Cooley Godward Kornish LLP
Sherron Thomas
One young woman who attended the clinic in Mississippi was working at a casino along the Gulf Coast when Hurricane Katrina occurred. She evacuated to Indiana, but had returned to Mississippi where her two children were now living with a family member. Because her relationship with the family member was strained, she had been living in her car in an unsafe area on the beach since her return to Mississippi. She applied for FEMA assistance but was denied, purportedly due to insufficient damage to her apartment building. The inspector came to this conclusion after examining the exterior of the building while the woman was away. I assured her that we would help her appeal FEMA’s decision, but also told her that we would try our best to find her housing immediately. Fortunately, the operator of a volunteer youth camp had stopped by the workshop and knew a Mississippi resident willing to let the woman live in a FEMA trailer with her children until more permanent housing was secured. I drafted an understanding between the two women and after tears and hugs, our client was able to spend the night in the trailer with her children.