"Too blessed to be stressed" The family room of the Callender home in New Orleans, a tragedy repeated thousands of times in the city. LA-RFO Photo. Back to Features

Storm victim rises above storm to help lead debris mission
By Lois Jackson, USDA public affairs specialist, and Brenda Beasley, Memphis District public affairs specialist

In the months after Hurricane Katrina hit Aug. 29, 2005, New Orleans District’s Jackie M. Callender Sr., and his family had seen it all. 

Jackie was in Indianapolis, Ind., at a U.S.A. Track and Field Workshop when he first saw the news.  He called his son, Jackie Jr. and told him to get the family out before the storm hit and arranged to meet them in Dallas. 

Life-long New Orleanians, Jackie and his wife Connie have three grown children and two grandchildren. His daughter lives in Baton Rouge and was not affected by the storm. 

Upon returning to the Baton Rouge area Sept. 3, Jackie and “all the family” moved into his daughter's one bedroom apartment.  Jackie jokingly remarked, “Yeah, there were eight of us, two cats and a dog.”  He finally acquired an apartment of his own Oct. 15. 

It was only after water levels had finally receded that Jackie and his wife returned to New Orleans to retrieve what may be left of their home.  He spoke of his house and the devastation to his community in a straight forward kind of way.  He said he will never forget his reaction to the site of his home.   

They did a room to room inspection and the first thing he thought of was the loss of all the tokens of memories they had of their children and life together.  He saw bits and pieces of one daughter’s first ballet recital, his son’s first basketball, another’s band instrument, and a picture of one daughter as the “Little School Queen” — all destroyed.  The furniture all tussled and the refrigerator full of flies.   

Even though this devastation was almost too much to bear, Jackie was able to keep in touch with his New Orleans District Office through their website and emergency phone numbers.  When he was in Dallas, someone brought a laptop to use.  Jackie was able to log onto the Corps’ website to see that the Corps was supporting their staff. 

This support allowed Jackie to return to a job, when others had lost everything and had no job to return to.  He was able to report for his regular job as a Program Analyst in the Programs, Planning, & Project Management Division via teleworking at the Louisiana Recovery Field Office in Baton Rouge, one of eight alternate worksites that the Corps’ had arranged for hurricane devastated employees to keep the mission on track. 

In December 2005, Jackie attended the U.S.A. Track and Field National Convention in Jacksonville, Fla.  As the South Zone Representative for the Track and Field Associations Committee Jackie had to give a report on issues in his zone.  But, the audience of almost 300 people was more concerned about how he was doing after the hurricane than his zone report.  So, he stopped and began answering their many questions.

“How’s your family?” they asked.  “My immediate family is safe, but my great nephew may have drowned,” he replied.  “Was there much damage to your house?” they asked.  “My house is totaled, it’s gone, and everything with it,” he replied. 

A big sigh came over the room. 

Upon hearing this, Jackie said “Wait.  Don’t sigh.  I feel too blessed to be stressed.  I’m here.  In spite of everything, I’m exceptionally blessed.” 

Since that time, Jackie has also worked on getting information to others regarding available resources and assistance to hurricane victims.  His mission went to new heights just a few months later with his acceptance of a deployment position at the LA-RFO as the Assistant Debris Manager, helping the Corps manage 27 million cubic yards of debris in the southern Louisiana parishes and his own hometown of New Orleans. 

Jackie Callender