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A Pastor's Journey to Heal Lives
Keyoka Norwood hugs her father, Lawrence Jones, goodbye before leaving.
(Photos By Nancy Trejos -- The Washington Post)
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"This is Father Finch," he said. "Tell her I can get you guys a home up near Washington, D.C."
He pulled another file. No answer.
He dialed a number. Busy. Another. No answer. Then another.
"Hmm," he said, frowning. Stepping out for a cigarette, he ran into Peter and Jolene Schneckenburger. They told him that their home in Jefferson Parish was intact but that they were not allowed to go back.
Finch offered them a place to stay.
"We're too old to move," said Peter Schneckenburger, 65, a retired director of inspections and code enforcement in Jefferson Parish.
Finch added perks as the day went on. If the evacuees had cars they wanted to drive to Maryland, Finch would give them gas money. If they wanted their own apartment instead of staying with a family in Rockville or Potomac, Finch would pay a few months' rent.
He paced the room, despair beginning to consume him. Pat Wiele, an upbeat Catholic Charities volunteer from California who was helping with the calls, tried to reassure him.
"You have to know you're here for a reason," she said. "You were guided here. Maybe the people the Lord wants up in Maryland, maybe we haven't seen them yet."
"Good point," he said. "So we just have to tell the Lord to hurry up."
Finch, a bit reticent by nature, had hoped to avoid the confusion of the Astrodome, but now he had no choice.
He printed fliers advertising a 6 p.m. meeting at Catholic Charities and headed to the Astrodome, along with Jeffrey Dunckel, a parishioner who accompanied him to Houston.
