Mutual Aid Ministries doesn’t end when you make it to your hotel room in Gladewater, TX and are ready to sleep after an exhausting day of hurricane relief help.

One responder met Sandy in the hotel parking lot as he was retrieving his suitcase from his vehicle. Sandy asked him for 15 cents. She had a stomachache and wanted a soda from the vending machine but she was short. The responder couldn’t find any loose change but asked if she could use a dollar. She responded, “A dollar? Boy could I use a dollar.”

And with that that, the responder and Sandy stood in the hotel parking lot for a long time talking.

He soon found that among the many that were staying at the hotel, she was another displaced person from Hurricane Katrina. She had lived with her sister in New Orleans and lost everything. The car they were driving in (trying to escape) floated away but she was able to make it to Gladewater for help. After arriving, she found that she didn’t fit the “criteria” outlined by the emergency organizations and because she lived with her sister (she didn’t own a home or have rent) she was only given temporary housing in the hotel.

After the conversation and a little research, the responder got on the phone with the Nokona Church of the Brethren. The church is now working with Sandy to get her back on her feet and find long term housing and a job. MAM gave her a gift card to purchase clothing and other personal items.