Murphy continues to help South rebuild after Hurricanes
Rochelle Campbell
Issue date: 10/12/05 Section: News
Martha Murphy sat in the middle of her personal undertaking, talking with me amidst the chaos, for over an hour. Murphy is heading an effort in De Lisle, Mississippi to rebuild the lives and the structures that were lost at the hand of Mother Nature.
"It just happened, we had a world one day, and a different the one next day," Murphy said.
Murphy is an honored philanthropist and a president of Murphy Oil. She is also an organizer and a member of the De Lisle community, a community that the eye of Katrina ripped through and completely destroyed.
This is not a story that has received any national coverage. It seems that because of De Lisle's lack of infamy, our government and other charitable agencies have ignored them. The Red Cross wouldn't stay because they had no point of distribution and FEMA was busy trying to arresting Murphy to help.
De Lisle and the entire 39571-zip code lies on the coast in Harrison County, Mississippi. They're entire zip code has been 98 percent destroyed and the infrastructure has been 100 percent shattered.
Murphy's family acquired a house near De Lisle in the 1920's. It was primarily a vacation house at the time. In the mid 1980's Murphy took up full time residence there.
When Katrina was heading toward land, Murphy was away on business. Within two days after the storm, she had flown into Baton Rouge with a friend. Murphy had two SUV waiting for her; she was determined to find her house and her life long friends.
Murphy stopped at a Wal-Mart on her way and purchased a large amount of goods and water, then drove into De Lisle.
When she arrived, she started walking up and down the street yelling for her two friends, Rita and Loretta. The friends had cooked Murphy dinner every night, knowing that soon, she would show up to help them.
"The fact that Loretta and I don't check the same box on income taxes doesn't even cross our minds," Murphy said.
Murphy set up shop right away. Neighbors needed insulin shots, but had no needles. Within the day she was distributing food and using her own allergy needles to give shots.
"It just happened, we had a world one day, and a different the one next day," Murphy said.
Murphy is an honored philanthropist and a president of Murphy Oil. She is also an organizer and a member of the De Lisle community, a community that the eye of Katrina ripped through and completely destroyed.
This is not a story that has received any national coverage. It seems that because of De Lisle's lack of infamy, our government and other charitable agencies have ignored them. The Red Cross wouldn't stay because they had no point of distribution and FEMA was busy trying to arresting Murphy to help.
De Lisle and the entire 39571-zip code lies on the coast in Harrison County, Mississippi. They're entire zip code has been 98 percent destroyed and the infrastructure has been 100 percent shattered.
Murphy's family acquired a house near De Lisle in the 1920's. It was primarily a vacation house at the time. In the mid 1980's Murphy took up full time residence there.
When Katrina was heading toward land, Murphy was away on business. Within two days after the storm, she had flown into Baton Rouge with a friend. Murphy had two SUV waiting for her; she was determined to find her house and her life long friends.
Murphy stopped at a Wal-Mart on her way and purchased a large amount of goods and water, then drove into De Lisle.
When she arrived, she started walking up and down the street yelling for her two friends, Rita and Loretta. The friends had cooked Murphy dinner every night, knowing that soon, she would show up to help them.
"The fact that Loretta and I don't check the same box on income taxes doesn't even cross our minds," Murphy said.
Murphy set up shop right away. Neighbors needed insulin shots, but had no needles. Within the day she was distributing food and using her own allergy needles to give shots.
