Relief agencies need some ID before offering benefits

Ralph and Jill Helton outran Hurricane Katrina by hitchhiking north from their home in Long Beach, Miss. They wound up in Jackson Friday, where the Jackson Police Department put them up for the weekend until they could get in to ask the Red Cross for help on Monday. But because they were day laborers in Mississippi and lived in motels and with friends for the last 12 years, they said, they did not have proof of residence.

The Heltons presented the Red Cross with a momentary identification problem that was solved through pay stubs. The couple was sent to the evacuee camp in Benton, where they arrived around 6 p.m. Monday.

With the vast number of people who have been evacuated from the region devastated by Hurricane Katrina, verifying their information is easier than usual for organizations like the American Red Cross.

"We pretty well know that all of New Orleans was affected, so if we have some kind of ID that is from New Orleans, I don't think there's much need for going to damage assessment people," said Mary Burton, the Executive Director of the Southeast Missouri chapter of the American Red Cross.

Damage Assessment is done when only a specific area is affected by a disaster. A "Street Sheet" shows street by street which areas are affected.

Burton said the Red Cross chapter has assisted refugees during the past few hurricane seasons because Interstate 55 is the major escape corridor and has already established a routine for verifying information.

The first step is to photocopy some form of identification. A federally issued photo ID with the address from the affected area helps to expedite the process, Burton said.

"It gets to be a problem if they don't have that federally issued ID," Burton said.

Any information to verify where the person came from is acceptable, such as a social security number, pay stubs and utility information though a federally issued ID is preferred, Burton said.

The American Red Cross has always had a complete verification process, volunteer Harry Rediger said. Once a person has received help from the chapter, their information is entered into the master system to prevent them from going to another chapter and asking for more benefits, he said.

Ralph Helton is trying to locate his children Michael Helton, 20, Vanessa Helton, 18, and Christina Helton, 17, who were living in Kenner, La., with his ex-wife. He has seen on television that that area is under water and he has been unable to contact them.

Ralph Helton said he hopes his children were smart enough to get out, like he and Jill did, but he wants to know for sure.

"I don't know if they are alive," he said.

ameyer@semissourian.com

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