Three dozen representatives of New Haven city departments, service
providers and business met on Friday at the Citywide Field House to continue planning to welcome up to 100 families fleeing the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. (Related story: “Katrina’s New Haven Waves.“) They seemed to have everything in place to meet the evacuees’ physical, mental and spiritual needs. Except one thing — no one had thought about a designated smoking area.
Given the higher smoking rates in the South, and the added stress folks have been under, someone suggested that a smoking area be set aside at the Field House, where the families will first arrive. The group agreed that an outdoor smoking area was a necessary component of the plan.
That assumes the families are coming; a story in Friday’s Wall Street Journal detailed how communities across the country made preparations like New Haven’s only to be told that evacuees didn’t wish to come there.
New Haven’s chief administrative officer, John Buturla, said officials at FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency), the agency in charge of evacuating families, have assured him that families should be coming to New Haven by the middle or end of next week. He added that more than 100 survivors were flown to Massachusetts yesterday, and they arrived “wet, tired and hungry” directly from the flood zone. He was told that those coming to New Haven would likely be in the same situation.
Buturla said the city still needs donations of cash, housewares and
furniture. To donate, or to volunteer to answer phones, call 946‑7669. Bishop Theodore Brooks of Beulah Heights Pentecostal Church is coordinating clergy volunteers: call 787‑3393. And visit the local Hurricane Katrina web site for more info on how to help.