Kall8 Number Used as Disaster Hotline

Louisiana ISP Owner Offers Her Kall8 Number as Disaster Hotline for Hurricane Katrina Evacuees

SEATTLE, Wash. - September 9, 2005 - The owner of a small Internet service provider in northwest Louisiana found Kall8’s service to be a critical link when she created a message board on her Web site for Hurricane Katrina evacuees.

Lisa Fitzpatrick, a mother of six children and the owner of Main Street Enterprises Inc. and Arklanet.com, said when 200 evacuees arrived in her town of Springhill, La., shortly before the storm hit, they had no way of contacting anyone. Springhill is located in northwestern Louisiana, about a mile south of the border with Arkansas.

Fitzpatrick said no message boards existed at that time that would allow others to contact loved ones, list shelter residents or provide other necessary information, so she created one on her company's Web site: www.arklanet.com. She also drafted the Kall8 number, 866-557-7477, she had set up as a technical support line for her company’s customers. The number serves as a hotline for some of the 2,000 hurricane refugees who are now staying in and around her small town of 7,000 people.

“For people who can't get access to the Internet or just don’t know how, they can call me on our 800 number and I take down the information they give me and post it on the Web site for them,” she said.

Fitzpatrick contacted Kall8 by e-mail shortly after the storm struck and told the company how its toll-free service was helping victims of Hurricane Katrina. Kall8 responded by donating services associated with the toll-free number. It also set up a local number for members of the media to use to contact Fitzpatrick so the toll-free line could stay open for evacuees and their families. Kall8 also donated all fees and tolls associated with the local number.

The Web site has been a clearinghouse of information for family members desperately searching for each other and for people who or organizations that opened facilities for evacuees.

While the crisis has been waning recently and more online message boards have gone up, Arklanet continues to serve as a message board, letting people know who’s been found and which shelters still have room for evacuees, among other things.

When Fitzpatrick isn't handling calls from her customers or from hurricane victims, she also works as a volunteer at the local shelter. Fitzpatrick said she receives help from volunteers with various organizations answering e-mails and phone calls. She uses Kall8’s Call Forwarding feature to forward calls to the volunteers when she needs a break, is working at the local shelter or when she’s taking care of the needs of her children or her customers. At night, she forwards the calls to her cell phone, since the number still serves as her business’s technical support line.

“People have called back with joyous news that their loved ones were located due to the efforts of Web sites like ours,” Fitzpatrick said. “As (the owner of) a small business, and a weary mother of six, I would never have been able to accomplish this without the services of Kall8.

“To have something this reliable and to have it operate on the fly - it's been a Godsend,” she added.

Fitzpatrick said earlier in the crisis, her Web site and hotline got the attention not only of the national news networks, which broadcast information about the site and hotline, but also the military.

“I got a phone call from the Navy looking for help in contacting personnel who had been evacuated,” she added. “They told me that my number has been more reliable in helping them keep in contact with their people than the government’s own hotlines.”

The U.S. Navy Commander, Navy Installations office in Washington, D.C., used Arklanet.com as one more way to get information out to Navy personnel who fled New Orleans. (The Commander, Navy Installations site contains a link for naval personnel to Arklanet under General Information: Help Locating Loved Ones - http://www.cni.navy.mil/Katrina/Index.html.)

“We’re glad to know our support of Lisa and her company in the effort to help Hurricane Katrina victims has made a difference,” Marketing Manager Bill Johnson said. “Lisa’s efforts remind us all that we have talents and resources to contribute.

“Kall8 will continue to donate services and assistance to Fitzpatrick and her company for as long as necessary during the relief effort,” Johnson said.

For more information about Fitzpatrick and Arklanet.com, visit: http://www.arklanet.com/site/news.php.

Kall8 is a hosted telephone service offering toll-free and local numbers that businesses and others can provide. For as little as a $2 set-up fee and $2 a month service fee, they can establish a Kall8 number that will be toll-free for customers. There’s no equipment to buy, no software to install, no contract to sign. All Kall8 users need is a dial tone. With an existing Internet connection, they may self-manage their toll-free number online.

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