Six Months After Katrina, United Way Leader Still Searches for Normalcy in Daily Routine

Ask G. Gary Ostroske, president of the United Way for the Greater New Orleans Area, about his post-Katrina life and he answers with a big sigh.

“It’s been a ….” He pauses and releases a breath. “It’s been interesting, I’ll say, in the least.”

Mr. Ostroske returned to the Crescent City five months ago, after fleeing the storm with his wife, two kids, a dog, and a pet canary (The Chronicle, September 29, 2005). But neither the city, nor his personal living situation, has improved as quickly as Mr. Ostroske had hoped.

The rebuilding of New Orleans continues to be a halting process, slowed down in part by the political jockeying for the April mayoral election, he says. And his family has yet to fix its Uptown house, which suffered extensive water and wind damage, because new flood-insurance rules may force the Ostroskes to make architectural changes.

“At the end of the day, you don’t want to put a new roof on, you don’t want to get smooth walls installed, and then have to jack your house up a couple feet,” he says.

The Ostroskes now rent a house about a mile from their old neighborhood, but with city utilities often failing, their daily routine remains far from normal.

Recently, a water main broke on their street, cutting the water supply for a few days. “Every morning in my bathrobe I went out to the street with a pot and a bucket to scoop water that was coming out of the ground to fill the toilets, then I headed to the Jewish community center for a shower,” he says. “That was a struggle unto itself.”

Cruise Ship and ‘Animal House’

Other United Way employees live under equally stressful and unusual circumstances. One lives on board the Ecstasy, one of three Carnival Cruise ships hired by the federal government to house emergency workers. A group of charity employees, including three United Way staff members, live together in what has been affectionately dubbed “Animal House” for its frat-house atmosphere.

At the United Way headquarters on Canal Street, the lobby is in shambles. Green-gray patches of mold cover the walls, and an elevator shaft has been torn apart, both victims of flooding. On the windows, the charity has put up signs to promote a stronger levee system to prevent floods during big hurricanes. “To stay alive, we need levee 5,” they read.

The posters feature the famous “Blue Dog” by the Louisiana artist George Rodrigue. Mr. Rodrigue has made a similar painting to raise money for the New Orleans United Way and create awareness of the 211 telephone system, which refers callers to health and human services. In Louisiana, the system has been widely considered successful in connecting Katrina survivors to government and charitable programs.

Mr. Ostroske says the artwork is part of a United Way campaign to persuade members of Congress to expand the phone service nationally from the 32 states that currently have it. The charity leader emphasizes that while 211 played a key role after the storm, Americans in nondisaster situations need it too.

“Every day people face their own personal hurricanes,” he says.