Sept. 13, 2005
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, many people have adjusted their lives to help those in need around the Gulf Coast region of the United States. Tim Bohdan is one of those people. Bohdan is a four-time monogram winner and two-time team MVP for the Notre Dame men’s swimming and diving team. The St. Charles, La. native swam for the Irish from 1982-85 and served as co-captain his senior season. He is currently working for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in response to the disaster created by the hurricane.
Bohdan lives in the Houston metropolitan area but has temporarily relocated to Baton Rouge, La. for at least the next 30 days. He will spend the next 30-90 days working for FEMA and assisting with many aspects of the emergency response, which include evacuating people, providing shelter, finding temporary housing, reconstruction of cities, food distribution and many other kinds of vital assistance. His direct role will be to work with the group that finds and builds temporary housing for evacuees and then moves the new occupants into their temporary homes.
“In many cases, we will have to construct temporary cities using travel trailers and mobile home parks,” Bohdan says. “It’s grueling work here. My shortest work day so far has been 14 hours long and there are no days off for the next 30 days.”
Bohdan’s employer, IBM, was one of a number of companies hired by FEMA to assist with the flood and destruction that occurred in and around New Orleans.
“Many of the evacuees have absolutely nothing,” Bohdan states. “They have no family, no money, no home, no clothing, no job, no place to go, etc. The term `dire straits’ would describe many of the victims of Hurricane Katrina. We’re putting people back into a stable living situation so that the evacuees can begin the arduous process of reconstructing their shattered lives.”
Three of Tim’s siblings also swam at the University. His older brother Greg and younger brother Eric competed for the Irish during the 1980’s as well. Their sister, Susan, swam for the women’s squad in the early 1990’s and has also spent time working in the Peace Corps.
“The FEMA work involves a lot of deadlines, which makes for plenty of stress to go around,” Bohdan says. “The thing that keeps me going is that the work is very rewarding because we are helping people who are in desperate need of this help.”
Tim, a 1985 graduate of Notre Dame, is married and is the father of two sons. He was also a member of the Navy ROTC at Notre Dame and would go on to serve five years as a U.S. Navy Submarine Officer.
-ND–