Tamara Cash This is Me

 Web References

1. 1. Jewish Family Services

   www.jfscolumbus.org/TamaraCash - [Cached]

   Published on: 1/17/2008   Last Visited: 1/17/2008

   "That's our hallway with two feet of sludge," said Tamara Cash, showing photos that require dialogue, because the viewer can't process them without it. The photo shows brown sludge covering every item in the room. Everything is exactly where it settled when the Katrina floodwater receded in September 2005.
   
   Cash has not an element of bitterness, or sadness in her voice as she shows the photos of her home in Chalmette, La., inside of now-famous St. Bernard Parish, where 95 percent of the population still hasn't returned since the devastation.
   
   It is as if she's talking about someone else, another life, something far away.
   
   In a way, she is.
   
   A mother of six, she is medium height, but sturdy, not small. Her pale complexion is easy to blush under red-blonde hair, but her wide smile comes easily, along with a quiet, not-quite-shy demeanor and southern politeness. Clear eyed, direct and straightforward, Cash has no bitter edge, or harshness that might naturally arise from a difficult life.
   
   She has lived the story of a Katrina survivor. Having lived it, there is no shock value left and she knows the photos she shows will leave the viewer with information they can't begin to process much less understand.
   ...
   In the ruins near the front hallway, there is a doll, but the family - 6 boys and Tamara - owned no dolls.
   ...
   When the in-laws came by to say good-bye, Tamara convinced them to come, saying it would be a "vacation." She lied and told them she made reservations at a resort for them as well and it was already paid for. "We actually booked the rooms as we were driving to Florida and prayed that there would be rooms available."
   
   "I just had a feeling," she said.
   ...
   Cash found strength she didn't know she had. When the tension got to be too much, she would organize a trip outside the hotel, or the beach. They stayed a week before packing again and heading to Logan, Ohio, where the cousins and in-laws stayed. Tamara and her family headed to Grove City where they planned to stay before heading to Michigan.
   
   The Breakdown
   
   On Route 270 outside Columbus, the van broke down when the transmission went out. Tamara called AAA to get a tow, but with credit cards maxed out, and little cash left, the weight of events all hit her full on.
   
   Like the levee, her defenses broke and the emotions flooded her heart. Everything in her world suddenly seemed broken. Her home was gone, so was her neighborhood, perhaps even, amazingly, her region. Her husband's business - designing and maintaining swimming pools -- was gone and wouldn't be coming back. Credit cards were maxed. Her cash was almost gone. Family members were missing. She had thrown some simple belongings into the van, including 6 sons (two autistic) and her husband.
   ...
   Seemingly defeated, Cash wept uncontrollably on the side of the highway.
   
   After the tow truck came, her family retreated back to Grove City, wondering what would come next. What they discovered was an Ohio that most people would only dream existed.
   
   When she tried to leave, she couldn't. She booked a flight to Michigan. It was cancelled. She planned to take the bus instead. She couldn't get a ride to the station on time.
   
   "Maybe," she thought, "God had us here for a reason.
   ...
   The neighbor's 13-year-old daughter - perhaps luck, or fate, or a different kind of disaster - left the day before with a car full of teenage boys and Cash wouldn't even know where to begin to look for her, although not knowing at this point how to find an old neighbor is the norm for Katrina survivors. Eighteen months later, Cash heard the girl was living with her father, but didn't know where.
   
   "Someone with Katrina resettlement suggested I go to Jewish Family Services," said Cash, who said, "I can't go there, I'm not Jewish."
   ...
   Cash attended ACES 4-week program, 5 days a week, 6-hours-a-day. It teaches Life Skills as well as Customer Service Skills.
   
   "I got more out of the life skills portion … budgeting, time management to juggle schedules, proper day care, having the backups when something goes wrong," she said, adding that the part "dealing with grief and loss" was especially helpful.
   
   "This program is mainly focused on people on a poverty cycle ... it is trying to teach them that there is a better way than waiting for a $300 welfare check. It teaches them how to organize, prioritize and budget, so when they do get a job they can hold it."
   
   The Curses
   
   Tamara did get a job, at TS Tech in Canal Winchester, which is a supplier of parts to Honda.
   ...
   Cash, as always, kept her perspective.
   ...
   Her first husband sued for custody of the children, stating that Cash had moved without informing him.
   
   The hearing to retain custody conflicted with her work schedule. She asked for time off. Her boss said she'd be fired if she went.
   
   "Well, I could lose my job, or lose my kids, so that was an easy choice," she joked.
   
   She went to the hearing, and then returned to work the next day as if nothing happened, hoping that her absence would be forgotten, or forgiven. It was not.
   
   "They walked me out, I was fired," she said.
   
   "I could have been discouraged, but I was encouraged, because through this I had full custody of my children, which I look at it as a blessing."
   
   Her family lived on credit cards, until they ran out of credit.
   
   Still, Cash found the time to volunteer at JFS, to help others with the ACES program that helped her. She helped with filing, or anything around the office.
   
   Then, a job opened at JFS. She took it. She's working full-time there now, even turning down a job that paid $10,000 more to be "with my family" at the Jewish Family Services on Livingston Ave., where she is Continuous Improvement Specialist for the Career and Workforce Development Department, a title perhaps the most appropriate of any.
   
   The Constant Gift
   
   A few weeks back, Cash was entering a store when a man who had lost a leg rushed ahead to hold the door for Cash and her sons.
   
   The perspective - now a great, constant gift, according to Cash - wasn't lost on the family, which talked about the simple gesture afterwards.
   
   "Mommy, he was still trying to be a gentleman, even though he was hurt," said one of her sons.
   ...
   Like in the movie 'Pollyanna," explained Cash.
   ...
   The same could be said for Cash, because no life could really prepare for the kind of personal devastation she endured. Now, it's every little moment of happiness she's grateful for.
   
   "We appreciate everything everyone did for us," she said, even the bad things.
   ...
   Through the entire discussion, Cash has been dry eyed, but now the tears come.

2. 2. www.jfscolumbus.org

   www.jfscolumbus.org/department - [Cached]

   Published on: 3/11/2007   Last Visited: 3/11/2007

   Tamara Cash Continuous Improvement Specialist