Nicholls opened Shaver and Stopher Gyms to Katrina evacuees beginning Aug. 30. More than 2,600 relocated residents had entered the shelter since Katrina. Between 900 and 1,100 evacuees remained at press time.Services provided to evacuees include clothing distribution and washing, phone and Internet access, hygiene supplies and travel coordination. Shelter organizers said they have made these services available and provided a location now they are waiting on Catholic Charities and the Red Cross to take over.

Local volunteer chairperson for the Red Cross, Maria Cruse, said Nicholls is not currently an official Red Cross shelter. She also said she does not know when the Red Cross will be able to take over the operations because of the massive size of this disaster.

Nicholls was originally informed to utilize only Betsy Cheramie Ayo Hall as a special needs shelter, but the number of evacuees coming from the New Orleans area forced Nicholls to open more buildings as shelters.

“We had a structure in place and the government support for a special needs shelter,” Allayne Pizzolatto, assistant vice-president for academic affairs, said. “Before we knew it, they were asking if we could accept people in the gym. So, we really had no mechanisms in place for dealing with these people.”

Pizzolatto said she has been organizing many of the shelter’s services because she understands the logistics of the campus.

With the evacuation of the Superdome and the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center completed, shelter organizers are not expecting any more buses. Although, evacuees are being transported to and from other shelters to be reunited with loved ones.

The area in front of Meade Hall has become the drop-off center for clothing donations, but that will change as soon as a suitable building is located.

Trudy Clemet, one of the organizers of the clothing distribution center said they are only taking new or presorted clothing. Clemet also said the items most needed are underwear, socks, men’s shoes and undershirts.

Shelter officials are asking for donations of adult bicycles to provide evacuees with a mode of transportation and television sets to provide evacuees with news of New Orleans.

“The volunteers have been fabulous,” Pizzolatto said. “Once we put something in place and show someone how to do it, the next day we show up, and it is being done. People are training each other to keep the services going.”

Shelter organizers said they are in the process of creating a time schedule for the volunteers.

“We need to keep the volunteers coming on a steady basis until all these people find a place to go,” Pizzolatto said. “This could go on for a long time because these people have lost everything.”

Both Shaver and Stopher gyms received power Wednesday morning and re-established an Internet connection Friday.

Several Nicholls employees have supplied their personal office telephones and computers to the shelters for the evacuees to use. The phone line being used is (985)448-5420.

“Communication has been our biggest problem,” Pizzolatto said. “We are focusing on the needs of these people, and they need communication. Within 10 minutes of opening up the phone bank, we had people connected to families that were coming pick them up.”

Evacuees have been using the Internet to locate lost loved ones, make insurance claims, file reports with FEMA and Email family members.

University President Stephen Hulbert said he did not know how long the shelter would remain open at a faculty/staff meeting on Monday.