Catholic Charities Hurricane Ida Impact Report

H U R R I CA N E I DA

IMPACT REPORT RESPOND | REOPEN | RECOVER

A MESSAGE FROM BISHOP FABRE Dear Sisters and Brothers in the Lord, “Comfort My People” has been my episcopal motto since I was ordained a Bishop in 2007, words that have meant more to me these past six months than perhaps ever before. Hurricane Ida swept across our diocese leaving lives torn apart, families displaced, businesses in shambles and our churches left picking up the pieces. Comforting the people of our diocese is the driving force behind our efforts with Catholic Charities and our church parishes.

As I drive around our diocese today, months after the storm, I see small glimmers of hope in the progress happening around us. However, so much of our community remains in disrepair and so many of our families continue to struggle and need the help of Catholic Charities. The efforts of Catholic Charities since Hurricane Ida have been nothing short of heroic. Thousands of lives have been touched by our disaster relief efforts and we are committed to walking with our people for the long haul in their road to recovery. We will continue to live out the mission of Catholic Charities to those who are suffering by feeding,

sheltering, clothing and comforting the people of our diocese.

I am grateful for our team at Catholic Charities for their tireless dedication to serving the people of our communities and am proud to share with you the great impact made by generous donors like you. It is my hope that this brief Impact Report will give you a glimpse of the face of Jesus in the people of our diocese as we Respond, Reopen and Recover. Please know of my great gratitude for your prayers and generosity which have helped Catholic Charities to do the work of the church.

I am wishing you God’s blessings with gratitude for your support in the work of Catholic Charities.

Gratefully in Christ,

Most Reverend Shelton J. Fabre Bishop of the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux

PHASE 1

Throughout the first six weeks of our immediate response phase, Catholic Charities was immediately on the ground serving the people of Lafourche and Terrebonne parishes with food, shelter, gasoline, and mobile medical units.

250+ TONS OF SUPPLIES

were distributed to our community including generators, cleaning supplies, personal hygiene, tools and much more.

175,000+ HOT MEALS

Through our partners, Catholic Charities has provided more than 175,000 hot meals in addition to the hot meals our Catholic Church parishes served.

19 OF OUR CHURCHES

became main sources for hot meals, nonperishable food and supply distributions.

• In partnership with our in-kind supporters we were able to open a warehouse where truckloads of supplies were delivered then distributed to our 19 Catholic Church parishes, Baptist Churches and other nonprofit points of distribution.

• Volunteer Groups assisted families with debris clean up and preparation for mucking and gutting homes.

• Partnered with the Cajun Navy to assist with mucking, gutting and clean up as well as provided their housing at Lumen Christi Retreat Center.

• Set up Mobile Medical Units in the southern most parts of Lafourche and Terrebonne Parishes ensuring our community had access to medical care while we were without hospitals.

• Partnered with local and national nonprofits and organizations to expand our services such as Catholic Charities USA, Acadiana, Lake Charles, New Orleans, and Miami, as well as the Red Cross, FEMA, World Central Kitchen, Premier Catering, Second Harvest, Amazon, Rouses, and Cannata’s.

PHASE 2

Working with our Catholic Charities partners from across the country, we were told that the normal response phase lasts approximately two to three weeks. However, with the severe extent of the damage within Lafourche and Terrebonne Parishes, communities remaining without clean water, gasoline, power and basic functionalities, our response phase lasted more than six weeks.

As our communities slowly began to have their infrastructure rebuilt around them, power came back on one street at a time, clean water began to be restored eight weeks post Ida and our response phase moved into phase two, to reopening. During phase two, Catholic Charities was able to:

3,000+ CASE WORK FILES In partnership with St. Vincent de Paul, Catholic Charities opened 10 Parish Resource Assistance Centers where more than 3,000 case work files were opened by families and individuals.

$250,000+ IN GIFT CARDS More than $250,000 in gift cards to local grocery stores and visa cards were provided to these 3,000 individuals and families to help purchase the food and resources they needed for their families.

• Truckloads of plywood were provided by our strategic partners to assist with home repair.

• Opened ‘The Pantry’ providing nonperishable food and supplies for students and teachers in 11 schools across the diocese with the Lafourche District Attorney’s Office and local partners.

Case Workers helped more than 600 families, who had not yet filed, to fill their FEMA claims before the deadline.

• The Catholic Community Center, which serves the entire South Lafourche Community, was completely demolished by the storm and the Caritas Food Pantry in Houma had significant damage forcing these food banks to remain closed until deemed safe. However, we reopened our other two food banks in Raceland and Thibodaux just eight weeks after Ida.

70 HOMES

• St. Lucy’s Day Care was opened for our 44 students .

600+ FAMILIES

Mucking, Gutting, and Home Repair began with our staff and volunteer groups. Anticipated goal of mucking and gutting 70 homes before April 2022.

700+ BLANKETS TO KIDS Provided 700+ blankets to kids in need through our partners Blankets 4 Kids.

$57,000 TO SCHOOLS

Granted $57,000 to eight public and Catholic schools for classroom supplies and uniforms for students.

• Assisi Bridge House began accepting new clients.

PHASE 3

Phase III is the longest phase of our Disaster Response as recovery will be a long process for so many, perhaps years. However, Bishop Fabre and Catholic Charities are committed to walking with people through the recovery process and comforting them through this difficult time. Catholic Charities has begun embarking on the recovery process through case management and direct family financial assistance, which will require the most resources for the next three years to implement. It is our hope that through the prayers and generosity of the faithful, Catholic Charities will be able to impact more than 2,000 families through the recovery process over the next three years with financial assistance and case management.

2,000 FAMILIES

Of the 3,000 family case files opened at our Parish Resource Assistance Centers we estimate that 2,000 of these families will need ongoing help from Catholic Charities.

10 CASE MANAGERS

Catholic Charities has implemented a robust Case Management Team with 10 Case Managers, who will walk with 25 – 35 families at a time through their insurance and FEMA claims, connect them with mucking and gutting resources as well as direct financial assistance.

$1.2 MILLION TO FAMILIES Our hope is to provide more than $1,200,000 of direct financial assistance to families annually for the next three years.

• We anticipate that using a tiered scoring system based on income level, damage to their home and insurance coverage, each family will receive a score associated with the amount of financial assistance we might be able to provide to the family.

• Catholic Charities is committed to helping families with their home repair and rebuilding needs. Through building strategic partners with organizations we will continue to identify families through our case managers and provide the skills to assist with rebuilding and finding the appropriate contractors for families who simply need a hand up putting their lives back in order. This is their community, this is our community and we are here to assist as we rebuild.

OVER

$4.5 MILLION RAISED $1,600,000 DIRECT FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE

15% 22%

$1,000,000 CASE WORK/MANAGEMENT

35%

15%

$710,000 IMMEDIATE HUMANITARIAN AID

9%

$400,000 RESTRICTED FUNDS

4% $200,000 OFFICE ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES

Baton Rouge Area Foundation Bayou Community Foundation Blue Cross Blue Shield Cajun Ninja Cannata’s Market Catholic Charities USA, Acadiana and many others across dioceses Catholic Extension Catholic Home Mission

Chevron Greater New Orleans Foundation John Deere Foundation Premier Catering Rouses Markets State Farm Verizon Hundreds of Generous Donors across the country

Most Rev. Shelton J. Fabre

Bishop of the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux

Very Rev. Simon Peter Engurait

Vicar General and Interim Director of Catholic Charities

Karen David

$700,000 MUCK/GUT/REPAIR/REBUILD

Chairman and Interim Chief Administrative Officer

Judith Blaise, M.D. Tina Callais Mervyn LeBlanc Rev. P.J. Madden John Silver Mark Thibodaux

1220 Aycock Street, Houma, LA 70360 catholiccharities@htdiocese.org (985) 876-0490