Lack of income doesn't stop Federal Way residents from helping family members affected by Katrina

By Greta Mart Federal Way News

Until two weeks ago, Paula Slumkoski, 30, and her 14-year old son lived alone in south Federal Way. Now when she comes in at the end of the day, there are seven smiling faces to welcome her home.

Slumkoski, who works at both Swedish Medical Center/Providence and the Boys and Girls Club of King County, had recently visited her family in New Orleans for two weeks in June.

When she got the call that her aunt and four cousins had been evacuated to Orange, Texas in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, she promptly wired them the majority of her paychecks and began thinking of a way to get them to Washington State.

Her aunt Regina Christopher, a diabetic, was quickly running out of medication. Although she could barely afford it, Paula offered to pay for an airline ticket for her aunt, but Regina wouldn't leave without her husband Chester, who was missing. As was the case for many families, the Christophers were separated in the evacuation chaos.

Paula grew up attending the Boys and Girls Club of King County at Rainer Vista and has been a teacher there for the past eight years. She turned to one of the Boys and Girls Club board members, Anna Butler, who also works for United Airlines, to see if Butler could help, with perhaps a discounted ticket or a companion fare.

What she got in response was more than Paula had expected.

Anna Butler called Amy Levendale at United Airlines headquarters in Chicago, and Levendale approved six complementary tickets, a value of over $5000, in order to fly Slumkoski's entire family, three adults and three children, from Texas to Seattle.

Within the same hour that Butler called Paula to tell her the good news, Paula's aunt telephoned to say her uncle had been located in Houston. On September 14th, the Christophers arrived and settled into Paula's three-bedroom, three-bath rented house.

"We're pulling together. I'm just so thankful everybody is warm and safe under my roof," says Slumkoski. "The community here went above and beyond what I imagined or thought possible."

Although her aunt and uncle have received a stipend from the Red Cross, and are awaiting unemployment benefits, Paula is financially supporting the expanded household.

"I wouldn't accept money from Aunty even if she had it," says Paula. "She raised me right and it feels so good to be able to give back to my elders. For me it's a blessing, a complete blessing."

Each of Paula's relatives arrived with only the clothes they had been wearing the day of the evacuation, so Paula organized a clothing drive at the Boys and Girls Club. So many items were donated that Paula boxed the excess and paid to have it shipped back to the family's church in New Orleans.

Two patients at Swedish handed Paula envelopes of cash to help ease the burden.

Her nieces and nephews are now enrolled in Federal Way schools, and the family will be staying with Paula indefinitely.

"My aunt would like to return, since she owns her house, or what's left of it, in New Orleans, but she understands the reality, what with the kids in school now."

Soon after her family arrived, Paula accepted a third job, running the evening programs at the newly opened Boys and Girls Club EX3 Teen Center in Federal Way.

"It's my birthday in a couple of weeks," Paula said, "And having my family safe with me is the best present I could have received."

Angela Rowe, 39, a resident of Federal Way for the past 15 years, has also made the most of her limited resources to help with the Hurricane Katrina relief efforts. Her sister and brother-in-law were in the process of buying a new house in New Orleans when the hurricane hit and the family scattered in the evacuation.

"My niece's name is Katrina, and prior to the hurricane landing, we were joking how that was a good name, her being 16 years old and all," said Rowe. "When it hit, we stopped laughing."

Rowe scraped together all she had, $160, and wired it to her sister. But she wanted to do more. Since she receives financial assistance from the state, she didn't have money, but she did have time and energy. Rowe heard on the news that a man named Steve Denmark, working with a group named We Care Northwest, a coalition of the congregations of about a dozen Northwest churches, had opened up a vacant Gottschalk's department store in Burien. There they accepted donations of clothing and personal care items, and evacuee families were given vouchers to "shop" at the store.

Rowe, taking three buses to reach the location from Federal Way, went every day for seven days straight to help sort donated items and assist families locate what they needed. On three of those days, she brought her son Aaron, 14, and daughter Shannon, 16, with her so they could get a lesson in volunteering.

"I greeted them, and helped them pick out stuff. If I couldn't see and help my sister, at least I could help these folks," Rowe said. "It was good for me to just talk to them, find out their stories, and most of all, help them feel welcome."