Although she knew the weather was turning bad, Terry Lee Marie headed out for her job from her home in Bay St. Louis, Miss., on Aug. 29, 2005, only to see friends, neighbors and co-workers headed the other way.

“I was just going to work, I didn’t know there was a hurricane coming,” said Marie. “They said, ‘We’re getting out of town ahead of the storm.’ I said I need to get to work, I don’t want to get fired. But they told me, soon there would be no job to go to. ”

Marie, 51, has been living in Limestone County near her family since evacuating South Mississippi a year ago. She wants to be self-supporting again, but she can’t find a job and her relatives can no longer afford to support her.

Marie had already had her share of hard luck when Hurricane Katrina destroyed her home and nearly leveled her community. Eight years before the hurricane struck she was living in Pass Christian, Miss., with her husband of 17 years.

It was an unusually happy marriage. She describes her husband as a “Cajun” who often cooked for her and was a considerate, caring partner. Then one day, her husband went to church, suffered heart failure and died. Doctors said his death was the result of chronic lung problems caused by asbestos exposure.

Marie drifted into a loveless relationship out of loneliness, but stayed because she didn’t think she could make it on her own. She got a job as a cashier in a service station and worked there for seven years until the company went bankrupt. After a few months, she landed another cashier’s job. Then Katrina hit. Both her workplace and mobile home were destroyed.

She and her boyfriend fled to Limestone County. Marie’s brother, Chris Chambers, had recently died of a heatstroke, and her mother, Lois Flannagan, used insurance money she received as her son’s beneficiary to continue paying the rent on his house for a year so Marie and her friend could live there.

Last February, the troubled relationship between Marie and her friend ended. He left for Mississippi driving a truck that her family had paid to repair. She continued living in the house until the lease ran out. Marie’s sister, Sharon Smith, bought a mobile home for her on Looney Road, with the understanding she would start paying rent as soon as she got a job. Flannagan used the last of her money to get the utilities turned on.

“If not for my mom and sister, I would be out on the street,” said Marie.

She has not seen any of the relief money from a Federal Emergency Management Agency settlement. The checks have gone to her ex-boyfriend because the two filed as a single household, and he isn’t sharing. She said her ex-boyfriend’s brother did share $1,000 of his FEMA money with her so she could buy a car, and another $900 to get it running so she would have transportation to search for a job.

“I’ve applied for cashier jobs at gas stations, the Dollar Store, Sonic, Wal-Mart and Triad Packaging and they told me to go to the State Employment office in Decatur,” she said.

She still has not been hired. Community Action Agency has paid for a month’s utilities and she applied to the Madison County CAA because the United Way office told her that agency had grant money for Katrina victims. But she learned the grant covered only those families with children.

In the meantime, her automobile-liability insurance expired, so she’s had to park the car and drive her mother’s truck to search for a job.

“All I need is a little help to get back on my feet,” she said.

She went back to United Way.

As of Friday, United Way Director Kaye McFarlen says she may have found resources through United Way agencies to help turn Marie’s misfortunes around and provide “a safety net so she doesn’t fall through the cracks.”

While Marie expressed a sense of hopelessness in dealing with the bureaucracy of a huge federal agency, McFarlen said she has learned through her contacts with FEMA on behalf of Marie that the problem began with the former couple filing for relief as a household instead of individually.

“And when they filed with other organizations, they filed as a household,” said McFarlen. “Then the household situation dissolved. She has a legal situation now to contend with to recover her half of the funds.”

McFarlen said she has every reason to believe after talking with Marie that she would be a “dedicated” worker if hired, but she does not have a GED or technical skills.

“I’m trying to find some churches that will pay for her utilities, and I think I can find someone to pay for her liability insurance for a couple of months,” said McFarlen. “I think she’s doing everything in her way to do the right thing.”

Friday morning McFarlen said she was able to set the wheels in motion on getting help.

“I’ve talked to Tennessee Valley Rehabilitation Center and they will meet with her as soon as she makes contact,” said McFarlen. “There, she can get job training and her GED.”

She said Diane Gilbert of Crisis Services will meet with Legal Aid volunteers to see if she qualifies for services to be able to legally pursue getting her rightful share of FEMA relief from her ex-boyfriend.

McFarlen said a local committee formed in the wake of Katrina to help evacuees is still “loosely connected” and might be able to get Marie insurance and gas money so she can drive back and forth to Calhoun College where Tennessee Valley is located. McFarlen is also sending her to the Department of Human Resources to see if she qualifies for Medicaid.

“She will have to work with DHR and go through all the hoops,” said McFarlen. “I’m just so proud of our agencies. When I contacted them and explained Terry’s situation, they all said they would help if they could in giving her the tools she needs to put her life together.”