Laura Bush urges families in Katrina areas: 'Try not to be sad'
December 13th, 2005 1:29 pm
By Stacey Plaisance / Associated Press
GULFPORT, Miss. - First lady Laura Bush on Monday urged parents here to cling to normal holiday practices even as families face dual hardships - recovering from Hurricane Katrina and coping while family members are stationed overseas for military service.
"There are still a lot of people not spending Christmas in their homes, but I encourage families to have all the same traditions," Bush said to children and parents at a Naval Construction Battalion Center.
Bush, accompanied by Santa during stops in New Orleans and Mississippi, said in Gulfport: "Try not to be sad. It's very important for your children."
She recommended reaching out to family services groups and counseling services, if needed.
Still, it was hard to deny how difficult it will be for some children to have a normal holiday season. In addition to having one or more of their parents away in the military, many witnessed the destruction of their homes and neighborhoods when Katrina blew ashore Aug. 29.
Many left homeless by Katrina are still living in trailers or tents.
Monday's trip marked the seventh time the first lady has visited communities affected by the massive hurricane. She spent nearly an hour at the Seabee center in Gulfport, where children ranging from preschool to preteen years made Christmas ornaments - snowmen out of paper and beads and Santa faces out of paper and cotton balls.
Bush, a former school librarian, paused to read Christmas letters the children wrote. She later said she was moved by one youngster who wrote to a father in the military: "'All I want for Christmas, Dad, is for you to be home with me.'"
About 50 children at the Seabee center ripped into brightly wrapped packages under a Christmas tree, revealing a bounty of stuffed toys and board games.
The first lady showed the children a short movie called "A Very Beazley Christmas" about her family's two Scottish terriers - Barney and Miss Beazley. The film, with cameos by President Bush and others, shows off the White House holiday decor as it tells a tale of Barney becoming jealous when his sister gets more attention than him.
When 11-year-old Brooke Chaffee and her 8-year-old brother Heath were on the phone Sunday night to their father, who is stationed in Fallujah, Iraq, all they could talk about was how they'd get to meet the first lady.
"This is something they'll never forget," their mom, Jennifer Chaffee, said after the children saw Laura Bush.
The three Chaffees have been living with family in Gulfport since the hurricane hit. Their Long Beach home is still standing, but Katrina left it with severe structural damage. Jennifer Chaffee said the family is on a waiting list for a trailer from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. |
