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September 17, 2008
Earnestine Maxie and Alicia Brown each worked multiple jobs back home near the Gulf Coast. Ricky Freeland and Jim Swift have jobs waiting on them, but neither has a car.
They are among more than one dozen coastal residents who have camped out since Thursday at Mobberly Baptist Church. Many have learned that their homes are damaged and without power because of Hurricane Ike or that they're not being allowed back into their hometowns.
Other than Brown, none of them have seen how much damage has been done to their homes. Finding local jobs is foremost on their minds, though they say the search has been as fruitless as their calls for federal or state assistance.
"Thank God (Mobberly church members) opened their doors, but I'm not here for a handout," said Maxie, a 51-year-old cashier and substitute teacher in Cleveland who's stuck in Longview with neither transportation nor any money. "I'm being honest. It hurts, and I'm holding back the tears because we didn't ask for this."
Swift, a Baytown truck driver staying at Mobberly with his wife, two young children and no car, added, "I have a job, and it's going on right now, and there's no way to get home... With me not working and no source of income, we've got bills stacked on top of bills. Those bills are not going to stop flowing because Ike hit."
Roland Johnson, area director for Texas Workforce Solutions in Longview, said Tuesday that his office is seeking inquiries from local employers who need temporary help. After Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005, employers responded with an outpouring of jobs, but things have changed three years later.
"I don't know if it's because the electricity is out or the phone lines are down, but we're not having the response we had a few year ago," Johnson said.
Any employers or evacuees looking for work can contact Johnson at (903) 758-1783 or contact one of Texas Workforce Solutions' satellite centers in several area counties' seats.
Kim Ganze of Orange has heard there's 3 feet of water in her house. Her mortgage holder has threatened foreclosure, and she's calling their bluff.
"We're having to use our money and our gas to find jobs," Ganze said. "I told the bank, 'If you've got to foreclose — foreclose. We've got to keep our money so we can find us a place to live.' "
The East Texas Council of Governments has received no funding allocation to assist coastal residents who were forced from their homes during the evacuation, according to Lindsey Vanderbilt, the agency's spokeswoman. Furthermore, the agency has received no word from Austin of whether funds will be set aside for evacuees.
Scott Bodine doesn't know about his own home, where the lights could be off for weeks. His family — wife, two sons, a daughter-in-law and three grandkids — are living in a their travel trailer on Lake O' the Pines. On Sunday, he was asking for directions to the Jefferson food stamp office.
"We've never asked for anything," said the 21-year employee of a Beaumont company that creates robots. "Even after Hurricane Rita (in 2005), I had enough money saved that I didn't collect unemployment or nothing. This time, I'm going to be unemployed for a while. I've got to eat."
Bodine, 53, is one of more than 100 residents of coastal cities and towns now living on the shores of Buckhorn Creek. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which manages Lake O' the Pines, is allowing hurricane evacuees to live on one of its 55 RV sites at no charge.
Ike might complete Bodine's cycle of financial ruin, he said. He's heard nothing about his job at I-Corp, but knows the plant has no electricity. His wife's job with the mentally challenged is on hold indefinitely.
"I have homeowner's insurance," Bodine said, "but that don't mean squat."
"We need to be working," said 24-year-old Janishia Driver, a former telemarketer staying at Mobberly with her 2-year-old daughter. "So if there are some employers out there, we desperately need them to hire us."
The Longview area's unemployment rate is 4.6 percent — 0.4 percent lower than the state average, according to the Texas Workforce Commission. Unemployment for the nation is hovering at about 6.1 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
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