November 21, 2008.  FEMA conducts a new program in Orange, Texas. 
The event, the "Private Sector Employee Disaster Assistance Pilot Program"
is held in an area hit hard by Hurricane Ike.

Steve Aguillard Manager, Print Pak, Inc. Chemical Row - Orange, Texas

This is the plant that I manage, Printpack,
Incorporated and we are volunteering our site
for FEMA to assist other employees up and
down Chemical Row... Chemical Row is an
area where many (chemical) plants are
located to give them a hand and give them
assistance.

I think the reason it's important is because we
had so many associates that were
devastated... we were faced with a fairly
significant turnover with competition in the
area before the hurricane came... and we
value our associates as our greatest assets...
OK? They were devastated... it's extremely
important that we meet their needs, not only to
correct our equipment problems, but also to
help them restore their lives and I think FEMA
is a very big part of this, particularly with
temporary housing and other support services
to help them get their lives back together and
in turn, they can help us too, to get our
business re-established again and provide our
livelihoods... that's why it's so important what
we're doing today.

I would say that my company, I'm very proud
of Printpack for  kicking in initially, to help with
some temporary housing, but that was until
FEMA could arrive and help out further... and
FEMA is here now to help out and they've
already been engaging here recently... we
would like it to have been quicker and happen
a lot sooner than it is now, but it's still great
that we're trying to finish the job and get
people at least some temporary housing while
they rebuild their homes or restore their lives.
It's been very positive, I think people are very
appreciative of the fact we're doing this... that
we're offering this assistance... I think it will go
a long way to help stabilize our workforce... I
don't think it will be forgotten.

For more information visit www.FEMA.gov