(PRLEAP.COM) Southeast Texas Help (www.setxhelp.org), a website dedicated to family-to-family Hurricane Katrina disaster assistance, is making the possibility of a new life a reality for at least one evacuee in Beaumont.

Her name, incredibly, is Katrina.

A few weeks ago, her sons, age 12 and 14, remember ribbing her about the hurricane in the Gulf that bore her name. But when it became apparent that her namesake storm was making a beeline for her home in Kenner, Louisiana, the jokes stopped.

Katrina and her two boys evacuated to Beaumont the day before Hurricane Katrina thrashed the Gulf Coast and plunged New Orleans into chaos and feet of filthy water. She had only a short time to get her boys into the car before fighting the traffic leaving New Orleans, and did not have many of her possessions with her.

Because the shelters from New Orleans to Beaumont were all full by Saturday evening, Katrina and her sons ended up at the Salvation Army shelter in Beaumont. After a few days, the family moved to Mount Gilead Missionary Baptist Church, where they were joined by Katrina’s fiancee’, a former janitorial worker from New Orleans who had initially evacuated to Mississippi to be with his family.

Katrina, on disability due to an assault by her previous husband that has left her with a speech impediment, soon realized they would have to start their lives over in Beaumont. She was just beginning the slow process of rebuilding when she met Samantha Skinner, a Child Protective Services social worker in Beaumont.

When Skinner learned of Katrina’s situation, she took the shaken family under her wing. She was able to obtain a safe, inexpensive duplex for the family, but they needed so much more.

“It’s amazing, when you think about it. Katrina needed all the basics we don’t think about. Salt and pepper, spices, home cleaning products, shampoo, sheets, towels, everything. She was starting out from scratch,” Skinner said.

Scouring the internet for help for Katrina’s family, Skinner found SETXHelp.org, a locally-operated website that focuses on Southeast Texas family-to-family assistance for the evacuees. Searching the offers of help from local Southeast Texan families, Skinner found an offer from Nancy Goates, of Winnie.

Goates said she heard about SETXHelp.org from an article in the newspaper, and decided to try to help. She’d been on several volunteer lists for days and had given money to the Red Cross, but wanted a more personal way to help the evacuees. When Skinner contacted Goates through her ad on SETXHelp.org, Goates was eager to help.

“I gave them food, pots and pans, lots of kitchen items, lamps, a television, towels, blankets, telephone, and items that were not necessities — like pictures and items to make her new place more like a home,” Goates said.

Goates, Skinner, and several others were able to play a significant role in helping Katrina’s family get back on the road to a normal life. Katrina’s new place now looks more like a home, with everything the family needs to be comfortable.

“Katrina is so grateful, and it is so rewarding for me and my family to be able to help.” Skinner says she couldn’t have done it without SETXHelp.org.

The website, located at http://www.setxhelp.org, encourages evacuees to post their family’s specific needs, and to search offers of help from local Southeast Texans to see if someone has offered what they need. Local families and businesses can also post job offers, housing opportunities, free or discounted services, donations of clothing, housewares, pet items, baby items, and just about anything else. They can also search for evacuee families whose needs they can meet.

“We believe,” said Janet Bray, co-founder of SETXHelp.org, “that these displaced people need more than cash from the Red Cross and FEMA. They need a helping hand from their new neighbors here in Southeast Texas – one that is attached to a face and a heart. Southeast Texans have big arms and hearts, and this website is the perfect way to share that love with evacuee families.”

That opinion appears to be shared by many Southeast Texans as well. Since its inception only a week ago, two dozen Southeast Texans have offered jobs, housing, tutoring services, real estate services, and personal items to help evacuee families. Only five evacuees have signed up with their needs, but that is growing quickly.

“We are distributing flyers to as many shelters as we can get to,” said Bray. “But there are many families in private homes and other shelters who still need help. We have nearly 9,000 flyers that we are giving to everyone we meet, but we need help getting this information to the evacuees themselves. They need to know this resource is available to them.”

Lunar Ventures, a printing company in Beaumont, donated 10,000 flyers to help get the word out about SETXHelp.org.

“We’re just glad to be a part of this effort,” said Pat, owner of Lunar Ventures. “We’re making copies at our own expense to distribute to those we know and at our church. It’s such a wonderful cause, and we hope to help many people by supporting SETXHelp.org.”

Nancy Goates and Samantha Skinner agree.

“Thank you for starting this site,” read a message from Goates on the message forums at SETXHelp.org. “I posted that I had things to donate, and this morning I met a wonderful lady and one of her sons. They were so grateful and it did my heart good. I hope to help many others through your wonderful site.”

Skinner says it is gratifying to be a part of the effort.

“Being able to help Katrina and her family renewed my spirit, as far as social work is concerned. I’ll continue to use this resource to help as many people as I can.”

SETXHelp.org is available online at http://www.setxhelp.org. Evacuees can access the website from public libraries, various internet cafes in the area, and several hotels. For more information about SETXHelp.org, please visit the website or send email to help@setxhelp.org.