Katie Merchant

Katie Merchant

Katrina flooded 100% of St. Bernard Parish, a thriving and hard-working community of 67,000. Virtually every home and business was declared uninhabitable. Everything was wiped out - homes, schools, businesses, parks, and restaurants. With their homes, possessions were lost - antiques, financial papers, precious photo albums, clothes, yearbooks, and boxes full of mementos of their lives.

Jobs were lost, family was scattered across the country, and the neighbors and friends they grew up with were gone. Over 200 resident of the Parish lost their lives in the flood. Storms were fairly typical to the residents in the New Orleans area, but nobody could have predicted Katrina's all inclusive destruction.
...
I was eager to see the city of New Orleans for the first time since Katrina, and the National Society of Newspaper Columnists annual conference set up the ideal opportunity. It was good to see the heart of the city looking pristine and playing the role of host so graciously in less than three years after the catastrophy.

It was an easy task for the conference attendees to absorb the spirit of the French Quarter and see the great city flourishing once again. Spirits were high and humorous one-liners flowed easily...until Saturday. The columnists decelerated during our tour through the sections of New Orleans and surrounding Parishes hit the hardest by Katrina. Almost on cue, the day became dark and rain began to fall as the buses turned into the first of several devastated areas.

Tears went into auto-pilot as past television images of Katrina collided with the current state of the neighborhoods. As we rolled through streets of concrete slabs, destroyed homes and vacant lots, I imagined these communities must have looked much like Southern Indiana before the storm...before Katrina. Despite the efforts of thousands of Extra Milers, many areas still resemble a war-torn city in a third world country.

I will forever be haunted by the large brightly painted Xs still on many of the houses. These symbols meant the houses had been checked by the National Guard. In the upper portion of the X was the date (usually a couple of weeks after Katrina), to one side was the Guard unit acronym and at the bottom was the number of deceased.
...
As we journeyed to the ARNO site, Charlotte told of the people and pets that didn't make it to safety during Katrina.
...
Kate Merchant, ARC's Program Director for Safety and Health, is a true Doug Feuerhelm fan. When asked to describe our Extra Miler, Kate responded, "Doug has assumed the majority of the in-house accounting activities for the ARC and his expertise is invaluable.
...
Kate adds, "Doug not only works his fingers to the bone, he is a great co-worker who never has a harsh word for anybody."
...
Kate agrees, "We call Doug our "Big Dog," because he is our go-to man for so many things.