Fire Tragedy Petition Got Mayor's Attention

Click-click doesn't seem like much of a force for creating a better world. But sometimes it's just the thing to help people having "hard times." Because of our actions, others might avoid the fate of the nine people -- six young children and three women -- who died in a horrible house fire in Starkville, Mississippi at the end of December.

Last week I was "in the neighborhood" so I emailed Mayor Parker Wiseman to see if we could meet. Change.org community members had already sent him 350 letters and I had written about the tragedy in his town. To my delight he agreed. So I drove up the beautiful Natchez Parkway and visited Starkville last Friday.

Johnny Cash sang about the jail in Starkville, the county seat of the poorest county in Mississippi, a state racked by destitution. The poverty level of this town of 24,000, home to Mississippi State University, is way over 30 percent. According to Mayor Wiseman, in addition to poor families, Starkville has a good number of middle-upper income families who are totally clueless about poverty. That being said, the response to this horrific December fire was by all descriptions impressive. Donations of over $40,000 were funneled through the Red Cross to pay for the funerals.

This loss of lives -- deaths by a house fire that was a deadly symptom of poverty -- were part of a surge of tragedies nationwide related to the brutal cold. The unfortunate mother who took in the other families in Starkville knew "hard times," that ubiquitous phrase that masks bleak reality for over 40 million Americans.

The Mayor, and Sandra Sistrunk, who represents the 2nd Ward where the fire occurred, had a refreshingly frank discussion with me about what happens to families in poverty when hard times hit. Wiseman had done some homework, and discovered that his town had lots of unrecognized homelessness among families, mainly due to utility shut-offs, evictions, domestic violence and lack of affordable housing. Sistrunk reported that although local faith communities are willing to help, a lack of coordinated response sometimes stymies their intentions. Agencies have some resources, but struggle with collaboration to make sure help gets where it's most needed.

Based on my eons in this field, I suspect common turf wars between agencies, inadequate resources and lack of teamwork may serve as unintentional barriers to households in crisis. We sat around the table and brainstormed who should be at a summit of local agencies that the mayor intends to convene.

I offered my assistance, as an impartial but concerned party, to alleviate what they said was a widespread lack of awareness about the suffering of Starkville impoverished families. We'll see what comes of that offer.

One area of huge concern, which I've heard from other communities, was the slow pace of getting  Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program funds into the community. The federal stimulus program is designed to prevent homelessness or to rapidly return families to housing. I'd hate to think agencies are sitting on money with a lack of urgency to help families. Is this the case in your area? I'd love to hear what's happening.

Here's a petition to thank Mayor Wiseman, Alderwoman Sistrunk and the Starkville community for caring. He received over 350 email petitions urging action -- and that worked. Now let's thank him and let him know we'll be watching Starkville's progress.

Seems to me we can use technology for good, thanks to Change.org and other cyber-tools. This catastrophic fire and the loss of lives will hopefully spur action to reduce further tragedies. Thanks to all who participated in this petition. HEAR US is committed to continuing a vigilant stance on this issue, but we can't do it alone.

Photo credit: Diane Nilan