Meeting Miss Evans

On Sunday morning, our group went to a NENA (Neighborhood Empowerment N_____ Association) distribution center based at St. David’s Catholic church where Katrina victims could come to pick up items such as windows and doors for their homes. Miss Mary Evans was fairly noticeable today at our site in New Orleans as she was wearing her Sunday best, a yellow skirt and shirt outfit covered in pink roses. Her cheery clothing was my in to a conversation. With a small compliment I unleashed her story. A former middle school special education teacher, Miss Evans came to the distribution center to pick up windows for her “disaster home” (her partially destroyed home). She told us about the church of which she has been a member for 54 years, and when she found out we came down from Massachusetts she excitedly told us about all her family in the Boston area. She is now getting ready to take her great-grandchildren up for a visit. A woman known to many for her happiness (she told us a story about someone’s amazement at her constantly cheery attitude), Miss Evans was a character who definitely made my day.

-- MT