September 11, 2005
(by Shannon Becker -
September 08, 2005)
On the east side of
In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Hunter
stayed behind to help with the rescue and recovery of his town and now spends
most of his days chugging along in a motorboat and looking for refugees.
“I think when he saw the house — that was
one of the hardest days for him,” said Lori Hunter. She, daughter Nicole, who
turns 16 tomorrow, and 8-year-old son D.J. — fled north so that they at least
would be out of harm’s way. Lori Hunter is expecting the couple’s third child —
a baby girl who will be named Olivia — at the end of the month.
Sitting in her sister-in-law’s
“I just can’t believe it,” said Lori. “It
all seems so unreal.
Lori Hunter and her children have taken
temporary refuge with her husband’s family. But are a bit overwhelmed by all
they have lost and the enormity of what they need to do to get back on track.
Enter one generous local family and the
Cheshire Police Department.
Members of the Cheshire Police Department
learned of this family’s plight on Monday and are now doing all they can to
help. Sgt. Tom Bobok and Officer Kerry Nastri met with the family Monday night
and are now asking the community for its help.
The Hunters are being lent a furnished
apartment for one year, rent free, and members of the police department are
readying the place for the family’s arrival — heading up the cleaning and
painting crews. The department is also taking gift card and monetary donations
to help the family get back on its feet.
“David Hunter is a police officer, and he
sent his family here to live so that they would be safe and out of harm’s way.
They are part of our family now, and we want to do all we can to help them,”
said Bobok, president of the
Bobok said with the
“There are so many people in need of
assistance, we want to do our share to help,” Bobock said. “This family has
come to
“It’s easy to be somewhat detached
when this tragedy is happening so far away, but when you think about it, New
Orleans is really not that far and these are people who desperately need our
help,” Bobok said.
For now Lakeview, where the family’s home
sits underwater, is at the center of one of the biggest natural disasters in
Lori and David Hunter have been married for
11 years, and the family has lived in
“We went to bed Friday and everything was
fine. On Saturday, David was on stand-by, and he said I needed to leave with
the kids. I packed for a couple of days, and we went to a friend’s house on
higher ground.”
As Hurricane Katrina was bearing down on the
city, the Hunters fled east with friends David and Desi Harris and their son.
David Hunter remained behind. He had been
planning to file his retirement papers the morning the storm hit. But now he
finds himself unable to leave his post — patrolling for survivors.
David, 47, served in the Air Force as a
military police officer and has worked as a police officer in various
departments for 25 years, the past eight in
“I think my husband was born to be a
policeman. When he applied for the job with the
As his family headed inland, David spent the
brunt of the hurricane in an area with 10 other mounted police officers and 30
horses. The officers had moved their horses from the French Quarter and stayed
there to keep them safe. Tornadoes swirled around the area, but they all made
it through the storm.
When leaving
The group spent Aug. 28 through Sept. 2 in
“But David was scared for us. He had to wear
his wetsuit, and he spends his days walking through contaminated water filled
with dead bodies. There are looters, shootings and death. He just wanted us as
far away from all that as we could get,” Lori said.
David contacted his sisters Susan Festa and
Lauren Grestini, and they began making arrangements to ensure the safety of
their youngest brother’s family.
“He pleaded with us to get them up here,”
Festa said. “With all of the mayhem raging around him, he needed to know his
family was safe so that he could concentrate on his job.”
Lori and her children arrived in
Lori’s youngest brother lived in the small
community of Pass Christian, Mississippi, an area destroyed by Hurricane
Katrina. Her older brother was safe in
“It’s hard being so far away from him and
what we know,” Lori said. “But everyone has been so nice. I think we just
haven’t realized how much is gone.”
But Lori said she and her family are among
the lucky ones.
“Not everyone was able to flee the city.
There are a lot of poor, black people in
Lori said that her ordeal has been a very
humbling experience, and she still believes there are more good people than
bad.
“But what happened is just so senseless. It
wasn’t the hurricane that did our city in. It was the levy,” she said.
On Tuesday evening, the family was starting
to settle in. Despite their lack of medical or even school records, the children
were being accepted at two local Catholic schools.
“Nicole and D.J. went to Catholic school at
home, and it’s what they know,” Lori said. “I just want to try and get them
back into a regular routine.”
Nicole has been instant messaging and text
messaging her friends who are now spread out all over the country — some in
Houston,
But things are finally settling back into
something resembling a routine. Nicole and her cousin Jessica were out shopping
for shoes, and her new school uniforms were in the dryer.
Back in
“It’s so hard,” Lori said. “David just lost
his dad three weeks ago ... and we just built a room for the baby. It’s all
gone. My brother lost his home and business. He has three small children.
They’re going to rebuild. But I’m not sure what we’re going to do. Before this
David was going to retire, but now I just don’t know.”
The couple’s baby is due in three weeks. The
“There are so many horrific stories coming
out of
To help the family, the police are asking
for gift cards and certificates to grocery stores, shopping malls, department
stores and toy stores as well as monetary donations to help the Hunter family
start rebuilding their lives.
Not surprisingly, the family was most
concerned for David Hunter who was still in
“He’s staying down there to do his job, but
we will do all we can to help his family get on their feet here in
The Police Benevolent Association has two
entities — the PBA, Inc., which benefits its own members and the PBA Community
Foundation, a non-profit offering assistance to community members in need.
Although the PBA just began its own
fundraising drive, it is now asking community members to also help out the
Hunter family and others like them through its non-profit entity.
Donations can be dropped off at the Cheshire
Police Department. Checks should be made payable to: “
Unfortunately the police department is not
equipped to receive any donations of furniture, clothing, toys or other items.
But there are several drop boxes located at
various locations throughout