Louisiana native values aid provided by Valley
The founder of an Austintown charity says much work remains in Louisiana.
By DON SHILLING
VINDICATOR BUSINESS EDITOR
YOUNGSTOWN -- Dawnell Campo-Salway is doubly grateful to the residents of the Mahoning Valley, despite the sadness that surrounds today.
One year ago, Hurricane Katrina pounded Louisiana and destroyed the homes of her family members and the fishing boats that they used to make a living.
Campo-Salway, who moved to Youngstown 15 years ago, points to a snapshot of a home on Delacroix Island, where her family lived. Half of the home has been ripped away.
"That's the only home standing on the island. There used to be 1,400 homes," Campo-Salway said.
With nowhere else to go after the storm, two of her sisters and her father moved to the West Side to live near her.
Buoyed by donations of money, food, clothes and other items, the sisters decided to create a business to help provide for their families. They opened Cajun Connection, a carryout restaurant at 7 S. Richview Ave., in March.
Support has been so strong that Campo-Salway and her husband, Darren, are ready to knock out a wall and expand into a vacant storefront on Mahoning Avenue so they can offer dine-in service.
Family welcomed
Campo-Salway said she will always remember how the community welcomed her family and how the birth of the eatery gave the sisters time to be together.
"This town has no clue about the awesome people it has," she said.
One sister, Virginia Dalon, is still living in the area but is no longer involved with the restaurant.
Another sister, Cynthia Campo, left last week so she could be with their 70-year-old father, who is living in a government trailer in St. Bernard Parish in Louisiana.
Can't go home
They can't live on the island that was their home, however, because no trailers are being placed there. The island is so desolate that the post office isn't delivering mail there any more.
Campo-Salway hopes the island's former residents will be allowed to return and somehow find a way to restart their businesses by trapping crabs, dredging oysters and trawling for shrimp. Other areas of the country have been rebuilt after hurricanes and tornadoes, she noted.
"People say, 'Why do you want to go back to a place that has flooded?' All I can say is that it's home," she said.
Campo-Salway's appreciation for local residents goes far beyond what they've done for her family, however. She also has been surprised by the generosity expressed through Mission of Love, an Austintown organization founded by Kathleen Price that does charitable work all over the world.
Campo-Salway spoke at a fund-raising event for the organization in Cleveland and will speak at another at 6 p.m. Sept. 16 at the Austintown Eagles Club.
"Kathy has given me a voice to help my family," Campo-Salway said.
By "family," she means the people of Louisiana who are still struggling one year after the hurricanes.
One of first to help
The Mission of Love was one of the first outside organizations on the ground after the hurricanes hit Louisiana, handing out food, bedding supplies and medical treatment to police and government workers.
Since then, it has built three brand-new homes, rebuilt four others and taken 500,000 pounds of supplies to the area.
About 60 Mission of Love volunteers have taken supplies to Louisiana or built homes, with about two-thirds being from the Valley, Price said. The others come from several states, including New York and California, and from Canada.
"We believe that everyone has a mission of love. People recognize that and jump on board," Price said.
She said much work remains to be done because thousands of communities were destroyed or badly damaged by the hurricanes.
"We have to not forget about this. I go to bed at night and see it in my head and my heart and my soul," she said.
Tickets for the Sept. 16 event are available by calling Mission of Love at (330) 793-2388 or Cajun Connection at (330) 779-0177.
shilling@vindy.com