Public Employee Press

Displaced New Orleans family says thanks

A prominent New Orleans couple uprooted by the Hurricane Katrina tragedy visited DC 37 to thank the union for its support.

On Sept. 7, Charles E. Hamilton Jr. and Patricia Wade Hamilton poignantly described how they had to leave their suburban home without any possessions after their house was flooded with 10 feet of water last year. They stayed with relatives in Houston.

Mr. Hamilton is the president of the Zulu Social Aid & Pleasure Club in New Orleans. The group is a leading organizer of the annual Mardi Gras celebration.

Mrs. Hamilton is the sister-in-law of Onita J. Wade, a manager at the DC 37 Health and Security Fund. DC 37 helped Wade collect and send relief items to the Hamiltons and other family members, including their recently born granddaughter, who also went to Texas.

The Hamiltons were in New York in September because Mr. Hamilton was the grand marshal of the annual West Indian American Day Carnival.

As a gesture of appreciation for DC 37’s support, Mr. Hamilton presented the union with a plaque from New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin that honored DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts.