Gretchen Harvey

No furniture. No dishes. No towels. No family pictures. No drawings her children made when they were young. Nothing. Gretchen Harvey arrived in October 2005 with just a few changes of clothes. She lived her entire life in New Orleans, but calls Clarksville home now. It has been a long, hard year for the Hurricane Katrina evacuee forced to rebuild her life from scratch.

“I wasn’t going to leave,” said Gretchen. “We just evacuated a few weeks before and nothing had happened. But overnight the storm went from like a category 2 to a 4, and the family wouldn’t leave anyone behind.”

The all looked after each other, and they caravanned in seven cars to Texas where extended family lived. A trip that normally took 4 hours took 18 hours that day. Nobody thought they would be gone for long and just packed small bags.

“I never imagined it would be that bad,” said Gretchen. “I thought it would be like a weekend trip, and we would come back home.”

There was no home to go back to.

At first she and her family were sent to the Beaumont, TX Civic Center to register for aid. Disease was rampant at the Center. Everyone got sick and the family had to nurse each other to health as the Center was eventually quarantined.

Gretchen decided to make Texas home. She was familiar with the area and had family around her. She found an apartment and work in Port Arthur, TX. She was in her new apartment for two days, when Hurricane Rita approached.

Less then a month after evacuating from New Orleans, Gretchen was forced to evacuate again. This time she and her cousin, Lorraine Gibson, decided to go to Clarksville because Lorraine’s son is stationed at Fort Campbell.

“This time it was harder. We didn’t know anybody but each other,” said Gretchen.

The two tried to get aid, but the process was slow, and they weren’t getting many answers. Gretchen was saddened and angered by the bureaucracy, but knew she had to keep moving forward.

“I have always worked and taken care of myself,” said Gretchen. “I looked for work right away, but I didn’t know the area at all. I didn’t have access to a computer. I was depressed. The stress was terrible and then I stumbled upon Goodwill. I didn’t know they helped people find jobs.”

Gretchen went to the shopping center partly for a break and to also look for a job. She asked about work at Goodwill and was sent to the Career Solutions Center where she met Angie Griffin.

“Gretchen amazed me. She had been through so much. Even though she was at a very low point, I could tell she was a survivor,” said Angie. “We began working together right away.”

Gretchen met with Angie everyday for weeks. The two reconstructed her resume that included 20 years of experience in the healthcare industry. Gretchen and Angie faxed resumes to doctors’ offices and hospitals in a 50-mile radius, checked the classifieds and used the Internet to search for work, as well.

Gretchen found work in Brentwood, TN. Things were looking up until Gretchen returned to New Orleans to check on her mother who lives on the outskirts of the city. The stress of the storm, the slow recovery efforts and the fact her once close family was now spread out in several states had taken its toll on her mother’s health. As she helped her mother, Gretchen was shocked at the condition of the city.

“It was terrible. There was nothing left. Debris was still everywhere. It didn’t even look like anything had been done,” said Gretchen. “They were still bulldozing buildings and finding bodies in April. Some people still have never been found.”

While she was there, Gretchen caught a lung parasite and was hospitalized in Memphis. The sickness was devastating. It took weeks for her to recover. Because she missed so many days of work, Gretchen lost her job in Brentwood. When she returned to Clarksville, Gretchen went back to Goodwill to look for work all over again.

“Angie was great. She really gave me the push when I needed it. She was always encouraging me and was a real spark when I needed it,” said Gretchen.

It didn’t take long before Gretchen found a new job as a Patient Account Representative at Premier Medical Center in Clarksville. Gretchen has been there for several months and has slowly been rebuilding her life, replacing all the items most of us take for granted.

“I finally got a bed in April. I had been sleeping on a cot since I got here. It felt so good to sleep in a real bed,” said Gretchen. “I can get new things like that, but it’s the family mementos that I miss most- all the family pictures, my children’s drawings and awards. All those things that a parent keeps are gone forever, but I have it all in my heart.”

Gretchen’s son lives on the outskirts of New Orleans near other family members. Her daughter is in Dallas, TX close to her father. Lorraine’s son is in Iraq. Despite the distance between them all, the family bond keeps them close at heart. Gretchen and Lorraine plan on staying in Clarksville for the foreseeable future. Both are tired of running from hurricanes.

“I am enjoying Clarksville and the community. I am thankful for Goodwill and for all the help Angie gave me. I had faith it would all work out and it has,” said Gretchen. “Every time I meet someone who is looking for work, I always send them to Angie and Goodwill.”

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