ÿþ<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> <head> <title>The Color Purple  Meet the Families  Orlando</title> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /> <link rel="stylesheet" href="css/style.css" type="text/css" charset="utf-8" /> <!--[if IE 6]><link rel="stylesheet" href="css/style_ie6.css" type="text/css" /><![endif]--> <!--[if IE 7]><link rel="stylesheet" href="css/style_ie7.css" type="text/css" /><![endif]--> </head> <body id="families"> <div id="wrapper"> <div id="header2"> <div id="title_city"> <img src="images/title_orlando.gif" alt="Meet the Families WHOSE HOMES ARE BEING REBUILT WITH DONATIONS RECEIVED FROM THE ORLANDO ENGAGEMENT OF THE COLOR PURPLE." /></div> <div id="cont"> <!-- Mike --> <div class="title_story"> <img src="images/title_mike.gif" alt="Mike" /></div> <div class="divider_top"></div> <p><img class="famPic" src="images/pic_mike.jpg" alt="Picture of Mike" />Mike knows a thing or two about disasters.<br /><br /> Mike has served on a CORE team, which remains in the community to respond to emergencies when disaster strikes, at Entergy Gas for 16 years and never once evacuated. As storms rippled through the Crescent City, Mike and his crew stood guard and kept damage to their operations minimal. It was quite a heroic job. However, it has been more than seven years and about a dozen surgeries since Mike last worked on a CORE team.<br /><br /> Mike suffers from a severe case of glaucoma along with chronic knee, back, and joint conditions, which leave him nearly immobile. But as a person whose partial job description once required him to weather storms, Mike remains undeterred.<br /><br /> Mike was well aware of his deteriorating condition and knew he could not afford a home strictly on his companies' disability package. After years of working hard and saving, Mike purchased his home in St. Bernard Parish in 2002. With his health, home, and benefits from Entergy all in order Mike had his life on track, at least he thought so.<br /><br /> In 2005, for the first time in nearly 20 years, Mike was forced to evacuate for a storm.<br /><br /> "Katrina destroyed my life," Mike said. Having nowhere else to go, Mike moved into his mother's house. In 2007, Mike faced many highs and lows as he struggled to get his life back on track. His daughter, Stephanie, 20, became pregnant with her first child. Unfortunately, shortly following the announcement of the pregnancy, Mike went through a series of excruciating surgeries including joint replacements, knee surgery, back surgery, and eye surgery.<br /><br /> "I've got about seven pounds of steel in me now," he quips to lighten the mood.<br /><br /> Mike, his daughter and soon to be grandchild still had no place to go home to.<br /><br /> "I just want to sleep in a nice sized bed again. I'm tired of these air mattresses and tiny twin beds," Mike jokingly grumbled.<br /><br /> There is light at the end of the tunnel, however. SBP will soon begin work on Mike's home.<br /><br /> "They got me over that hump," Mike said. Now he can start looking forward to raising his grandchildren.<br /><br /> Stephanie, a nursing student, now has two young sons, Chase, 2, and Devin, 1.<br /><br /> After a shared laugh at how much of a handful they must be, he just replies, "Well, I guess they got a lot of me in them." We can only hope.<br /><br /> </p> <div class="clear">&nbsp;</div> <!-- Ralph --> <div class="title_story"> <img src="images/title_ralph.gif" alt="Ralph" /></div> <div class="divider_top"></div> <p><img class="famPic" src="images/pic_ralph.jpg" alt="Picture of Ralph" />Ralph's primary goal is to get his old life back. Always independent and proud of being able to provide well for his wife and five children, Ralph, 39, now finds himself having to accept help from others for the first time in his life.<br /><br /> Before Hurricane Katrina took everything away from him, Ralph, who was born and raised in St. Bernard Parish, lived with his family in a rented home in Chalmette. He and his wife Vicki, 33, shared a happy life with their children Priscilla, 16, Tony, 10, Isabella, 8, and Lex, 5. Fourteen-month-old Rocco, who was born after Hurricane Katrina, has only known life in a crowded FEMA trailer.<br /><br /> Both Ralph and Vicki's families live in St. Bernard Parish, so they always had family close by. Ralph ran his own construction business. He worked hard and tried to save money to buy a home for his family.<br /><br /> "We had a lot and we lost a lot," he said. "We lost everything even our clothes. My kids are still having flashbacks and so am I."<br /><br /> The Sunday morning before Hurricane Katrina arrived, Ralph was watching the news when his sister called from Tampa and begged him to evacuate. Ralph, Vicki and his parents had hoped to stay in Chalmette and ride out the storm as they had done many times before. Ralph decided to take his sister's advice, loaded the family in the car, and headed towards Dallas. The nine-hour drive they had planned for turned into 29 grueling hours in the car.<br /><br /> "When we got there, we had only the clothes on our backs," Ralph said. "We were like homeless people. We finally found a hotel for all of us and some church people brought us clean, fresh clothes. I'm very grateful to them."<br /><br /> The family stayed in the hotel for six weeks. They then returned to Louisiana and stayed with a cousin in Metairie for two weeks. Ralph started looking for work while his dad looked for apartments. He found two apartments in Algiers. Ralph and the rest of the family wanted to return to Chalmette, but couldn't afford the high, post-Katrina rental rates. A year later they moved into a FEMA trailer, which they continue to live in today.<br /><br /> Ralph wasn't able to start work until the following January. However, Ralph's construction business struggled to stay afloat. You often hear stories about contractors cheating homeowners, but we forget about the homeowners who don't pay their contractors. Ralph didn't have the funds to pay his employees or additional business expenses. Ralph is currently rebuilding his parents' home in Chalmette.<br /><br /> "One day on my way to work I went by a wrecked house for sale that had a big garage," Ralph said. "I knew what I wanted, and I checked it out and bought it. I used all my savings."<br /><br /> Ralph saw the gutted house in Chalmette as the best and only option for housing his family because rental prices continued to increase. Ralph began working on his house while also working on his parents' house. Ralph was worried he would not be able to finish rebuilding the home before their FEMA trailer was revoked. Community members suggested he apply for help at the St. Bernard Project.<br /><br /> "I don't like to get help, but now I have no choice," Ralph said. "I'm glad they're there for us, and I plan to work on the house, too. It will be great to work more on my own house."<br /><br /> When their home is done, Ralph and Vicki's children will finally have room to spread out. They're hoping to move in before Christmas. Ralph said they used to always have Thanksgiving at his mom's and then spend Christmas day at his home.<br /><br /> "Three years of Christmas in a trailer is horrible," he said. "I feel like I lost years of watching my kids grow up. My kids have gone through so much. We want to get back to normal and stay home and watch our kids have a big ole Christmas this time like we used to." </p> <div class="clear">&nbsp;</div> <div id="btn_donate"> <a href="http://www.stbernardproject.org/v158/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=221&Itemid=38"><img src="images/btn_donate.gif" alt="Donate" /></a> </div> <div id="footer"> <a href="http://colorpurple.com"><img src="images/footer_url.gif" alt="Visit The Color Purple's official website" /></a> </div> </div> </div> </div> </body> </html>