Nearly three years after Hurricane Katrina leveled the Gulf Coast, Vicksburg native Shirley Walker is still encountering coastal residents in Mississippi who have yet to receive any form of disaster relief.

“We’re still finding some people who have been living in a tent or some kind of makeshift shelter for more than two years now — people who were never able to find any resources available for them to get back on their feet,” said Walker, who has been working on the Gulf Coast since January 2006 as lead case manager for the Mississippi Protection and Advocacy System.

MPAS is a private, nonprofit agency that receives federal funds to protect and advocate the rights of Mississippi residents with disabilities. Since Hurricane Katrina came ashore in August 2005, MPAS has been a partner in Katrina Aid Today — a collection of 10 social service and volunteer organizations dedicated to helping people get aid disaster in Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama.

Primarily supported by the Federal Emergency Management Agency financially, Katrina Aid Today has thus far helped roughly 193,000 coastal residents, according to its Web site. But with FEMA funding scheduled to expire at the end of the month, Katrina Aid Today will discontinue its work on March 31.

As a result, MPAS has little option but to close its Pascagoula office March 15 and hand over hundreds of open cases to remaining volunteer and faith-based groups working on the coast.

“It’s just a shame for this to end now. There are still thousands and thousands of people who need help, and our work is not complete,” said Walker, who resides in Jackson and stays on the coast during the week. “This is a long-term recovery process, and it was unrealistic of (FEMA) to think we’d have helped everyone by now. The lack of support is unbelievable.”

As a case manager, Walker aids Katrina victims by filing the necessary paperwork and jumping through myriad other legal hoops required to receive disaster relief. Of the 12 case managers who have worked for MPAS following the disaster, Walker estimated more than 2,000 cases have been handled.

“We call them cases, but you have to understand that these are human beings and families who we get to know very personally through this process,” Walker explained. “We work very closely with them months on end, and we have to ask them some very personal questions. Over time the boundaries break down, and they begin to look at you as a family member — and a lot of times as their only remaining hope.”

In the coming weeks, Walker will try to find an agency to which to hand over at least 50 active cases.

“I’m trying to close out as many cases as I can, and put those I can’t close out in the hands of agencies who can truly continue to help them,” she said. “It’s going to be hard though because so many groups are going to be leaving the area. The case managers who remain are going to be completely overloaded, and I’m afraid the cases I hand over will be put at the bottom of the priority list.”

According to a study by the Mississippi Coast Interfaith Disaster Task Force, an organization working to aid those affected by hurricanes on the Gulf Coast since 1980, roughly 19,640 households are still in need of assistance due to Hurricane Katrina.

Currently, case managers working for Katrina Aid Today are being paid through FEMA, via a donation from the country of Qatar. The money donated by Qatar is scheduled to run out at the end of March, requiring FEMA to dip into other funds if they wish to continue to support Katrina Aid Today. There is a slight chance a solution to the funding problem could be found in the coming weeks.

Fourth District Rep. Gene Taylor, D-Miss., along with other interested parties on Capitol Hill, have signed and sent a letter to FEMA Administrator David Paulison urging him to continue to fund Katrina Aid Today.

The letter, dated Feb. 27, reads, “We believe FEMA has sufficient statutory authority, and available resources, to continue to provide case management services for victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. ” It is also signed by

FEMA has yet to respond to the letter, said Rep. Taylor’s policy advisor Brian Martin. Taylor is from Bay St. Louis.

There are also two bills sitting in Congress that would provide federal funding for Katrina Aid Today, but Martin said it is doubtful either could be passed and signed by President Bush by the end of the month.

“I guess you could say I’m in disbelief. I really can’t believe our government is just going to let this thing end,” said Walker when asked what she will do at the end of the month. “I haven’t really even thought of what I will do. My heart is in disaster recovery. For now, I’m just praying for a miracle.”