Group formed to assist relief effort

By Diane Chiddister

Normally a sleepy little bookstore, Corner Books now hums with activity. Beginning last week the space became the home of KORR, or Katrina Overground Railroad Relief, a new organization that is helping the victims of Hurri-cane Katrina.

Corner Books is donating its space.

KORR has two main goals, said Ona Harshaw, one of the group’s organizers. First, KORR hopes to raise money to send trucks to deliver donated items to hurricane victims. And second, KORR is seeking temporary homes in Yellow Springs for evacuees from the Gulf Coast.

“This is a welcoming community, and people here have resources,” said KORR organizer Diana Dunn. “We want to find people homes.”

How to help Katrina Overground Railroad Relief, or KORR, seeks the following help for victims of Hurricane Katrina: • Donate items at Central Chapel AME Church, which is accepting items for the victims through Sept. 30. The following may be dropped off: bottles of water, cleaning chemicals and supplies, paper products, personal hygiene products, medical supplies, baby items, tarps, duct tape, tools and linens. Cash donations may also be made. Clothing will not be accepted. The church’s High Street entrance is open for donations Mondays, 8 a.m.–7 p.m.; Tuesdays, 4–7 p.m.; and Saturdays, 9 a.m.–1 p.m. Volunteers will box the items and send them to the proper places. Anyone who wants to volunteer should call 767-3061. • Long-term housing is needed for evacuees who wish to move to the area. Hosts should sign up at the KORR office, 108A Dayton Street, or visit www.korr.us. • Make a tax-exempt donation to help pay for renting trucks that will take supplies to Louisiana. Each truck trip costs at least $1,500. Donations may be made to the KORR office or sent to P.O. Box 822, Yellow Springs. • Volunteer with KORR by helping to staff phones and the office. Call 767-7936 or stop by at the office, Monday–Friday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m., and Saturday, 10 a.m.–1 p.m.

Dunn knows firsthand about the difficulties facing the evacuees, since she is one. Dunn, who lived in Yellow Springs until 20 years ago, when she and her late husband, Jim Dunn, moved to New Orleans, happened to be in the village when the hurricane hit. She is now staying at the home of her friend Joan Chappelle, who is also a KORR organizer.

Rather than focus on her own grief, Dunn said she finds comfort helping others displaced by the storm. A professional organizer, she is offering her skills to KORR for the near future.

According to Dunn, the KORR effort was launched the Sunday night after the Gulf Coast storm, when 15 people attended an organizing meeting. Among those at the meeting was Harshaw, who felt compelled to take action after seeing images of flooding in New Orleans and the federal government’s delayed response to victims’ needs.

“It was clear we needed to make an effort as a community,” Harshaw said. “It was obvious that the national effort was not going well.”

Last week, the group received $1,300 from an anonymous donor, which funded two semitrucks that transported food and supplies, collected by the Mount Carmel Baptist Church in Dayton, to the Gulf Coast. Drivers from the Purple Truck Company in Xenia donated their time for that trip. Since then group members have collected $1,100 from two booths, one at the AACW Blues/Jazz Fest last weekend and the other downtown on Saturday morning, and they hope to send another truck off this week. All donations go directly to relief efforts, Dunn said, since the organization is staffed by volunteers.

KORR members are also hoping to find people in the Yellow Springs area to house evacuees. Currently, one family has relocated to the area, but the family is living in two residences, one outside Yellow Springs.

Former Yellow Springs resident Greg Smith, who lived with his parents in Ocean Springs, Miss., has temporarily relocated to a Xenia assisted-living center, and his children are staying with local residents Joanne Caputo and Michael Fleishman. Smith, who has muscular dystrophy and rides in a wheelchair, and his children would like to live in the same town, Harshaw said, and KORR hopes to find a way to make that happen.

“There are a lot of nuts and bolts involved, but that’s our role, figuring them out for people who are going through post-traumatic stress,” she said.

If others also relocate to town, KORR organizers foresee a host of needs that go beyond food and clothing, and would like to offer to evacuees massages, counseling and chiropractic care, along with furniture. KORR is seeking donations of these items and services.

It’s critical, Dunn said, that people realize that, while the buildings of New Orleans have been devastated, the city has not lost its spirit.

“I’ve heard people say that the city has disappeared,” she said. “But New Orleans is not its buildings. It’s made up of people and we’re still here.”