Welcome Home Torres Family!

Liz (42) and Mike Torres (47) lived in a house they had owned for two years in Arabi. They had two children—Mike, who was in 8th grade and Blair, who was a senior in high school and worked for her mom part-time. Liz worked in insurance, a job she had held for 20 years, and Mike’s job was delivering wholesale groceries to tugboats. They had lived in St. Bernard Parish for many years, mainly in Chalmette. Liz says they thought of themselves as a typical American family, going to work, taking care of the house and visiting with the many family members living in their neighborhood. Their lives and their home felt safe and secure, but Hurricane Katrina changed that forever.

Liz, Mike and Blair left their home on Sunday, along with Mike’s older sister and her son and his wife, heading for Texas. It was a grueling 17-hour drive. Their son Mike had evacuated the day before with his grandfather. At first they didn’t know where everyone else in the family and their close friends were. In the after-storm chaos, communication was poor or nonexistent. An aunt who lived in Buffalo acted as the family’s message center, as she was the only person with a reliable phone.

The exhausted family stayed in Houston for six months. During that time, Mike and some family members went back home to check on their houses. They barely had time to see what was going on before Hurricane Rita came and forced them to go back to Houston. Two weeks later, Mike and Liz returned to St. Bernard Parish once more. This time they could see all the damage. They could see the two water lines on the walls—one 14 feet high from Katrina and another four feet above that from Rita.

Their house had been located in one of the worst hit areas in Arabi. It was badly flooded from the break in the levee and the resulting surge, which drove in more than 22 feet of water and did not recede for many days. They had lost everything. Liz said, “The whole house was topsy-turvy. Our two refrigerators were lying down in the middle of the kitchen. Everything was upside down. I was a wreck after I saw everything ruined.”

They sadly drove back to Houston, where they had a tough and painful decision to make. Should they stay in Houston or go back and try to rebuild their lives and their home? Liz’s boss could only hold her job for two more weeks, so they had to make the decision soon. Liz and Mike went home to start all over again. They decided that it would be better for their son, who had been going to school in Houston, to stay and finish out the school year. Blair stayed with a friend and her family. She was seeking some stability and a break from all the upheaval.

They lived in a FEMA trailer parked right across their front lawn, keeping a close eye on their now wide-open damaged home, trying to figure out how to rebuild it. The neighborhood was destroyed, but Liz said, “Everybody needed everybody, and everybody helped each other.” Young Mike came home and then went to Mississippi to help out Liz’s mother, who was living in a FEMA trailer there. Both family cars had been lost in the storm, so they used some of their insurance money to buy a truck to carry supplies as they began the slow and difficult process of rebuilding on their own. They did a lot of work, buying tools and supplies as needed. Liz said they lived day to day, working on the house as much as they could.

Liz got a job at Home Depot and worked for an insurance agency on her day off. To make more money, she went back to working full time at the agency. This job turned out to be extremely stressful for her. “Mentally, emotionally and physically it was just too hard, trying to find money for people—even businesses. All day long, people were coming in and crying and crying. I felt like crying myself, but I couldn’t. I had to leave.”

At the end of January the Torres family moved into half of a double, sharing the space with a brother and his daughter and Blair and a new family member--Alexa--Blair’s daughter. Alexa is now three years old and a joy to her grandparents. It’s stressful, living all together in a crowded space, but “Family is still helping family,” Liz said. Mike is looking for work while he takes care of Alexa during the day and enjoys being a granddad. “She’s changed us tremendously,” Liz said. “I get a kick out of seeing Mike change diapers—something he’d never dreamed of doing when our kids were babies.”

Now 19 years old, their son Mike is back home, too. This summer, while working five nights a week in a restaurant kitchen, he’s getting his GED at Nunez College and will attend the college in the fall. He’ll be in their work-study program, gaining valuable experience while he studies. He plans to train as a professional technician, graduate with an Associate Degree, and work in the field at a refinery. Blair has graduated from high school and is now working as a receptionist for an eye doctor.

The Torres family is finally reunited and holding together, sharing responsibilities—each pulling his or her own weight. Mike and Liz have gone as far as they can on their own rebuilding their house, so now, they’re turning to the St. Bernard Project for help.

House Updates

11/09/09
Six volunteers from View Ridge Community Church in Washington State spent the week finishing flooring, painting and adding trim at the Torres home. The volunteers made a lot of progress, and the Torres family is getting excited as their home is getting closer to being complete.

10/26/09
Women from Farmington Methodist Church in Farmington, NM, some of whom were making their fourth volunteer trip with SBP, put in a lot of work and love on the Torres home last week. They finished installing all flooring and started on base boards. The house is almost ready for finishing work.

10/20/09
Volunteers from Georgetown Visitation worked on the Torres home installing flooring on Saturday, October 24.
10/20/09
Volunteers from Lake Almanor Community Church joined SBP for its fourth Women's Rebuild week. The previously bare walls have now been textured, primed, and some have a first coat of paint. Lee and Bill loved "all the contact with the locals and doing something that you can see makes a difference."
10/11/09
Participants from Nuns' Build week finished mudding, applied texture and began painting at the Torres home Oct. 5 through Friday October 9. More than 80 Catholic Sisters participated in Nuns' Build week and worked on 10 different homes.

10/01/09
Volunteers from the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, including jazz trumpeter and singer Jeremy Davenport, worked at the Torres home hanging drywall and mudding Tuesday, September 22. More than 50 employees from the Ritz-Carlton came out to volunteer with SBP that day. Coca-Cola volunteers also spent a day at the Torres home and applied second and third coats of mudd. Coca-Cola volunteers were eager to help get additional families home and worked at three different homes.

9/15/09