October 6, 2005

Creative compassion

Reinventing adoption after Katrina

By Kymberli W. Brady
Staff Writer

The saying “lightning never strikes the same place twice” may be true in most cases, but when it comes to hurricanes and personal tragedies, Denise Johnson was a lightning rod for both.

Extended family. New bonds have been formed, thanks to hurricainehousing.org, the Callinan family and employees of Santa Clara based Silicon Valley Microelectronics. Shown from L-R, front row; Nicole Callinan and Dominique Johnson. Back row; SVM Sales Manager Jennifer Reynes, SVM Sales Associate Delia Zamudio holding Zantione Johnson, SVM Senior Sales Manager Roger Neef, Vance Callinan, Denise Callinan, SVM President, Patrick Callinan, Denise Johnson, and Tremayene Johnson. Photos by Kymberli Brady.

Today, she takes comfort in knowing that she has a new home and a brighter future—thanks to a flyer she found on her cot while sheltered inside the Houston Astrodome, and thanks to Almaden’s Denise and Patrick Callinan, along with several employees at his Santa Clara-based company, Silicon Valley Microelectronics [SVM]. They are part of a growing list of community members who decided adoption was the best choice in helping victims of Hurricane Katrina.

“My wife, Denise, my kids and I along with co-workers were glued to the news each day and wanted to figure out a way to lend a hand,” said SVM President Patrick Callinan.

“We decided we wanted to help a family, but weren’t sure where to start,” added SVM Sales Manager Jennifer Reynes, “So, we divided things up and started searching for ways to make that happen. Then Roger found hurricanehousing.org.

“I told them [the family] had to be someone who was serious about this, because it’s expensive here and this is a hard place to get started,” said SVN Senior Sales Manager Roger Neef. “But you can tell she’s very driven. They are about the best family we could ask for.”

“After discovering hurricanehousing.org, we offered to relocate any family or families who wanted to come to the Bay area,” explained Patrick. “They work directly with evacuees and sponsors by helping them transition to cities throughout the United States. The Johnsons wanted to come to the Bay area and we said we would be happy to help them get settled here.”

In less than 24 hours, the group had launched a Web site as the Red Cross loaded their adopted family on a plane. They then set out on a shopping trip for everything from furniture to appliances to dishes—even a television set—and then rushed to the airport to pick up the Johnson family, who had arrived with nothing more than the clothes on their backs.

Forty-eight hours after launching the Web site, they had already collected an encouraging $3,800 through online donations.

“I’m impressed,” said Patrick. “Because we’re just starting to get the word out. We even found a woman whose husband had passed away and she wants to donate his car. Denise is going to need one when she gets a job.”

Denise Johnson, a 46-year-old single mother, caregiver, and certified daycare specialist, couldn’t be more grateful for the home that had been prepared for her two sons, Tremayene, 16 and Dominique, 8, as well as her 3-year-old grandson Zantione.

Born and raised in New Orleans, Denise has lived a lifetime in less than two months. The 46-year-old is a single mother of three—and also cares for Zantione, her 3-year old grandson, both parents, her grandmother, and 17-year-old Brittany, a special needs patient who, after nearly five years under Denise’s care, was more like a daughter than a patient.

Hers is a story of loss and survival, driven by faith, and perseverance, tested time and time again since the first bolt hit her hit in August, when Brittany choked to death on a sandwich during a school field trip just days shy of her 18th birthday.

“I was devastated,” Denise said, “I raised her like my own daughter. Her mother didn’t spend the time with her that she needed, so I was either there with her or brought her home to stay with me.”

As Katrina approached, the Johnsons, with no vehicle and three elderly family members, were among thousands who lacked the resources or means to evacuate on their own. Their only choice was to ride it out.

Denise explained how they would sit at the front door and watch the occasional shows Mother Nature would bestow upon them during the late summer months each year. But it soon became evident that this was no ordinary show of strength.

Lightning struck again when Hurricane Katrina unleashed her wrath in the heart of New Orleans and tore the roof off the family home, sending driving rain whirling into the room where they huddled together and weathered its wrath—through the uncanny peacefulness of the eye and the violent second act that followed.

“It was amazing how she was blowing,” Denise said. “She blew trees down and the tops of houses off, I mean when this storm hit, she tore up everything.”

She should know. Having weathered the likes of Betsy, Camille, and three others, the characteristics changed this time around.

“Most storms, they come in the nighttime. But this one here came in the morning. The others would just pass through while we were sleeping. We could hear them—they sounded like freight trains. But Katrina, she sounded like a cat howling. The wind and the rain—it was like nothing you ever seen.”

Three-year-old Zantione has an irresistible personality and gladly shares a kiss with his grandmother, Denise Johnson. Together, they weathered—and survived—Hurricane Katrina.

“At first it was scary,” admitted Tremayene. “But then it calmed down. Then the water came. I didn’t know what to think or what to do. It was shocking—you never think it could happen, but it did. All I did was think about what I was going to do when we got out—if we got out,””

In her wake, Katrina left entire cities in ruins. In the midst of the devastation stood the Johnson family and their badly damaged home—just three weeks after the final mortgage payment had been made.

Fearful of radio reports of chaos and violence at the Superdome shelter, they, along with several neighbors opted to stay put, unaware of the levies that later gave way to the mass of water that quickly used the underground network of drains to rise up and consume most of the city. They suddenly found themselves stranded in a roofless house, surrounded by contaminated water.

“That’s why everything filled up so quickly,” Denise explained. “It came so fast, we couldn’t get out.”

They spent the next 10 days rationing what little food and water they had, sleeping on wet mattresses, and trying to signal passing helicopters for help. At night, they lit candles in an effort to alert authorities of their location.

“We could see the helicopters,” she said. “But they just flew around, flashing their lights and looking around. I couldn’t understand why they couldn’t at least drop water or food down to us.”

The breakout
As the water receded, help finally arrived and three women, including Denise’s mother and grandmother, a diabetic were the first to go. The helicopter was supposed to return later for them, but never did. Under the impression that the women had been taken to a hospital to treat her grandmother for diabetes, Denise later discovered that they were at the Superdome after receiving a frantic call on her cell phone from her mother.

“She was cryin’ and sayin,’ ‘you gotta come get me.’ So, Dominique and I went into the water. It was already dark and turning green and bubbling up—we had to get out before that gangrene really got contagious.”

“That water was nasty,” said Dominique. “It was slimy and bubbling all around us.”

The two waded through 13 blocks of the foul water, amidst rumors of alligators and snakes—even the bodies of those who hadn’t been as lucky. Safely on dry land again, she said they were then herded by soldiers into the Superdome. After reuniting with her mother and grandmother, she learned that they would not be allowed to leave, but took advantage of a nearby disturbance to sneak her family out of the building and back through the flooded city to what was left of their home.

“It was wall-to-wall people,” she said. “And they had soldiers galore, sitting up there with their guns pointed, leading people—it was like we were their prisoners or something. And once you got in, the soldiers wouldn’t let you out. I just wanted to get my family out of there.”

As the waters receded, the family finally made it to safety, then was taken to the airport and put in separate lines. Twelve hours later, she and her three boys boarded a flight to Houston and spent the next two weeks in the Astrodome, while trying to locate the others. Denise said the flyer she found on her cot one morning changed their lives forever.

Hurricanehousing.org (a project of MoveOn.org) it read, had been organized in an effort to place hurricane victims with families willing to help get them back on their feet. A family in San Jose was waiting for someone who would agree to move to the Bay area—perfect—said Denise, since her brother had been living there for more than 30 years. After accepting the offer, they arrived in San Jose less than 24 hours later.

Today, Denise, Tremayene, Dominique, and Zantione are adjusting comfortably to their new two-bedroom apartment in the same Campbell complex that her brother has called home for more than 30 years.

Understandably, she has no desire to return to New Orleans and sees a brighter future for her boys. She says everything that has happened over the past two months has made her look at things with a different perspective and a new sense of hope.

“We’ve had some hard times,” she said. “But we’ve had good times too. You just gotta look at the bright side.”
For 8-year-old Dominique, the hardest part was the waiting, until he remembered his dog Malik, a 3-year-old shepherd/chow mix.

“We kept him in the house the whole time,” he said. “But they said we couldn’t take him with us. We had to let him go.”

A fresh start
Through it all—the loss of 17-year-old Brittany, losing the family home, and keeping four generations of family members together under unimaginable circumstances, Denise never allowed her dedication to her family to be clouded by the streak of bad luck that threatened to weaken her resolve. She said her faith lit the way through the storm and the murky waters.

“Only God knows why,” she said. “He brought me through this to try and strengthen me—at all costs.”

Who’s to blame? An insider’s perspective
Hardly afraid to point the finger of blame at both sides, questions as to why helicopters circled for days without any attempt to pick them up or at least drop a few bottles of water in their direction remain unanswered. She finds it hard to comprehend why it took nearly two weeks to get to them at all or why they were made to feel like prisoners when they got to the shelter.

On the flip side, she’s sickened by victims who were given hotel rooms in San Francisco and nearly $1,000 to get back on their feet but instead complained to the media and demanded more.

“What I want to know is what did they do with that money,” she asked. “Why are they still sittin’ and moanin’ when they could be looking for a job?”

Equally disturbing are the televised images of looting—thieves running down abandoned streets with stolen TVs. Denise shook her head.

“They’re just hurting themselves stealing from their neighbors. I mean, stealing TVs and stuff—now where are they going to plug it in?”

A happy ending
While Zantione gets better acquainted with his new car collection and Dominique settles into third grade, Tremayene has already made a name for himself at Westmont High School. Dubbed “Louisiana” by his teammates, No. 90 is the football team’s newest defensive lineman who, thanks to a mandatory insurance policy paid for by a coach’s wife, made his debut appearance Sept. 30 against Lincoln—a nail biter that ended in a 28-28 tie.

Tremayene Johnson, No. 90 [a.k.a. “Louisiana”] is the newest member of the Westmont High School football team. The nickname, according to teammates is one they reserved only for the 16-year-old Hurricane Katrina survivor who now lives in San Jose. Photo by Diego Abeloos.

He admits he may not play football in college, where he expects football would be more like a job than a game. He would like to take up his music again someday and although he can play every instrument—piano and guitar aside—he hopes to replace the three saxophones he lost in the storm.

Everything has admittedly been a little overwhelming for Denise, who remains fiercely determined to reach her goals and make sure she doesn’t disappoint anyone.

“These people have opened up their hearts, their homes, and their pockets,” she says. “I thank them for that. I’m not looking for a handout and once I get myself situated, I’m going to make a big card and give back. I appreciate everything they have done.”

“The fact is she’s helping everyone give back,” noted Roger Neef. “I believe giving to the Red Cross is the right thing to do, but there’s not a lot of satisfaction because they don’t really know if that money is going where they want it to go. Here, there’s a direct connection that it has a direct impact on her family, and that makes them feel good to see a direct result.”

A model program
Stepping back to look at the bigger picture reveals a cautious society that wants to know—better yet see—just where their money goes and can measure the results. And yet, the outpouring of support that has touched even the youngest philanthropic entrepreneurs has been impressive, especially as Almaden, Los Gatos, and Campbell residents watch the Johnson family rebuild their lives on a daily basis. It is instant and measurable gratification. Whether eating dinner at their new dining room table, playing in a Friday night football game, breaking into pillow fights from the top of their new bunk bed, or coloring Barney green instead of purple while laying in front of their new television, this growing community has their fingerprints all over a new foundation that is rising gracefully from the splintered life one family left behind, only to become part of a bigger family half way across the country.

According to Pat, families in these communities are pitching in to support an effort that hopes to raise $10,000 to cover the Johnson’s living expenses for the next six months, while Denise searches for a job in the childcare industry. There is already talk of a possible position with a local YMCA facility that would be willing to allow her to care for Zantione at the same time.

The ultimate goal, Pat says is to keep the momentum moving and ultimately work toward rebuilding the family home in New Orleans in an effort to provide Denise’s parents and grandmother with a comfortable and familiar place to live out the remainder of their lives. In the meantime, they continue to call a shelter in Baton Rouge, La. home.

“I don’t mind giving to the Red Cross,” noted Denise Callinan. “But in the back of my head, I’m wondering, how could I do something to directly make a difference? How can I make sure we help someone really start over? This is the start of something really good.”

If you ask SVM sales associate Delia Zamudio for recommendations on doing just that, she answers with a resounding, “Give to Denise Johnson!”

“I think that’s what it’s all about,” says Pat. “Going narrow and deep, rather than wide and shallow—adopting a family until it’s time to either stay or go back. She’s not our adopted family; we’re hers.”

For those interested in joining the Johnson’s growing adoption family, donations can be made at http://www.newink.com/canyouhelp. The goal is to first raise $10,000 to cover the Johnson’s expenses for the next six months and then work toward rebuilding the family home in New Orleans so her parents and her grandmother might
have a place to return to. For more information, contact Roger Neef at (408) 569-8907. Additional information on adopting other families can be found at www.hurricanehousing.org.