Nonprofit wants displaced to be 'NOLA Bound'

Alton and Danielle have found jobs to support their family in Georgia, but say their wages are smaller than they were in New Orleans. Straining their wallet and emotions even further, they add, is the higher cost of living in Lithonia, east of Atlanta.

“We've been planning and planning, but it's been hard,” Alton said. “We’re waiting on my son to finish school, and we’ll see from there.”

Two of the three Simmons children — daughters Dimanelle, 19, and Ashton, 18 — graduated high school here and not in New Orleans where they had hoped. But 15-year-old Alton Jr., finishing up tenth grade, is determined to don his cap and gown in two years in his hometown.

When school is over for him this year, the family hopes their days away from home will be numbered.

The Simmonses make regular trips to New Orleans to visit family, a nearly 500-mile trek they say is a mixed blessing. Thrilled as they are to see and hear familiar sights and sound, Alton says it makes returning to the Atlanta area more difficult each time.

“It's a very emotional drive back,” he said. “We just deal with it.”

There are tears of sadness and frustration on those journeys, he says, especially because what the family thought would be a few days away from New Orleans while the hurricane passed, has stretched 20 months, principally because the family cannot find a place to live.

Alton says his old job as a maintenance worker for the state of Louisiana is still in line, and Danielle says she can easily pick up where she left off as a hairdresser in New Orleans.

“The plans were never to be here this long,” Danielle said. “The plan was evacuate for a little while then go back home. But it didn’t work out that way.”

While they endure the wait, the Simmonses try to fill the sparsely furnished home they’re renting with love and happiness. A feisty nine-month-old, mixed-breed puppy helps in that regard.

Danielle Simmons eventually called “NOLA Bound” and was given contact information for two agencies that soon could have the family NOLA bound indeed.

In the meantime, the family, like untold numbers of evacuees, simply dream of the day when they can pack up their belongings and finally hit the highway — on a one-way trip.

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