[StBernard] Faith-based group in parish

[Westley Annis]

A faith-based volunteer group affiliated with the Red Cross is going door to
door in St. Bernard Parish to talk with people who still have unmet needs
for hurricane recovery.
 Marge and Tom Hoogeboom of Holland, Mich., who are with the Christian
Reform World Relief Committee's Disaster Response Services team, said that
for the next month volunteers, wearing distinctive green shirts, will be
fanning out in the parish looking for residents who have specific unmet
needs. The program starts Monday, Feb. 26.
 "We hope to cover the parish,'' said Marge Hoogeboom, who said the group
will also administer a national college volunteer program that will work in
St. Bernard for a week in April.
 
 "We will go door to door to find people with unmet needs who require
additional help to recover from Hurricane Katrina.,'' she said. "We gather
information'' to go into a data base that would go to the St. Bernard Long
term Recovery Committee to try to get specific help to people.
 
 The survey will cover personal needs, construction needs and household
needs, said the couple, who for three years have done similar work and
re-construction work in disasters including several hurricanes in central
Florida and in Mississippi after Katrina and in the Lake Charles area after
Hurricane Rita.
 
 The group will work out of the new office for the Red Cross chapter in
Chalmette, which is at 909 East Judge Perez Drive. The St. Bernard chapter
officially opens March 1, Chapter President and St. Bernard Parish Council
member Judy Hoffmeister said. The disaster team was requested to come in by
the Red Cross.
 
 Marge and Tom Hoogeboom said if a volunteer goes to a residence where
someone is obviously living there but aren't home, a note will be placed
saying they can call or come to the Red Cross office. The office will be
open beginning Tuesday, Feb. 27, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and after that,
through the end of March, the office will be open Monday through Saturday at
for the same hours.
 
 The Hoogebooms can be reached at 1-616-648-7322.
 
 "There is no standard case'' for what type of help people need, said Tom
Hoogeboom.
 They have dealt with people on the verge of suicide because of problems, he
said, and have also have seen cases that included a disabled man who
couldn't leave his home because the wheelchair ramp connected to it was
gone.
 
Asked why they do the volunteer work, Marge Hoogeboom said, "We've been
blessed and we want to help others in need.''