Baton Rouge, LA (September 11, 2005) –

In a safe playing area, at the Baton Rouge River Center, displaced children play with toys provided by Save the Children. An estimated 5,000 evacuees are expected to spend the weekend (9/10/05) at the center.

Lillie Benjamin, a life-long resident of New Orleans, took one of her great grandchildren onto her lap and sighed, “This is the hardest thing I have ever gone through, and I have known some hard times.” (Watch video)

At a temporary shelter in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, about 80 miles north of New Orleans, the 69-year-old retired nurse talked to Save the Children child protection expert Carl Triplehorn about the many challenges her 16-member extended family faced escaping New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. 

“Everyone is safe,” said Benjamin. “My son arrived at this shelter Wednesday night. I was so happy to know he was safe along with my children, my grandchildren and my great grandchildren.”

Benjamin and 10 members of her family flew to California on Friday. Other family members were headed to Texas. “We hope one day to all go back to New Orleans,” said Benjamin. “But we are living one day at a time.”

So, too, are tens of thousands of children and their families forced to abandon their homes along the Gulf Coast and flee northward in the greatest migration of U.S. citizens due to a natural disaster since the Dust Bowl of the 1930s.

Every day, hundreds of displaced families like Benjamin’s leave Baton Rouge, but the most displaced families remain, creating enormous challenges for local, state and federal authorities as well as nonprofit groups like Save the Children.

Save the Children’s emergency response team arrived in Baton Rouge last week and already has begun helping hundreds of children cope with the crisis, working with local partners and state officials in meeting the immediate needs of displaced children. The agency is providing expertise and assistance to organizations such as the Boys and Girls Club of Baton Rouge and the city’s Big Buddy Partners program which are operating supervised safe areas for children to play in the city’s largest shelter at the Baton Rouge River Center.

A second response team is setting up operations in Jackson, Mississippi, where tens of thousands of additional displaced families are seeking assistance. 

"Our special focus is on helping displaced children," said Save the Children President and CEO Charles MacCormack. "We are establishing programs to bring some normalcy into their lives. This includes trauma support and counseling, educational activities, and creating safe areas for children to gather and play.”

 “We are working in the schools and shelters with children who were uprooted, providing specially tailored activities to help children heal emotionally, and distributing toys and games that are appropriate for children of different ages. ”

Save the Children is also working with state education officials to ensure teachers have training, curricula and other resources to help thousands of displaced children adjust to the upheaval they have experienced.

Save the Children is building upon decades of experience helping children in need in the United States and around the world.

“We know from our work with tsunami victims in Asia – and in dozens of other disaster zones – how to help communities give children back the sense of routine and stability they have lost,” said MacCormack. “In addition, we have a long history of helping children in the United States to overcome severe poverty through literacy programs during in-school and out-of-school time. Children who have lost their homes, family members, pets, schools and friends because of Katrina need this kind of help.”

Triplehorn, an expert in helping meet the educational needs of children in crisis, has recently worked in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, helping local education officials set up programs to assist children impacted by the tsunami.

“We welcome efforts by educators in Baton Rouge to register and enroll displaced students into local schools next week,” he said, but he also expressed concern that tens of thousands of new students would “put tremendous press on an educational system” that is already “stretched to the limit.” “We all recognize that this is going to take time and that it’s an unprecedented situation,” he added. “I never thought I would be responding to a crisis like this in the United States.”

Donate to the Gulf Coast Hurricanes Recovery Fund for Children

For 10 tips to help children cope with Hurricane Katrina, click here.

Parents and educators, download the toolkit, Expecting the Unexpected: Building Partnerships and Plans to Help Children Cope with Crises (2002). The guide draws from the best national resources, programs and practices to meet the safety and security needs of children in rural, impoverished communities. It identifies practical models for bringing parents and community agencies together to plan for and recover from disasters.

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