Finding Respite at Ott Center

Shortly after Hurricane Ida unleashed its fury on the New Orleans area, Michael Acaldo received an urgent call from a friend seeking shelter for three families in need.

The families were residents of Hotel Hope in  New Orleans, which provides shelter for homeless women and children. The shelter had lost power and the ladies as well as their young children were in distress.

Acaldo, who is director of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul in Baton Rouge, immediately  contacted Debra Blacher to see about availability of space at the Bishop Ott Sweet Dreams Shelter on the St. Vincent campus. As it happened three rooms were available and in less than 24 hours two of the families had resettled at the Ott shelter and the other family one day later.

“Hotel Hope is a great project and they do wonderful work,” Acaldo said. “We were more than happy to help.”

Blacher said two rooms were already sanitized for immediate occupancy and a crew quickly readied the third room, which had recently been vacated by a family. 

“I am so grateful that when we are in a position to able to help somebody and are able to,” Blacher said. “When we are not it breaks my heart. When you have to turn away somebody that’s tough.”

Two of the families left quickly, both reunited with family members. But New Orleans native Tiffany Joiner and two of her seven children stayed for more than a week.

Joiner was at Hotel Hope when the facility lost power and recalled a lack of hot food, suitable water with which to bath and the relentless heat, which was perhaps the most difficult hardship.

Before evacuating to Baton Rouge, the three families were forced to sleep on the porch because the heat was so oppressive in their rooms.

“It was just unbearable,” Joiner said. “Mosquitoes ate my baby (5-year-old Jayden) up. When I got here I had to take him to urgent care to get medicine for those mosquito bites.”

Before leaving New Orleans, Joiner witnessed first-hand the extensive wind damage, downed tree branches lining city streets and looting. 

“I don’t understand why they loot,” said Joiner, who had been at Hotel Hope since earlier this summer.

Upon entering the Ott center, Joiner joked she wrapped herself in the refreshing cool air blowing from the A/C unit.

“You don’t realize how much you miss it until you don’t have it,” said Joiner, who experienced her first major hurricane on the streets since she was imprisoned when Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in 2005.

As she settled into her new surroundings, Joiner was grateful for what the shelter offered, including a private room for her, Jayden and her 17-year-old son. St. Vincent also furnished such necessities as clothing, deodorant, toothpaste and three meals a day.

“It’s amazing,” she said. “I’m very grateful and would not trade it for nothing in the world.

“They are very helpful to me here. They help you more when you open up to them and let them know the things that you need. I’m aware of when people are trying to help you and not just brushing you off.”

Acaldo said the shelter often fills up quickly during natural disasters, such as hurricanes. A recent expansion has added an additional 36 beds during non-pandemic times but only 12 under current social distancing protocols.

True to its mission, a year ago, when Hurricane Laura devastated Lake Charles, rather than housing many evacuees St. Vincent provided much needed assistance in other ways, including clothing.

Joiner’s plans include returning to New Orleans to clean up some personal business and then return to Baton Rouge, hopefully back to the Ott shelter if possible.  Eventually, her goal, with the help of St. Vincent de Paul, is to find a place a place to live in Baton Rouge, saying the community has a “different atmosphere” than New Orleans.

“If a room is available, she is more than welcome to come back,” said Blacher. “Being able to help those in need is the rewarding part of my job.”