Luciano Family - Mission to Mississippi

Wayland to Waveland’s
‘Mission to Mississippi’
Letters from the Families

Rose Luciano

Dear Wayland to Waveland,
   It has been a very difficult past two years for me and my family. When Hurricane Katrina hit on August 29, 2005, it took with it my life as I knew it. I left for work at the Sheriff’s Department on August 28th hoping that I could return home to get some rest after Hurricane Katrina passed. I had packed an overnight bag for both my daughter and I “just in case” we needed it. I sent my daughter away with family that were evacuating and I had assured her that I would see her the next day. I was sure to pack an ice chest with water, food and extra ice in the event we lost electricity. As a last resort, I packed all of my pictures in zip lock bags. Thinking to myself, “boy am I going to have a lot of work to do when I get home and have to put them back in the albums.”

   As Katrina began to approach, I did not feel anything I had not felt before. Tropical storms and hurricanes have been a port and way of my life—all my life. The difference with Hurricane Katrina is that it took my home, my car, my job and every personal possession I had ever owned. Although I had not had the wonderful experience of going back home with my daughter, unpacking the pictures and resuming our lives, I was grateful that my daughter and family as well as I survived this storm at all. Surviving the storm surge, the winds and the challenges of the storm itself was something I view today as a miracle.

   I have since then learned and experienced a true sense of poverty. We have had to live in a camper issued to us by FEMA. Once a month, a FEMA representative will come to inspect the trailer. I have asked the representative during each visit if there are any programs designed to assist families like mine yet? The answer is “not yet.”

   When I was informed that my daughter and I had been selected by Wayland to Waveland to have a home built—I cried. When I go out to where the homes that are being built by this organization I still struggle to fight back the tears, because this crisis of being homeless will soon end for my daughter and me. I will soon be able to say yes, when asked if I have been able to recover yet. Profoundly, it has not only changed the stress and grief that I carry, but this experience has restored my faith in the human spirit again.

   I never once would have thought that I would be homeless. I never thought that my family and I would endure the sadness of loss to such a great degree.

Ironically, I still look for things I had before the storm. Then after I back track when I last saw it, it comes to me!

   I look forward to having a home again. A place for my daughter to grow up in, where we celebrate our holidays, and begin to experience stability in our lives.

   I have seen so many homes re-built, while some neighborhoods have still yet to begin again. It is a humbling feeling that I get when I drive past someone’s new or repaired home. It gives me a sense of the way things used to be before Katrina, but at the same time it reminds me of the feelings that come with security and stability. When I feel the urge to mourn over my losses and how it has affected my life, I am reminded of the one thing I asked God to do for me while the hurricane was destroying my home town. I prayed, desperately that my daughter and family survive. When I found my family three days later I thanked God for hearing those prayers.

   My daughter has felt guilty for ever complaining that her room was too small in our old home, I wish I could watch the cute family of squirrels in the oak tree through my living room window again. That was something g I enjoyed so much, that I did that everyday –having coffee in my favorite chair. I miss the family portrait from my childhood that hung in the hallway. That portrait never missed the opportunity to remind me of my roots. Mickey and Minnie, yearbooks with classmate signatures and the stuff that made Shelby’s (my daughter) room were all about her life experiences. The white rocking chairs on the front porch that gave our home a warm peaceful greeting. My mother’s china that she passed on to me after her death—these are things that cannot be replaced.

   There are no words that best describe how grateful I am to Wayland to Waveland for helping my daughter and I. We can feel safe and stable once again. She will have a home to grow up in, a yard to play in and a room of her own. I can have the peace of mind of living in a beautiful and stable environment and sharing holidays in our own home again.

   I am certain that I will rely on this act of kindness and compassion to gain strength through my future. Thank you for giving so much to us. You have all helped me and Shelby experience the beauty of human spirit.

Sincerely,
Ms. Rose Luciano