http://www.lincolncourier.com/news/05/12/10/f.asp

A place to call home

BY GAYE MAXSON
CORRESPONDENT

MASON CITY \u2014 "Turn on a faucet.

"Take a hot shower.

"Not wear a hat.

"Sleep in a bed that\u2019s not on the ground.

"Sit on a couch and watch TV.

"Flush a toilet."

While Joann Nicodemus spent six weeks as a volunteer relief worker at
Hurricane Katrina\u2019s ground zero in Waveland, Miss., she made a
list of things she looked forward to doing again. 

"I checked them off as I did them," she said recently while visiting
her parents Wade and Lois Nicodemus back in her hometown of Mason City
. 

Nicodemus, 38 and single, marvels at the path her life has taken since
Hurricane Katrina struck Aug. 29. She had planned to quit her job as a
professional massage therapist in Michigan and look for a place \u2013
maybe North Carolina \u2013 with year-round tennis. 

"Then I saw the hurricane happen and thought it wasn\u2019t right for
me to take six weeks and drive around and burn gas when those people
needed help," Nicodemus said. "So I decided to go to Missis-sippi and,
while I was there, I met a lady from North Carolina who told me
everything I needed to know." 

When Hurricane Rita threatened the coast just days after her arrival,
she evacuated with fellow volunteers to their hometown, Dothan, Ala. 

"I checked out the tennis center, and I was hooked," Nicodemus
said. "It\u2019s all about the tennis. I can always get a job." 

She arrived in Mississippi Sept. 20 and by the time she left Nov. 1,
she had secured an apartment in Dothan. She had a small nest egg that
carried her through that period. 

"I don\u2019t have a lot of bills," Nico-demus said. "It didn\u2019t
cost me anything to be there. I didn\u2019t drive my car for a
month. The Rainbow (Family) was down there cooking three meals a day
if I wanted them. There was no need for money. 

"I figure I came out OK in the deal. I have an apartment. I have
tennis courts. I have the trail, a library card. I\u2019m signed up
for dance lessons. I just need to find a job. Never in my dreams did I
think I should check out Alabama. Yet through a series of events, I
have found a town that meets the things I wanted. I don\u2019t know
how the job is going to be, but everything else fell in place." 

Nicodemus worked at a distribution center in a strip mall parking lot
in Waveland, Miss. The town at ground zero had been destroyed by the
35-foot storm surge. 

"You can\u2019t wrap your head around it," Nicodemus
said. "(Survivors) came back to nothing. Not even any debris. That
went inland for a quarter mile. Then you go inland, and those people
lost everything, but their yard was filled with a stack of
debris. Nothing can prepare you for it." 

The strip mall was gutted and the parking lot had become a street fair
of stations for food, first aid and supplies. Stations were run by
various religious and governmental organizations as well as by
individuals like her. The Rainbow Family \u2013 a self-professed
non-organization from the hippie counterculture of the 1970s \u2013
was serving three square meals every day to anyone who came while
musicians provided music to sooth the soul. Seventh-day Adventists,
Mormons, Methodists, Episcopalians and others worked together helping
refugees who came back day after day for food and supplies from the
piles of donations. 

A couple with a recreational vehicle offered Nicodemus shelter. When
they left a few weeks later, she found a tarp to sleep under, and
later a tent \u2013 without a fly. 

"I have a degree in outdoor rec, so it was pretty much up my alley,"
Nicodemus said. "Everybody that was down there was either in an RV or
a tent. Those were pretty much your only options." 

Lack of security did not concern her.

"My running shoes were taken, but they were probably taken by someone
who needed shoes more than I needed to run," she said. "And anything I
had, I would have given them. When I got cold, I\u2019d go into the
pile and get a sweatshirt. If I got hot I put it with the clothing; it
was fair game. I did laundry in a five-gallon bucket. For a while
National Guard had showers for us. After they left, I rigged up a
shower with a hose. When it was 80 (degrees) it was OK. When it got
cold, it wasn\u2019t so good." 

After Hurricane Rita, Clemmons brought another vanload of supplies
from Mississippi Emergency Management Agency. 

"We unloaded this truck and gave it away in 40 minutes. It was
crazy. We were literally cutting boxes open, throwing the stuff out
and throwing the boxes behind us," Nicodemus said. 

"The first hurricane took everything they had. They were struggling to
get off the ground. They were living in tents and trucks. 

"For about a week (after Rita) they walked around with this dazed look
and would take whatever you set out. I feel bad for them. It\u2019s
cold down there." 

By Nov. 1, when Nicodemus left Waveland for Dothan, she was sleeping in four layers of clothes.

No one wanted to deal with the clothing that kept arriving from
various places, so Nicodemus tackled that daunting task alone. 

When she started, she had a haphazard mountain of disorganized boxes
and bags. She got two large meeting tents and attached a tarp awning
to protect many items. The rest were stacked neatly in organized
rows. Using pallets, she fenced off her area into a marketplace where
everything was free. 

Limit signs were posted, but she never questioned people taking too
much unless they became excessive. A sign at the entrance said
"Friends in Need \u2013 Friends in Deed." 

She plans to return.

"It\u2019s a great place," Nicodemus said. "People are wonderful.

"I came back to my life. I have all my stuff. I\u2019m going to a
place where houses are intact. (The folks in Waveland) are still
waiting in line for a trailer from FEMA. There are no gas stations, no
stores, no houses, no jobs. And winter \u2013 winter\u2019s coming. I
wish I could be back there helping them."