Saturday, February 24, 2007

2/24 Details of new job

I spoke to Jan on the phone today and she said I'd been kind of cryptic about my job. Now that it's official I can say more. The company is LSSS (Lutheran Social Services of the South), based in Austin, TX. It's a not for profit associated with the different Lutheran denominations. They provide many social services in Texas including disaster relief, foster care, adoptions, group homes, adult day care, retirement homes, and more. In Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Mississippi they provide disaster services only (and it includes case management). I'm hired as the State Coordinator of Disaster Services for Mississippi.

With the Red Cross I've been doing kind of first responder work. With LSSS it will be long-term recovery work. We muck out houses, clean up, rebuild, and build from scratch. We house hundreds of volunteers in camps in and near Biloxi. I think there will be around 50 staff (at least that's what the Louisiana coordinator told me). I'll find out next week.

I'll be in a hotel for up to 10 days, and then will move to an apartment temporarily. I've also got a realtor who is already looking for condos for me. It's odd--everything used to be so cheap there, but now it's more expensive than up north because there's still a lack of housing. Apartments are so expensive that it will definitely be cheaper to buy a place. One downside is that the prices may go down as more places are rebuilt. Another downside is that homeowner's insurance is extremely expensive. We'll see how everything pans out.

Won't be long now.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't think I've ever used the word cryptic in my life. Thanks for the info, you'll be great.

Jerilyn Dufresne, author said...

Laughing.

Yeah, I know. But it was the perfect word.

And thanks, sis.

Anonymous said...

good luck...another big step in your life. I work with guys that would probably love to talk to you once you get going. Our [adams county]Emergency Management Agency Director was in Mississippi in the aftermath of Katrina. John Simon's was one of our Paramedic's at the time, but has since become the full time EMA director. Incidently, I tried to fix Kris up with him in 1999, but she thought he was too young. More's the pity...he's happily married now.

Jerilyn Dufresne, author said...

Thanks, Cin. It's all happening so quickly, it's hard to take it all in.