When a tornado destroyed their Marrero home, it ruined their stock of vital prescription medicine. The only medication Maria Sanchez Matherne’s elderly parents had left was what had been already loaded into their weekly pill box organizer. Time was ticking.

Theirs was one of the many urgent crises that faced families throughout Louisiana in mid-December after dozens of twisters touched down in a frenzied 24-hour period. Homes leveled. Food spoiled. Life necessities scattered throughout neighborhoods. Comfort items gone. Many families hadn’t given advance thought to the threat of tornadoes that day, much less what to in the chaotic days that follow.

Amid that uncertainty, two families helped by the Red Cross in the aftermath, including Maria’s, said the nonprofit’s prompt and compassionate response helped them obtain lifesaving medication, food, basic household items and peace of mind.

“Red Cross, for us, did an amazing job,” Maria said.

This Red Cross Giving Day, March 22, the Red Cross of Louisiana is honoring the community heroes – generous volunteers and donors – who enable the nonprofit to deliver timely aid after no-notice disasters, a time when #HelpCantWait. This article shows the direct impact their generosity delivers.

Tornadoes strike with little notice, and many Louisiana residents aren’t as familiar with their perils as they are with hurricanes or flash flooding.

COMFORT AND CORDIALITY

Jeannine Kelly was in her room, sick from a virus, when the emergency notifications sounded on Dec. 14, 2022. Her New Iberia home of 45 years was under a tornado warning. She didn’t know exactly what to do – and, really, Jeannine couldn’t fathom a tornado striking her home because it had never happened. Also physically ill, she just stayed put.

“We’ve lived through hurricanes, but never a tornado,” Jeannine, 76, said.

Within moments, everything changed.

Jeannine didn’t hear a sound – though her husband reported a loud noise -- but recalled that a powerful wind gusted through her home. “And then it was over,” she said. “You go outside, and [there was] so much damage in such a short time.”

The outer glass of her double-paned windows had shattered. Her front door had blown open, and a roofing shingle had flown in with such velocity that it slashed her television set. Rafters from a neighbor’s roof had been swept upward before falling and piercing her roof in about 20 spots “like spears.”

“I had a 20-year-old oak tree in the middle of my front yard,” Jeannine said. “It was plucked out of the ground like you’d take a carrot out of the garden.”

Jeannine was fortunate. No one was injured, and although the home sustained substantial damages, they have not been forced to relocate.

She was outside her home when two Red Crossers approached her within four days of the tornado.

“These ladies walked up to me and said they were with the Red Cross,” Jeannine said. “I’d never needed help from the Red Cross. I didn’t quite know what she was trying to tell me. They were very nice, very cordial, very polite. I brought them inside the house, and we sat down in the dining room. … It was a pleasant experience – they made me feel very comfortable. They were very knowledgeable.”

Because of the damages to her home, Jeannine’s family qualified for Red Cross financial assistance. More than anything, she felt comforted by knowing she had a cushion. Her home was insured, but she knew that the repairs would drag on.

“It gave me a comfort that if something came up, I had this,” Jeannine said.

'OUTPOURING OF LOVE'

Maria Sanchez Matherne was with her parents when the tornado struck their Marrero home. Like Jeannine’s family, they too were caught off-guard.

Her parents, 87 and 84 years old, have a daily ritual of playing cards together every afternoon. That day’s game was cut short because her father retired to his bedroom, feeling ill, so Maria joined her mom to watch a movie. Maria was in the restroom when the vanity lights started to blink from an apparent power outage.

“I guess we’re not going to watch the end of this movie,” she started to shout to her mother. But before she could finish the sentence, the entire row of lights had been dislodged from the wall.

“We were caught completely by surprise,” she said.

By happenstance, Maria was in one of the home’s interior rooms, which is where people are supposed to take refuge during a tornado. She placed herself between the door and a wall and waited it out as a loud sound surrounded her.

After it ended, she emerged from the bathroom to find the home devastated. The table where her parents played cards was destroyed – in fact, that whole section of the house “didn’t exist anymore.” A wall fell on the chair where Maria had just been seated.

As the family started to regroup, her father shouted from the back of the house, which they owned outright: “We don’t have insurance.”

Her mom’s retort: “But we’re alive.”

The family nonetheless faced several urgent questions: Where do they sleep tonight? Can we get back into the house to look for our credit cards and documents? How do we replace our medication?

Maria’s sister heard that the Red Cross could replace lost medication, so she filled out the paperwork. Within two days of the tornado, the nonprofit had helped the family replace the missing medicine, a huge relief especially to her father.

“The thought of just not having his meds kind of scared him” she said.

The family also qualified for financial assistance from the Red Cross, which they used for food, day-to-day home goods like bathroom towels and to help defray other costs of having their lives uprooted because of a disaster.

Maria’s parents made the hard choice to sell their lot and move into a new rental property. It’s not the same, but they’re adjusting thanks in large part to the support they received from family, friends, neighbors and organizations like the Red Cross, Jefferson Parish Government and the Council on Aging, Maria said.

“We just had so much outpouring of love,” Maria said. “It’s all about people. You see the bad side of people so often. To see the total good side of people gives you hope. … If there’s one thing to take away from something that tragic, the emotional hole it leaves, people are what has filled that hole.”