While the lodge has long been lost to humans, it now is home to a large colony of feral and stray cats.

When Hurricane Florence hit the Carolinas in 2018, Kim Williams’ animal welfare nonprofit, Lucky Cats of Kinston, helped the motel cats weather the storm. 

Most people are able to flee in a natural disaster, but feral and stray cats — which often group together in a colony — are often forced to fend for themselves. 

But more help has come their way in recent years.

After Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Congress mandated that states and the federal government take animals into consideration when developing their emergency management plans. 

These days, before and after storms, local animal welfare groups around the country spring into action to help homeless animals before and after major storms.   

Groups like Lucky Cats in Kinston, Camp Many Paws in Naples, Florida, and Maryland-based Alley Cat Allies supported existing feral colonies before Hurricanes Florence, Irma and Harvey, respectively, by rebuilding feeding stations and shelters. 

About the Kinston motel cats, Williams said: “That is their home, and they’re equally a part of our environment as raccoons and squirrels and possums.”

Williams started the nonprofit in August 2018, a month before Hurricane Florence, as part of a collaboration with the neighboring Lake Norman Lucky Cat Program. In the run-up to the hurricane, Williams and her husband, Kendal, scrambled to set up shelter for the cats to ride out the storm.

“We got palettes and we got totes, and we got bungee cords, and got tarps, and we did some makeshift houses and feed stations on the highest ground that we could possibly find,” Williams said. 

Before Florence, Williams and her husband set up a feeding station on the motel’s second floor. 

“I often joke that they pretty much have it made there because well, they have rooms, and they have a river view, and the food is brought to them,” Williams said.

Lucky Cats of Kinston wasn’t the only group in the eastern North Carolina protecting animals during the hurricane, which flooded the area.

The Lenoir County SPCA, or Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, was able to evacuate dogs and cats from its building ahead of Florence. A shelter in nearby Newport, North Carolina,  wasn’t so lucky, and its first floor flooded and roof collapsed before animals were rescued by the Cajun Navy, a volunteer group that does water rescues after storms. 

Since the storm, Williams said she and a group of volunteers have worked diligently to spay and neuter more of the motel cats, as well as put out food and water for them everyday. 

“I could not be happier with the group of people that have stepped up,” Williams said, adding, “I’ve really had my faith in humanity restored because of them.”

The motel and its cats is one of five colonies Lucky Cats manages around Kinston, and in 10 months of operation they’ve spayed or neutered 353 cats, 194 of which were female.

In anticipation of the 2019 hurricane season, she made plans to fortify her feeding stations, and will clear them out if necessary. 

The goal for Williams is to manage her colonies for long enough that the only storm preparation she’ll need is for herself.

Maryland-based Alley Cat Allies offers tips to groups that care for feral and stray cat to help them prepare for disasters.

Harrison Mantas

Harrison Mantas is working on a master’s degree at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University.  He received a bachelor’s degree in film and television production from the University of Southern California, and worked in entertainment and in the nonprofit world. At Cronkite, he has covered stories on the debate over light rail in South Phoenix, Native American adoptions and grazing fees on Arizona State Trust Land. Examples of his work can be found here.

harrisonmantas.com

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They gathered around a cooler on a makeshift bench beside the front door and wiped their brows as they took a mini-break from their day of labor – a change from their usual school routine.

Originally from Saint Paul, Minnesota, the teenagers traveled to Texas to volunteer alongside their church group to rebuild homes that were destroyed in the wake of Hurricane Harvey in 2017.

After a long process of researching communities and contacting organizations, the young volunteers from Macalester Plymouth United Church decided to spend their time working with Houston Responds, a voluntary group that unites church coalitions to support community recovery efforts.

The team behind Houston Responds launched a campaign called “Far From Finished” with the aim of reminding the public that a post-disaster crisis still remains in Houston, almost two years after the devastating storm ripped through communities. 

According to Gov. Greg Abbott’s Commission to Rebuild Texas, over $539 million has been spent on housing and other disaster expenses in Houston as of January 2019  – but many people are still displaced or living in unrepaired homes.

The home the children were rebuilding, belonging to 74-year-old Leola Davis, was one of many in need of repair in Independence Heights, a historically black community in Houston. Over the space of one weekend, two different volunteer groups stepped into the flood-wrecked home.

Colleen Henneke, a Houston Responds volunteer from the Bayou City Fellowship, continues to evaluate homes in the neighborhood for flood damage. She said that while the destructive storm caused major damage to the area, the response and recovery efforts have brought communities together.

Henneke said that some of the houses were in bad conditions before Harvey came, which was one of the reasons there was not a lot of help in the area. She explained that some of the local churches are not well-resourced and don’t have a lot of general extra funds. 

“It really takes the bigger churches to love on an area like this to get the rebuilds done,” Henneke said.

“I believe that God allowed this storm to happen at a time when this city needed to come together and churches needed to come together.”

Other residents spoke about an increased faith in God during the recovery period, something Henneke noticed as a church volunteer.

A 2015 study from the Department of Economics at the University of Copenhagen found that many individuals turn to religion after disasters “to deal with unbearable and unpredictable life events”.

The predominantly white volunteer leaders said their initial efforts required building trust with the Independence Heights community. Two years later, the evidence it worked was the praise local residents had for the volunteers.

“To build trust, we just kept showing up,” Henneke said. “These are our neighbors. We’ve got lots of people who can go on missions, but you can go on mission in your backyard if you live in Houston.” 

The Minnesota highschool teenagers were one of many out-of-state groups that are still coming to Houston to help rebuild hurricane-stricken homes. Despite the change of climate and strenuous work, the teenagers said they’re passionate about the work they’re doing. 

“It’s dirty, and it’s hard work, but it needs to be done,” 15-year-old Annie Delma said.

“Before we came here, we watched a video that the organization we’re with showed us and it was actually of the person who owns this home. Just hearing the stories, our group is a very connecting group, and so we really empathize with these people.”

Annie added that while they may be young, they believe they can make a difference this summer by helping the struggling homeowners.

“It’s been two years after Harvey and we came to this house and it was completely gutted,” Annie said. “This woman was not able to live in her house anymore. I can’t imagine not being able to live in my house.”

One of their leaders for the trip, Michael Eugene Florey, described how doing the physical work and seeing the damage was a learning curve for the schoolchildren.

“It shows them how much they can do,” Florey said.” For a lot of the smaller kids, waking up in the morning saying ‘I can run a staple gun or a drywall drill,’ they can just expand their imagination of what they can do and accomplish, it’s fantastic.”

Florey said the kids want to be of service, they want to help. 

He added that “it’s been great to come down and see it first-hand, to see how great the need is, and how resilient the people who are still living here are.”

Rachel Farrell

Rachel Farrell is a graduate of Dublin City University in Ireland. Farrell works as a news reporter for Independent.ie, Ireland’s largest breaking news website. She covered major events such as the pope’s visit to Dublin in 2018, the referendum on abortion and Brexit. She is a regular style and entertainment contributor and broke national news stories for the Irish Independent and The Herald newspapers. Examples of her work can be found here.

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