St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Student Center has been taking care of Hurricane Katrina evacuees and their pets for over one week.Christina Torres, St. Thomas volunteer and marketing senior from Thibodaux, said that Father James Morrison, pastor of St. Thomas, felt the need to open the Aquinas center as a shelter when he learned that evacuees with pets were being turned away from the other shelters on campus.
“When Father Jim realized that was happening, he opened his doors to the people,” Torres said.
At the peak of sheltering displaced residents of the New Orleans area, St. Thomas had more than 140 people residing in the center. Currently, the center is housing approximately 80 displaced residents.
The approximately 140 evacuees at the shelter did not include the more than 100 dogs, cats, rabbits and birds that St. Thomas helped take care of, Torres said. Many of the evacuees had more than one pet.
Torres is not sure how long the shelter at St. Thomas will remain open, but she said that it would be open until everyone who needs to find a place to stay has one.
“Our main focus is to connect people to family and friends,” Torres said. “If anyone knows how we can do that, they are more than welcome to help out.”
According to Torres, the evacuees being sheltered at St. Thomas were evacuated from the New Orleans area after Katrina made landfall. Torres said that for many of the residents, their pets are all that they have from their homes.
“Many of them (evacuees) have tragic stories, but they appreciate what we are doing for them,” Torres said.
According to Torres, the community has given St. Thomas enough support that the only supplies that they still need are food and volunteers. St. Thomas had more than 100 volunteers total help out so far and between 30 to 40 volunteers daily.
“The community has really come together,” Torres said. “Some days we have more volunteers than people staying here.”
When the shelter first opened, mostly the campus ministry students ran it, but Torres said once the word started to spread, people from throughout the community began to help out.
The Dallas Sheriffs’ Office is sending a truck filled with goods donated to the Aquinas center. Torres said a displaced resident who went live with family in Texas told them about the service given to them at the Aquinas center and the Dallas Sheriffs’ Office wanted to help St. Thomas out. Originally, they planned to send two truckloads of goods, but Torres said that the Aquinas center told them that one would be more than enough; therefore, the Dallas Sheriffs’ Office is sending the other truck to a different location.
Catholic Social Services donated bedding and towels to the Aquinas center, Torres said. The American Red Cross has given St. Thomas all the water they need.
Businesses in the community, such as Wing Stop, Rouses and Wal-Mart, stopped by the Aquinas center for a day, donated food, cooked it and served meals to the residents, Torres said. Area churches have provided meals as well.
St. Thomas is looking for donations of nonperishable food in bulk quantities. Also, now that classes have resumed, St. Thomas needs more volunteers during the daytime, because the campus ministry students have classes to attend.
Anyone wishing to donate can drop off items at the St. Thomas office. Volunteers can call 446-6201 to sign up.
