Client Story
When Hurricane Katrina struck the city of New Orleans, a match was made between a couple. Monique Cavasher, 20, and Raymond Montgomery, 28, met each other at a storm shelter in Baton Rouge.
“We’re just starting a relationship” said Cavasher. The two were seen standing outside of the security checkpoint of the storm shelter kissing wildly. They met each other behind the storm shelter two days before that. Cavasher arrived at the shelter two days before Montgomery did after overstaying her welcome at her friend’s house in Baton Rouge where she seeked shelter before the storm hit. Montgomery, a butcher from the Ninth Ward, seeked shelter from the storm in an apartment in New Orleans with his brother, cousin, and mother. He described the wind, “Everything was loose, flying around, after the floodwater came.” Later on, his mother got a lift to Texas and he, his brother, and his cousin set out for dry land nearby. They swam some distance away from the apartments, when a boat picked them up and brought them to the parish line, were a truck then picked them up and took them to the storm shelter in Baton Rouge. When Montgomery arrived at the shelter, his brother left for Missouri. He didn’t know where his cousin went and he wasn’t exactly sure where his mother was either. “To the best of my knowledge, she’s with my stepfather and sister,” he said. With all of their belongings now gone, Cavasher and Montgomery plan to start a life together in Baton Rouge, but Montgomery does miss New Orleans and wishes to return soon. “Some good things have come out of Hurricane Katrina, and he’s one of them,” said Cavesher. |