When Timothy Johnson escaped flood-ravaged Biloxi, MS, on Sept. 10 in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, he got away with nothing more than some stray clothes, a few fishing poles, and a hope for a new life.

Less than two weeks later, Timothy, 19, has started both a new life with family in Harlan County and a new career, thanks to some quick hands-on assistance from the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) program and the JobSight network of workforce centers administered by the Eastern Kentucky Concentrated Employment Program, Inc. (EKCEP).

The WIA program is allowing Timothy to work in a full-time paid job at Harlan Welding while he trains and completes his welding apprenticeship. The program paid for more than $600 worth of safety equipment required for Timothy’s training. In addition, WIA staff helped secure outside funding for additional gear and linked Timothy with local churches, individuals, and schools that donated clothing and cash to help him restart his life.

“Everybody in the WIA program is really nice, and they all wanted to help me,” Timothy said. “They never gave me the runaround on anything. If they said they would do something for me, they did it.”

Timothy enrolled in WIA immediately after his arrival in Harlan County. The program is delivered through the Harlan Community Action Agency’s (CAA) WIA office at the Harlan campus of Southeast Community and Technical College. The office is an access point for the JobSight network, a collaborative partnership of workforce and training agencies administered by EKCEP. JobSight provides access to a variety of employer services and numerous state and federal employment and training programs, all under one roof.

Karen Phillips, WIA director for Harlan CAA, said helping Timothy get away from the flooded gulf coast and re-establishing him in his native Harlan County was more than just an official duty. As a friend of Timothy’s aunt and uncle—Betty and Keith Johnson—Karen said the mission quickly became personal.

“When Katrina started getting closer to the gulf, Betty and Keith did approach me and my husband about their concern about Timothy,” Karen said. “Keith and my husband would hit the internet every night after the storm made landfall to post messages to the American Red Cross in Mississippi, and try to contact local amateur radio groups we knew to try to find out anything we could.

“While doing that, we just started talking about what we could do for Timothy when we got him here, and what services we could tap to help him,” she added. “I felt like that was our job, and what we needed to do.”

As they struggled to get word to him, Timothy was in Biloxi struggling to help his girlfriend’s family cope with the muddy aftermath of the most destructive hurricane in U.S. history.

Before Hurricane Katrina made landfall, Timothy had left his home outside Gulfport, MS, and moved eastward to Biloxi in hopes of avoiding the brunt of the storm.

When the hurricane hit on Monday, Aug. 29, conditions quickly became more harrowing than he had imagined, Timothy said. After going sleepless the night before, he awoke from a brief nap around noon on Monday to find flood waters entering the front door of the house where he was staying, he said. He and his girlfriend fled to her parents’ nearby home, where they “rode out” Katrina’s fierce winds and heavy rains.

They would remain there for the next two weeks—weeks that were filled with images he will never forget.

“During the storm, we could see trees snap and fall all around us,” he said. “We went out the next day, and it was like there was nothing left. The whole city was torn up, and there was six inches of mud covering the ground.”

Several riverboat casinos had been effortlessly plucked out of the water by Katrina’s winds and thrown into nearby parking lots, he said. One landed directly on a recently constructed museum. Others were sunk. Hundreds of nearby homes were reduced to splinters in minutes.

“My friend’s grandfather’s house was in a neighborhood of about 600 houses, and only six were left,” Timothy said. “It blew his house into the road back from where it used to be, and when they cut it in half to move it out of the road they found five people under it dead.”

As he worked for days helping his girlfriend’s family remove water-soaked carpet, cut up downed trees, and get relief meals and water, his family members back in Harlan County were still desperately keeping up with news reports and trying to figure out some way to get word about Timothy.

That word came four days after the storm when Timothy’s mother phoned Betty and Keith, said WIA Career Adviser Michelle Steele.

“She had gotten through to him somehow and knew he moved inland, but had no idea where,” Michelle said. “But we weren’t able to actually make verbal contact with Timothy until the Tuesday after that.”

Timothy said he did not think twice before accepting his uncle’s offer to fly him to Knoxville, TN, then drive him back to Harlan County to start over.

“They asked me if I was ready to go, and I said, ‘yeah,’” he said. “We had been talking about me coming to Harlan before, but the hurricane definitely set it in stone.”

Timothy arrived in Harlan County on Saturday, Sept. 10. Neither he nor the WIA program wasted any time getting started.

“We had him in our office first thing Monday morning,” Michelle said.

With WIA help, Timothy truly is picking up where he left off when Katrina interrupted. Just before the storm, he had completed an 18-month pre-apprenticeship program in welding through the Job Corps in Mississippi. His WIA Work Experience placement at Harlan Welding will allow him to work toward full apprenticeship and certification as a welder.

Through the program, Timothy will work full-time at Harlan Welding for about six weeks, which will give the company time to evaluate him while giving Timothy a chance to earn while he learns. At the end of that period, the company has the option to hire him. Timothy said that is both his hope and his aim.

“I want to keep this job, get my own place and a car, and just go from there,” Timothy said. “I do plan to stay in Harlan.”

Before Timothy started his job this week, Karen and Michelle helped him secure a Kentucky driver’s permit, got him signed up to complete GED testing on Sept. 28, and saw him earn his coal miner’s “green card” that will allow him to ply his trade in underground mines. They also referred him to the American Red Cross, Salvation Army, and FEMA to register for special benefits available to people affected by Katrina.

“That’s the whole concept of what JobSight is,” Karen said. “People shouldn’t have to go to 50 different places to get the help they need. They should be able to be directed to that help all in one place, and that’s what we do.”

Michelle echoed those sentiments.

“He went from coming here with practically nothing, to being in the Work Experience Program, being with family, having a new home, and being safe and secure,” Michelle said. “Everything is new for him now, and I’m glad we were able to help him like we did.”

The past two weeks have been a blur, Timothy said. Now that his life is finally coming back into focus again, he said he likes what he sees and is glad the WIA helped him make a fresh start in the face of an overwhelming tragedy.

“I like it a lot better here because I’m around my family,” Timothy said. “Everybody went out of their way to help me get here, and I’ll always be grateful.”