem to think continued assistance is there for some people, for up to 18 months.
Seems like there is no consistent story...are these just rumors...?
My brother has CP and is mentally ill also. I have found an indepentant/assisted living apartment for him, but we need a little help with the rent until I can repair and either rent or sell his home. Does anyone know where we should go from here?
Yes, confusion is the name of the game. I'm still trying to sort things out, too. Please email me with what you have done and what your brother needs. Check the first two links on : http://katrina.louisiana.gov/financial_assistance.htm.
Thanks
Carla
A Katrina Survivor's account, written by Pamela, disabled resident of New Orleans about her ordeal:
"We are alive and in Houston after a 9 hour Ambulance ride. We had evacuated to a hotel on Causeway and were on the ninth floor safe from flooding, but had no power or water and little food. The passage of the Hurricane was a harrowing SEVEN hours of exploding windows, howling winds and flying debris. I felt like Dorothy in "The Wizard of Oz." 70 % of the glass in the hotel broke, but none in my room. It was a miracle. We took Cupid, the dog, and Jester, the bird but not the cats. Then came the problem of getting me out of the hotel. We could not get an ambulance to come get me. Even bribery didn't work. So we stayed in the hotel with no power and no phones working. Very few cell phones were working so we had to beg to make calls. But thankfully we got in touch with my Niece in Houston who was frantic about our safety. She called every ambulance service between New Orleans and Houston and finally got one to drive from Beaumont to New Orleans, pick me up and drive me back to Houston. (you can't even imagine the cost) They did not arrive till Wednesday about nine, after breaking down and getting lost, and escorted by a fire truck. Next was the problem of how to get me off the ninth floor, with no elevator. The firemen came in with the ambulance people, carried me down two flights of stairs, cut a hole through the wall to the parking lot, carried me through, put me in the back of a pickup truck and drove me down to the ground floor to put me in the ambulance. Then we drove all night to safety in Houston. We are staying with my niece and her family."
These people literally lost everything but she still writes: "But with our love and great friends we will put our life together again somehow."
I noticed a reply you sent to another persons cry for help for her brother and I thought maybe you could provide some information for me. I am a single mother of three. A pregnant 16 year old daughter, a 13 year old son with ADHS,ODD,Dyslexia and emotional behavioral disorder and a beautiful 19 month old son with Down Syndrome. We are trying to get things back together after storm RITA and its hard. I provided inhome daycare before th storm to help with my finances and family needs but that house was damaged and the lanlord couldnt make repairs so it was sold leaving us homeless. We applied to FEMA and got denied. I appealed millions of times and finally eight months later they sent us a little over a thousand which got us into another rent home thats half the size so I can no linger provide daycare and were having a really hard time is there any programs or agencies you know of that may help me and my children. I have been looking everywhere even for yard toys for my baby to help develope his motor skills I cant even find a donated rusty swing.