“The home is a way to move a trapped segment of the population out of poverty. The home is a way to move ahead post Katrina.” Executive Director of NONDC: Una Anderson
Una’s Story Days after Una Anderson and her husband evacuated safely to their second home across Lake Pontchartrain, they were back in New Orleans taking action. Anderson heard an official on TV repeating over and over again that the city needed buses and gas to evacuate residents trapped by the rising water. The words “buses and gas” echoing in her head, Anderson realized that there was something she and her husband could do.
So they found a bus, filled it with gas and Anderson tenaciously talked their way past the blockades. As they approached the city, a state police officer told her to get in a line of 300 buses. She responded that she was not going to wait in line because people needed help. The officer proceeded to ask for her FEMA paperwork. Once again, she insisted on going in. Finally the officer relented, saying, “You won’t have an escort, but I’ll turn the other way,” and he literally turned his head the other way and told them to deliver the people they picked up to the airport.
Anderson and her husband collected 60 people under the interstate bridge at Causeway and I-10. When they tried to drop people off at the airport, however, they were waved away by a man with an M-16. Driving through nearby Kenner, another police officer was so intent on her not leaving passengers in his suburban community that he personally escorted them to the interstate.
Ultimately, Anderson offered the group shelter in her sister’s church north of Baton Rouge. Along the way, a man on the bus cried out “God is good!” And, Anderson said, “Every single person responded in chorus ‘All the time!’” Anderson continued, “After all these people had been through—sitting out in the sun, taking boats, leaving animals and people they cared about—each one was hopeful. We have a great capacity for resiliency, which is good, but it means that we tolerate a lot.”
