Oil spill: 8,000 seek assistance from New Orleans Catholic Charities

June 17, 2010

Discussing efforts to assist those affected by the BP oil spill, the communication director of Catholic Charities in the Archdiocese of New Orleans told PBS that “we’ve seen about 8,000 people so far, fishermen and their families who’ve come in just looking for help, looking for support, looking for financial assistance in some way.”

“The BP claims process is a little cumbersome, and it is going to take some time,” Margaret Dubuisson added. “So Catholic Charities has been able to provide direct assistance and food much more quickly and put that in the hands of the fishermen through these five emergency relief centers.”

“This is much more than a loss of income for this particular group,” she continued. “This is loss of a way of life and a culture, and people are very fearful, very anxious, because no one knows how long this is going to go on, and the news just seems to get increasingly worse about it. So these fishermen and their families who for generations have made their living as fishermen, as a very independent group, they’re having a lot of difficulty dealing with the anxiety and uncertainty of the oil spill situation.”

 

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Further information:

• Catholic Charities and Gulf Oil Disaster (Religion & Ethics Newsweekly, PBS)
• Catholic Charities, Archdiocese of New Orleans