By Brian Zanzonico
Since September, the only payment West Orange-Cove Consolidated Independent School District Superintendent Dr. O. Taylor Collins has received for his district is $745 from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and that was compensation for Hurricane Katrina victims from nearby Louisiana who came to attend school in Orange.
But talking about the years it will take to rebuild the already poverty-stricken town of 19,000 isn't what made Collins's gentle Kentucky twang break during a recent phone call. It was the generosity of people in Franklin Square, more than 1,500 miles away, and a compassionate teacher whose long-anticipated return has been the talk of the town. "It's just so amazing to know so many folks such a great distance away have a love of people they've never even seen," Collins said in a phone interview last week.
Collins, along with members of Mt. Zion Baptist Church and the Rev. Agbor Fredrick Isek of St. Therese Catholic Church, were awaiting the arrival last weekend of H. Frank Carey High School teacher Bart Badalucco, whom the superintendent called " a real hero" to the area.
Collins and Mt. Zion clergy met Badalucco in September, when he was prepping and serving 14,000 meals a day to relief workers and residents for the American Red Cross Disaster Relief feeding operation after Hurricane Rita struck. One day, Badalucco made his way to a school in the area, which Collins and the administration used as headquarters as they began the process of getting the district back up and running. Badalucco promised, and delivered, Red Cross meals for the three schools that opened within days.
But Badalucco wasn't done. Before he left, he vowed to Collins that help would arrive from up north. When he got back to Franklin Square, he established a series of fund-raisers called Orange-Aid, to assist the people of Orange.
The Carey and Franklin Square community took to Badalucco's cause with a zeal that far exceeded anything he could have imagined. In less than two months, Orange-Aid raised $15,000, and collected 2,000 pounds of school clothes and supplies, new and slightly used toys, and two computers donated by SBS Computer in Franklin Square. Wal-Mart and Home Depot gift cards, clothes and toys were purchased for the school district students and the Mt. Zion congregation, and were shipped to Orange and arrived just in time for Christmas, on Dec. 22. St. Therese Church received the computers to replace one damaged in the storm, and last week Badalucco delivered money to fix the church's damaged interior.
"It's easy to see the damage to the structures," Collins said. "It's harder to see the damage to children and young adults. But Bart and the people of Franklin Square gave them a nice Christmas."
Isek met Badalucco as the priest was walking out of the church hall after a morning service and the teacher was driving by in a Red Cross truck. Isek brought Badalucco over to the church, where extensive damage to the roof forced the predominantly African American congregation, which Isek said is made up of locals and residents who travel from far away, to celebrate Mass in the hall. Badalucco promised the priest he would find a way back at home to help pay for the roof.
Recently, Isek learned that insurance would pay for a new roof. But damage to the interior of the church is extensive, he said, and he hoped the money he was getting from Franklin Square last Sunday would help restore it. He received a call from Badalucco two weeks ago saying that he was coming to Orange and bringing a gift for St. Therese's - $5,000. "Every bad thing brings something greater," Isek said.
Badalucco was scheduled to arrive in Houston last Sunday afternoon with his companion, Sewanhaka High School English teacher Karen Walsh, and attend a special service at Mt. Zion Church later in the evening. He was also scheduled to meet with Isek, to address 200 West Orange-Cove seniors on Monday on the importance of volunteerism, and to finish his trip in Galveston.
"I want to make [Orange residents] understand that they're not in this alone," Badalucco said. "We're all in this together."
Future of Orange
Last year was Collins's first as West Orange-Cove superintendent after 11 years as head of a Kentucky school district. When he first considered the move, one of his first questions was whether Orange ever has hurricanes. He was told a few came close, but never swept through.
Now, the health of the district is in question. Many Orange businesses have been obliterated. West Orange-Cove schools rely heavily on property taxes from local businesses to stay in operation, Collins said. He added that if business owners have had the same experiences with insurance companies that he has, it's likely their doors will remain shut. "In my dealings, it's tough and rough to negotiate a fair settlement," Collins said.
But the town's perseverance is what is holding it together. Within two weeks of the storm, 94 percent of the district's faculty and staff were back at work. Slowly, its six schools began to open. Half a year later, riding the same buses used to evacuate Orange's residents before Rita crushed many of their homes, almost all of West Orange-Cove's 2,800 students are back in class.
"It gives hope to people," Collins said.
Just as Orange-Aid did. Lorraine Shannon, the school's director of public information, said the backpacks, school supplies and clothes for the school's dress code that arrived from Franklin Square lifted children's spirits when they were delivered just days before Christmas. The toys collected by Margaret DiTusa of Franklin Square Boy Scout Troop 93's Mothers Club made it in perfect condition, Shannon said.
"Bart came by with just an idea about Orange-Aid, and it wound up being bigger than anything we could have imagined," Collins said. "I get chills just thinking about it."
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