((PKG)) CONNECT WITH KASSIE CULBERTSON
((TRT: 2:44))
((Topic Banner: Connect with Kassie Culbertson))
((Reporter/Camera: Arturo Martínez))
((Map: Jennings, Louisiana))
((Main character: 1 female))
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Kassie Culbertson, Restaurant Worker))
My name is Kassie Culbertson. I live in southwest Louisiana and I work at a local Subway [fast food restaurant].
((NATS))
((Kassie Culbertson, Restaurant Worker))
Oh, everybody knows everybody here, and if they don't know you, they know your grandma because they've been drinking coffee with her for 20 years. Yes, the community is very, very tight. Everybody knows everybody.
((NATS))
((Kassie Culbertson, Restaurant Worker))
We anticipate on getting hurricanes here, especially after last year when we had three hurricanes come back to back. Within a month, we got hit and then a horrible freeze had come in. It was just the most devastating thing I have ever seen in my life.
((NATS))
((Kassie Culbertson, Restaurant Worker))
I lost my home. I lost my car. I had to leave for a little while because I had nowhere to go. And then after that, slowly starting to establish myself with no money, no means of money, no means of transportation. It was very, very difficult thing to have to crawl before you can walk, so to speak.
((NATS))
((Kassie Culbertson, Restaurant Worker))
I lost a lot of family that year. I lost, I lost a lot that year. Both of my grandparents had died from COVID. My wife's mother had died. Her brother had died. And those were some of the most horrible things that I had to live through while we were going through these hurricanes, while we were going through COVID, while we were having ice storms and all kinds of things like that. And it really just took a big toll. But it took a big toll on a lot of people.
((NATS))
((Kassie Culbertson, Restaurant Worker))
So, I hate leaving from here, but at the same time, the stress of having to worry about what's going to happen next, you know, it keeps me worried, makes me want to not be here, maybe just come for vacation.
((NATS))
((Kassie Culbertson, Restaurant Worker))
I actually have plans of moving somewhere else. By the end of this year, I want to be up north.
((NATS/MUSIC))
