Finding a home
for the holidays

By Jeannie O’Sullivan
Times Staff Writer

It almost was an ordinary Christmas for the Lloyds.
The five youngest members of the family woke up to find stacks of presents under the tree and spent the rest of the day in X-Box and Barbie-fueled bliss. That evening, after dining on a feast prepared for them by a chef, Jay and Theresa Lloyd danced together in the dining room.
Jay Lloyd remembers when his wife first agreed to go out with him.
"‘Hallelujah!’ I said," he recalled, while Theresa, 32, laughed.
"It’s great to see her with a smile on her face," said Jay, 31.
A month ago, the Lloyds were trying very, very hard to smile. On Nov. 8, fire ravaged most of Theresa Lloyd’s childhood home in Southwest Philadelphia. No one perished, but a family’s hopes took a beating.
The Lloyds had bought the home from Theresa’s mom, who has moved to Maryland, and were planning to move out of their duplex and into the house, a two-story, three-bedroom home more suited to their large family. The family learned that the fire started from the cigarette of a "squatter," someone who lives in abandoned or unoccupied homes. A neighbor noticed the flames and called the Lloyds.
Their duplex lease was up, so they’ve moved into the Red Cross House, a haven for disaster victims run by the American Red Cross. Located at 4000 Powelton Ave., in West Philadelphia, it is the agency’s first Red Cross House and opened three years ago.
It’s been very tough for Jay, who takes his role as the man of the house quite seriously. It brought back memories of having to go to a shelter when he was younger.
"I promised I would never let that happen to my family," said Jay.
He changed his mind when he learned more about the Red Cross House, a sunny and inviting building with 25 family suites, a modern cafeteria, clean computer labs and community rooms, and a huge toy-packed playroom.
"We spent the first few years convincing people who hadn’t ever seen it that it’s not a shelter," said Red Cross House director Dwayne Wharton.
Yet it certainly is giving shelter and much more to a slew of families who felt the sting of a disaster-filled year. While global relief efforts had FEMA workers and whole communities tackling the aftermath of hurricanes and tsunamis, the Red Cross’ caseworkers, counselors and AmeriCorps volunteers worked locally to help Philadelphia’s families deal with their smaller-scale disasters.
The majority of cases, Wharton said, are house fires stemming from the older, poorly wired homes in the North, West and Southwest parts of Philadelphia. Because of this, the Red Cross House staff is used to greeting new arrivals at all hours of the night.
Wharton said shelters that accommodate whole families are rare, and most traditional shelters enforce male/female segregation rules that split families apart.
"We weren’t going to do that," said Theresa Lloyd.
Three of the family’s children — Rashad, 14, Raheem, 12, and Sáde, 10 — are staying at the Red Cross House, while Rileik, 17, and Jayionnna, 4, are staying with relatives.
Families get necessities like living space, toiletries, three daily meals, computer and phone access, and fun stuff, like the holiday party at the Loews Hotel in Center City on Dec. 13. On Christmas, Wharton and his family came in and served dinner to the 23 families currently living at the Red Cross House.
"He also let us put gifts under the tree (in the lobby) for the kids, so it wouldn’t be so different for them," said Jay.
Thanksgiving at the Red Cross House, Theresa said, was equally festive.
The average emergency stay is one to three nights, said Wharton. The Lloyds had crossed off their 49th day when they spoke with the Northeast Times.
Extended-stay clients get more counseling, vocational/life skills/safety training, housing-search assistance, after-school and summer activities for youths, and evening recreational and special-event activities.
The family has been working hard with a caseworker, one of three who help the families to plan for the future by linking them with social services, guiding them through real estate listings and providing job-search assistance.
In the Lloyds’ case, future plans include rebuilding the home — which could take about a month — and, for Jay, finding a new job. He had been at his maintenance supervisory position for just more than a month when the fire struck, causing him to miss too much work.
Theresa’s job as a certified nursing assistant was unshaken by the fire, but compounding their financial stress is the dead end they’ve reached as far as garnering public support, not to mention the $10,000 to $15,000 price tag of rebuilding.
"All the funding and assistance have gone to Katrina," said Theresa, who made a round of phone calls to local and national service agencies in search of help.
She plans to look into the assistance that home-improvement stores offer to low-income families or disaster victims who need to rebuild their properties.
The past month has given Jay time to think about the cleaning business he wants to start. He has a maintenance certification from Orleans Technical Institute.
"I really want to start this business," said Jay. "But I’ll do whatever it takes for my family. I’ll deliver papers." ••
The Lloyds need plumbing and carpentry work on their home. To contact the Lloyds, or for more information about the Red Cross House and its services, call 215-405-8800 or visit www.redcross-philly.org
Reporter Jeannie O’Sullivan can be reached at 215-354-3038 or osullivanj@phillynews.com