Judy Belyeu sat on a cot at the shelter surrounded by all her worldly possessions—two birds and one houseplant. Those were the things she grabbed from her 1960’s model trailer two weeks ago when she found herself racing against the encroaching hurricane. She fled just in time to ride out the storm at an inland high school. Her trailer received nine feet of floodwater from the storm surge. “It was scary. This is the first hurricane I’ve been through alone,” she said. Judy’s two grown sons live out of town. Her youngest is on duty with the Navy. “Princess, Charlie [the birds], and I made it, and we thank the Lord for that,” she said.

 Now homeless, the 48-year-old woman spends her days caring for hers and other rescued birds at the shelter. She eats three hot meals a day thanks to the united effort of many volunteers, and she has her medicine thanks to the medical clinic.

 “I don’t know what I would do without all the help I’m getting. Being here with my birds is such a blessing. One day when I’m back on my feet, I will come here and volunteer. I want to give back to the church and to all of the strangers who are helping us.”

 An Overwhelming Sense of Loss

Mold has taken over Judy’s trailer, not discriminating against her possessions. Everything she owns is covered in the blanket of white spores. The walls and ceilings are green and bowing from the water and humidity. Judy, who has pulmonary disease and asthma was warned not to go back into the house, but insists on retrieving precious pictures and family memorabilia.

 “That trailer and I go back a long way,” Judy said. “My granddaddy gave me money, and I purchased it from my mom. My boys grew up in it. I have a lot of memories there,” she said through tears.

 She drove up to the trailer accompanied by her friend Jeannette who also lost her home and her brother when he died with seven other people under a collapsed roof. Now, the two stood together inside, circumstance and grief binding them as fast friends. The sense of loss was overwhelming as they looked around in silence.

 “It’s all gone,” Judy finally said. Then, she began walking around pointing out things given to her by her mother. Jeannette followed her, offering words of comfort. Judy found some pictures she could salvage, some in a box and some on the refrigerator. “It could be a lot worse,” she said, trying to make the most of the situation. “I can save some of these pictures and documents,” she said holding up her son’s birth certificate. “This was my life, but life isn’t in things is it?”

On disability, Judy will rely on federal assistance to purchase another trailer. She will put it on the same lot, given to her by her grandfather. “I promised him before he died, I would keep it in the family,” she said. When she regains strength, Judy faces the overwhelming task of cleaning up the land which has downed trees, her neighbor’s television and lots of other debris covering the it. Judy hopes to enlist some volunteers to help.