Silver Linings Hurricane Rita Newsbrief

Silver Linings Community Crisis Support Programs
THE RAINBOWS RESPONSE IN LOUISIANA SCHOOLS

In the weeks following Hurricane Katrina, approximately 186,500 students in the public school system and 27,800 private school students were displaced. School districts throughout the state and country worked to absorb these students and addressed issues of documentation, education credits, No Child Left Behind requirements and medical health concerns.

In small rural districts such as Ascension Parish, absorbing 13% (+2100) of total enrollment in an already crowded system was difficult. Many of these students were staying in shelters. They were attending schools in isolated rural areas with social cultures very different from their own. They were separated from friends, the support of trusted teachers and coaches, and still they were asked to continue learning. These students were faced with a situation they couldn’t control. The emotional impact and grief of this experience needed to be addressed.

RAINBOWS, an international, not-for-profit organization fostering emotional healing among children grieving the crisis of a life-altering loss, serves children ages 3 to 18 as well as offers effective programs for adults. RAINBOWS operates Silver Linings as a community support program for counselors, volunteers, schools, churches, and relief organizations needing additional tools to assist youth experiencing emotional turmoil due to loss/change. Children ages 5-8 and 9-12, as well as teens, are able to share their feelings and thoughts about these changes with others their own age.

RAINBOWS was able to provide the Silver Linings program to shelters and schools in the affected areas, thanks to the generosity of many who believe in our mission.

In Donaldsonville, Louisiana, a small town NE of New Orleans, the population of the economically depressed town almost doubled with evacuees. RAINBOWS provided the program to all of the six schools in the community. including the alma mater of one our own employees; Ascension Catholic Interparochial School. The school learned of the program through her mother, Carol Doescher, a retired educator from both Ascension Catholic and the public school system. Doescher’s grandchildren raised the money at their Palatine, IL school to purchase the materials and ship them to Donaldsonville. This gave the children in Illinois a personal connection to the events in the news.

The program at Ascension was led by Jean Moschella, a former principal of an inner city Boston Catholic school, who was familiar with RAINBOWS and the Silver Linings program. Moschella volunteered her services to the Diocesan school superintendent after her school in Boston was closed. Personally experiencing the cultural differences between urban culture and the small town social structure helped Moschella to understand the added element of tension between the students.

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