by Eva Nichols

Created on: June 09, 2009   Last Updated: June 17, 2009

Five years ago Kathy Robinson had one of the hardest times of her life. She was a hurricane Katrina survival, she met her husband Leon Robinson, while working for Imperial Sugar Company. Her family now resides in Sugar land, Texas, a small city 25 miles southwest of Houston, Texas. She has been married to Leon Robinson for about four years. They have two sons Matt, two years old and Andy who is 10 months old, their children are the joy of their lives.

Kathy lived in New Orleans all of her adult life until the levees broke, her mother, father, 5 siblings, and herself all had to evacuate from their flooded home. It was the worst day of her family's life they had lost everything. When they left New Orleans, they had to stay in a shelter until an apartment was ready. Being homeless was an uncomfortable situation for her family. Her father was a retired railroad supervisor for Southern Pacific Railroads, her mother worked at the local high school in their small community. All six of their children had good jobs in New Orleans and their lives were great until Hurricane Katrina destroyed their city.

When the Mayor of New Orleans, announced the evacuation of the city, Kathy's family had enough money saved to stay in a hotel for six months. Unfortunately, unexpected troubles begin to happen, troubles that had dissolved their finances. Her mother died of a stroke a month after they had to evacuated, her older brother Charles, had a nervous breakdown due to the stress of losing his mother and losing everything. Her youngest sister, Mabel decided to run off to Virginia with a man she had not known for three months. She was only nineteen years old and not any of her family members had heard from her since. Mabel does not know about her mother's death. Her running away contributes to the caused of her mother's stroke. It was so hard for her family, Kathy had to be strong for them, and she tried to make good of a bad situation.

While waiting for their FEMA checks from the government, Kathy and her family's faith and hope had begun to disappear. The look on her father's face she could see sadness and the impression of a shattered man. She knew if she did not get her family out of that shelter, she would end up losing her dad also. She decided she would find them a home out of the shelter. Even though they had lost everything, they did manage to keep their cars. Kathy talked to her siblings about her plans of getting them out of the shelter. She and her brother

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