BrookSpeak

When Hurricane Katrina struck, Pebblebrook junior and New Orleans native, Chelsea Douglas, didn't know how severely this would impact her family. Over half of New Orleans was wiped out and some people lost everything.

After the disaster, relatives from all over Louisiana came to stay with the Kennesaw resident. At the beginning, Chelsea had 42 relatives living with her. All of Chelsea's family members traveled to Kennesaw from Louisiana by car with no problem and brought all that they could.

Fortunately, a local hotel owner put most of her family up in hotel rooms, free of charge for an entire month.

Currently Chelsea Douglas has less than 20 people living with her.

"At first I thought it would be fun having all of my family here and spending time with them, but with everyone here at once, there is literally no space, and everything that is going on is really serious." Said Chelsea.

Most of Chelsea's family has lost everything and are planning on starting over in Georgia.

Chelsea has had family ranging from two months old into their sixties living with her. Three of her cousins have been enrolled at North Cobb High and two more of her cousins are trying to come to Pebblebrook.

"In Jefferson City, Louisiana, school starts back around October 6th and some of the younger children will start back there," added Douglas.

Hard times have brought Chelsea’s family closer. Her relatives have received funds from FEMA and Red Cross. On top of that, different churches in the Kennesaw area as well as Pebblebrook’s own FBLA group have come to their help.