ST. LOUIS – Thousands of families in north St. Louis are still looking for immediate help from nonprofits. Catholic Charities of St. Louis is responding to the thousands of requests they’ve gotten for help.
“I had storm damage and felt rather ashamed because as bad as mine was I heard about what was going on down here,” Carol Venegoni said. She’s a volunteer helping answer calls and said each one is humbling.
“We had a lady the other day that said you know there are people worse off than us. She has holes that she can see out of her house through the bricks, and she’s got children living there, but she didn’t think it was bad enough compared to what other people had because at least she has walls standing,” Venegoni said.
Volunteers are set up everywhere in the administrative building working through the 2,500 requests for service.
“Our call center, our folks are trying to call everyone back. Trying to help with mental health resources, be a listening ear, trying to connect with services along the way, and provide resources as well,” Dr. Jared Bryson said.
Bryson, the president of the nonprofit, said they are seeing firsthand what families are going through.
“One of our locations, the roof was ripped off and all of the residents were displaced. We had several that were displaced and had to be moved around. We of course lost power for several days, but just trying to work through the care of a disaster internally but then also trying to be responsive on the outside,” Bryson said.
He said their disaster services team is also looking at the long-term needs.
“The conversation that is going to continue that will be really challenging is the long-term housing solution because there has just been so much damage,” Ben Perrin said.
The nonprofit is always looking for more volunteers to help answer the thousands of requests.
“These folks are in dire need of help. Their stories are tragic and they’re so down to earth and they’re just embarrassed to ask for help, even though they’re in desperate need for help,” Venegoni said.