Massachusetts Probation Service Employees Assist with the
New Orleans Recovery Effort And Spearhead Charity Drive
for Hurricane Victims

New Bedford District Court Assistant Chief Probation Officer Robert G. Mandeville traveled to New Orleans, Louisiana to assist the Red Cross with resettling survivors of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Mandeville, a 25-year employee of the Massachusetts Probation Service, left for Louisiana earlier this month and stayed in New Orleans for two weeks. He plans to stay in New Orleans for two weeks. During this time, he helped deliver food and distribute relief packages to those who survived both Hurricanes: Katrina and Rita. He was chosen by the Red Cross after he entered his name in a lottery for volunteers.

Mandeville joins the rank of Massachusetts Probation Service employees who have assisted in recovery, resettling, and charity efforts for hurricane victims in the past couple of months.

Hampden Superior Court Probation Officer Jason Harder returned from his Louisiana tour of duty on October 6 th after spending three weeks working at a medical station for Hurricane Katrina evacuees. A medical technician in the 104 th Medical Group of the Air National Guard, Harder worked at a 25-bed hospital set up at the Belle Chase Naval Air Station which is located just outside of the center of New Orleans.

Harder also participated in a two-hour mission to survey the devastation and destruction. When the second storm, Hurricane Rita, hit New Orleans, it broke the already damaged levees, and re-flooded the 9 th Ward, the hardest hit areas in New Orleans. Harder, assigned to an Army Aviation Unit as medical support, responded by ferrying 2,000 pound sand bags, via helicopter, to the site where they attempted to shore up the flood waters.

Another Hampden Superior Court Probation Officer, Alberto Perez, left for Louisiana in early September and returned on the 23 rd. Perez, a member of the Massachusetts Army National Guard, is the Senior Statewide Chaplain’s Assistant in the National Guard. He is trained to provide support and counseling services to family. You may read more about Perez's efforts in a press release on the Trial Court website: "Hampden Superior Court Probation Officer Assists in Louisiana Relief Effort."

In Berkshire County, probationers on a community service crew from Pittsfield District Court Probation Department sorted and packed donated items on a tractor trailer truck bound for New Orleans. Five employees volunteered their time overseeing the probationers, according to Chief Probation Officer David McNeice.

Bristol Probate & Family Court Chief Probation Officer James Casey opened his home and heart to a family of nine, including their 80-year-old matriarch, and a family pet (read more about Casey's efforts in press release: "New Bedford Probate & Family Chief Probation Officer Opens Home to Family of Nine."

Casey, who owns a home in New Orleans, is a good family friend of the Dominick Family. His home served as an "storm control central," he said. Since the family arrived, Casey has helped them find homes of their own, jobs, and assisted with enrolling the children in the family in the local school system.