Rita strikes and Napa County steps up to help

By JESSICA PROVENZA
Register Staff Writer

Though Hurricane Rita is forecast to touch down half a country away, Napa County is busy preparing for the storm.

Napa County Emergency Services, Catholic Charities and the Red Cross are preparing to accommodate as many as 25 families in the wake of Hurricane Rita.

"From a capacity standpoint, (Napa County) could handle about 25 more families without disruption of the community," said Neal O'Haire, Napa County's emergency services director. O'Haire said the state has asked each county to give a measure of the number of evacuees that could be supported.

Until Rita has landed and the damage is known, the county won't know how many families will actually show up.

The county has taken in 27 families left homeless by Hurricane Katrina.

Catholic Charities has just appointed Don Nowacki as local Katrina Crisis Coordinator. He is placing Katrina evacuees in homes across the valley with help from his Catholic network.

"(Nowacki) is our point person between parishioners and all dioceses and people coming in who have (housing) needs," said Betsy Timm, Catholic Charities director of communication.

Timm said that once families fleeing the storm register with the Red Cross or Catholic Charities, Nowacki connects them housing that best fits their needs.

"We are reaching out to them," said Kealoha Keliikoa of Catholic Charities. She said the 27 families that evacuated from the Katrina devastation are all connected to Napa County in some way. "They came as friends and families of (members of) our community."

Keliikoa said that Napa County Emergency Services is holding a Katrina Relief Center at the Napa County Library from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday.

"It will be a central intake place, our version of the Astrodome," said Keliikoa. "We are bringing all the services to the families (dental, medical, food stamps, clothing, and toys)."

Keliikoa added that they are trying to make it as easy as possible for the evacuees to get all the necessities that they would have been able to take care of back home.

St. Apollinaris School and Church has made a $33,500 donation, helping tremendously to make sure families are supported through this time, according to Jo Savage school administrator. The school and church raised the funds all in one weekend.

"We are going to continue donating, said Savage. "We are going to help them get child care."

St. Apollinaris is now sponsoring a mother and her three children from Harrison, Miss.

"The family drove across country with a broken axle on their car ... they came with just the clothing on their backs," said St. Apollinaris parent Carrie Bacci. "We unofficially adopted this family so they can get back on their feet."

Marj Dixon with the Red Cross said that more families may come and that the government is asking counties to be prepared for more refugees if Hurricane Rita causes the kind of damage in Texas that Katrina wrought in the Gulf.

Every county has been asking how many families to expect, said Dixon. "The government is trying to make good preparation."

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