Lending a helping hand

Courtesy Photo | Airman Andrew L. Stine, a civil engineer with the 167th Airlift Wing in Martinsburg, W.Va., gives three bottles of spring water to New Orleans resident Henri A. Alciatore Jr. hkat  

BELLE CHASSE, LA, UNITED STATES

09.16.2005

Courtesy Story

196th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment

By Spc. Sherree Casper
196th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment

BELLE CHASSE, La. -- While on a convoy earmarked to deliver supplies to troops in New Orleans, Soldiers and Airmen with the West Virginia National Guard recently lent a helping hand to a victim of Hurricane Katrina as he cleaned up his home.

While Henri A. Alciatore Jr. was cleaning up debris around his front yard in Jefferson Parrish, the small convoy of Humvees and five-ton trucks rolled by and spotted the lone man who was digging out from the damage wreaked by the Aug. 29 storm that blew through the area.

A large live oak tree had slammed into his three-bedroom house that was built in the late 1950s and crushed a portion of the roof.

A pile of discarded furniture and personal belongings ruined by the storm was stacked near the street curb in front of the house.

"I don't think it's living anymore," Alciatore said of the fallen tree, trying to keep his sense of humor.

Alciatore said the inside of his home had received flood damage and mold was already growing.

Noticing the man might be hungry after working in the hot and humid weather in the Deep South, Airmen Andrew L. Stine climbed down from atop a five-ton truck and brought a home style chicken and noodles in gravy heater meal in a box to him.

Asked if he was thirsty, Alciatore nodded and Stine disappeared to his truck for a moment and returned with two bottles of spring water.

"I said, 'this guy is hungry, let's give him some food,"" recalled Stine who was a passenger in the five-ton.

Stine is a civil engineer with the 167th Airlift Wing based in Martinsburg, W.Va.

"This is what it's all about -- helping people," said Stine, who lives in Chambersburg, Pa., and took time off from his civilian job as a heating and air conditioning technician.

Alciatore appreciated the kindness shown by the West Virginia National Guard.

He said he's in the midst of trying to put his life back together in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

Now living in New Iberia, La., about 100 miles away from his home on Neyrey Drive in Metairia, La., which was flooded in the storm, Alciatore said people seem to have pulled together in the aftermath of the recent natural disaster.

"We are in good hands," he said of the residents who reside in his temporary neighborhood.

Adding: "Everyone has been so helpful."

When Alciatore returned to his home on Neyrey Drive, his 9-year-old Persian cat Percy was waiting at the door eagerly.

"We rescued him. He was so traumatized," he said. "As soon as I opened the door he was rubbing up against my leg."

Alciatore said Percy lost a bit of weight because his food floated on top of the water he didn't seem to want it.

"He needed to lose some weight anyway," Alciatore said with a smile.

hkat

• Date Taken: 09.16.2005
• Date Posted: 09.16.2005 14:02
• Story ID: 3031
• Location: BELLE CHASSE, LA, US