Loretta and Pete Seybert with a friend they met while delivering food and supplies to hurricane victims in New Orleans.
Local president and wife devote vacation to helping Katrina victims
WHEN PETE and Loretta Seybert watched the drama of hurricane Katrina unfold on their television sets last year, they wondered what they could do to help.
They called the American Red Cross, explaining that Pete — president of Local 1845-I, Island County, and a volunteer firefighter with District 5 on Whidbey Island — and his wife, Loretta, are volunteer emergency medical technicians. The organization suggested they undergo required additional training and put them on a fast track to give assistance to the hurricane-ravaged area of New Orleans.
By December they were ready to go. Pete decided to devote his vacation to the project and Loretta, an occupational therapist who works with children with disabilities up to age 3, set aside her scheduled time off to join him.
They left on December 13 and for the next three weeks each drove an emergency recovery vehicle (ERV) through the streets of New Orleans from Kenner, a suburb where the ERV staging area, the kitchen and supplies were located.
Each morning they would load blankets, dry snacks and 500 to 600 hot meals from the staging area run by volunteers from Southern Baptist churches and deliver them throughout the day to needy residents in New Orleans neighborhoods to which they were assigned.
Pete delivered to the Broadmoore section and Loretta to the Upper 9th Ward section of New Orleans.
“We worked from 7 a.m. to 7 or 8 p.m., announcing our arrival in an area with the loudspeakers with which the ERVs were equipped,” says Pete.
“Each of us had one or two volunteers who would deliver the goods from the truck to the residents.”
They bypassed areas close to restaurants as they did not want to undercut their business.
Loretta says she was surprised at how much need there was in the area even though they were there a couple of months after the hurricane struck the city.
“Many of the residents still did not have running water and gas,” she explains.
“The utility companies were still working hard to get them up and running. People were unable to cook hot meals and avoided drinking the tap water even when it was available.”
The Seyberts say the experience was really rewarding and they would go back in a heartbeat. In fact, Pete adds, they hated to leave the neighborhoods in which they were working.
They became friendly with the residents and with the other volunteers from around the country and still keep in touch with them.
A highlight was Christmas Day when the community gave them gifts, including Mardi Gras beads, and the children drew thank-you cards for them to show their appreciation.
“We came back on New Year’s Eve feeling they were among the most wonderful people we had met,” says Loretta.
Clearly the people of New Orleans, thought the same of them, too.
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