Evacuees in your community

[minkydog]

We are an upper middle class family, that brings alot to a community.

My DH is a C.P.A and I work for a non-profit agency.

We are relying on friends and family right now. I praise God that we have people to rely on. Most people do not.

We pay 15,000 a year on educating of 3 DD's alone.

Public schooling is not an option in LA. Even in Indianapolis, we feel very misplaced, the public schools are so big and my DD's are just miserable.

Please do not judge all evacuees based on a few hoodlums.

Michele

You make a great point. A lot of these folks had jobs and education. They never expected to be thrust into a situation of dependency. "Hand outs" are not their style. It's got to be a very humbling experience.

Michele, I just want to say, it's going to be okay eventually. You have the things that matter, the ones that cannot be replaced. Some day you will have the opportunity & expertise to help someone else. But for now, let them take care of you. Rest & recover & grieve. It's a terrible loss and I'm so sorry it happened.
Cathy

 

[Earstou]

Haven't read all the replies, but here in Kansas, we are waiting for possibly 10,000 displaced Katrina victims. The nearby community of Topeka will house 1500. Our church is preparing to assist these families, and I'm awaiting word so I can assist. I'm already signed up to help haul formula to the Expocenter, and will probably assist with a clothing bank if/when these people arrive. This morning there were 10 emails from my church updating us to the situation! Can't help much financially, so I'm so thankful I'll be able to help in other ways!!!

 

[minkydog]

Haven't read all the replies, but here in Kansas, we are waiting for possibly 10,000 displaced Katrina victims. The nearby community of Topeka will house 1500. Our church is preparing to assist these families, and I'm awaiting word so I can assist. I'm already signed up to help haul formula to the Expocenter, and will probably assist with a clothing bank if/when these people arrive. This morning there were 10 emails from my church updating us to the situation! Can't help much financially, so I'm so thankful I'll be able to help in other ways!!!

Good for you! It is so gratifying to see the American community step up to the plate. Everyone has something to give, whether it's money, blood, or just the time on their hands. My autistic son gave them his diapers

I just dropped off 8 bags of groceries to a lady whose son takes physical therapy with my son--I barely know her, but I sure can understand her dilemma: in the middle of the night she got 15 family members from N.O. (the "hell hole" district, she called it). They brought nothing with them but hungry children. She is expecting 9 more by 4pm. She recently lost her own job, but she's taking them in because she has a roof over her head--which is more than her family has. My family will gladly eat macaroni tonight.

We're all in this thing together.

 

[goofygirl]

About 400 or so families are coming to the Philly area. The "old homeless" were on the news and mad because that the "new homeless" were getting everything easily. I can see their point of view. I do support helping Katrina's victims but I don't like leaving out people who are homeless due to other reasons (like house fire, etc).


I also think its nice that people are opening their homes....but would you feel comfortable letting a total stranger in your home?? Am I the only one who thought, " I'm not sure if that's a good idea" ??

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

This is the latest from our neck of the woods:

A man was on the news last night because somebody broke into his car at the motel where he is staying with his family and stole everything they were able to grab from their home before they left. That is just deplorable.

A man who was taken in by "distant" relatives is in jail in lieu of $15,000 for sexually assaulting a 13 year old girl who lived in the home.

Evacuees were apparently told to line up today to get "Visa gift card" type things worth $2000 each. Except there weren't any cards in Dallas today. And WOW! were there some people being ugly about that! This one girl was screaming about how the ONLY obstacle for her is that she didn't get her money TODAY! She claims she is "sitting here starving" because FEMA didn't give her any money and she is a TAXPAYER! I can certainly agree it is frustrating and inconvenient but that girl is NOT starving and NOBODY got any money from FEMA today. Maybe if she had agreed to go to an area less saturated perhaps she would be happier with the goods and services being provided. Obviously there were other people who were just as disappointed but they weren't behaving like fools.

I think going forward it is going to be a huge problem that people are not willing to go where the help is. They are going to stay in Houston and Dallas and San Antonio kicking and screaming that they aren't getting what they need. I understand that people are ready to start making some progress, but with a disaster of this scope there are going to be delays.

 

[CarolA]

I accessed a website today for displaced employees of a company.

There were probably 100 postings

I took notes... people were in the following:

Texas, Lousiana, Alabama, Missisippi. Those were the expected and then...

Nashville
Atlanta
Seattle
Michigan
Puerto Rico
District of Columbia
Pensacola
Arkansas
Clearwater
Crossville, TN
Orlando
Memphis
Chicago
Savannah
Denver
Boston
Nashville
New York City
Wyoming
Baltimore
Kansas
South Carolina
North Carolina
Savannah
Columbus, OH
Crossville, NT
Savannah

And more....

 

[PolyAddict]

You make a great point. A lot of these folks had jobs and education. They never expected to be thrust into a situation of dependency. "Hand outs" are not their style. It's got to be a very humbling experience.

Michele, I just want to say, it's going to be okay eventually. You have the things that matter, the ones that cannot be replaced. Some day you will have the opportunity & expertise to help someone else. But for now, let them take care of you. Rest & recover & grieve. It's a terrible loss and I'm so sorry it happened.
Cathy

Thanks, minkydog, this has been a very humbling event for us. So far, we have had so much help we are not sure what to do with it all. So very lucky we are. I do hope one day to have the opportunity to help someone else one day.

 

[beattyfamily]

Well, they just did an update on our local news and now we'll be getting 500 evacuees around 1:30p today!

 

[beattyfamily]

They've interrupted TV to show 100 evacuees landing in MA!!

I'm very happy we are able to help out in this way!

There should be another plane at Midnight!

 

[HaleyB]

I know a lot of areas are waiting and willing to take in some of the people in Texas. I understand it is frustrating.

Please remember, many families have been separated and do not want to go too far until they find their loved ones. It is not that they prefer to stay in Texas so much as they realize that going from one shealter to another makes them harder to find.

Others are holding on to the hope that they will be able to go into NO and salvage, like the folks in the one Parish have done the last three days. So they like being within a days drive from NO.

Add to that the fact that the 'simple' act of registration with FEMA and the Red Cross are a bit of an ordeal (standing in line for hours and hours) and I assume each location change comes with its own lines to stand in.

Just so you understand why it may be days or weeks before people make their way to other areas (then again some have gone already).

 

[va32h]

I just feel like we are treating these people like novelties, not human beings. Listen to some of the things people are saying:

"I hope we get some", "I'm so glad we are getting some" "I wish we would get some" "I'm so disappointed that we aren't getting them after all".

It's not about US being happy that WE get to help. It's about the people who have already had everything taken from them being able to hang on to what they do have left - freedom, personal choice, a say in what happens to them.

Maybe a crowded shelter of their own choosing is better than a private apartment that someone chooses for them.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

News at 6:00 said city officials want everybody OUT of the convention center by Sept. 16 (next Friday). They are planning to consolidate them into Reunion because they have conventions coming. Not just their own conventions, but conventions that were slated for Houston and New Orleans. So people may not have the choice of staying in whatever shelter they are in indefinitely.

Since American Airlines Center has been open Reunion is empty the vast majority of the time, so people can stay there for quite awhile without disrupting anything. What I find interesting is that a week ago they were saying the convention center could house several thousand people WITHOUT cutting into the convention business. Apparently they have revised that line of thinking.

 

[Earstou]

Today I spent about 5 hours volunteering for the Red Cross. My job was registering the countless volunteers walking in to help. Topeka, located about 60 miles west of Kansas City, has hundreds of people willing to help! There were already a hundred or so set up working when I arrived this morning, and I saw hundreds pass through the registration process in the short amount of time I was there. People were talking about arranging vacation time so they could volunteer! I had women in their 70s and groups of young people, volunteering.
This evening I received an email from my church, announcing that the displaced families will not be arriving in Topeka, after all.
But it was wonderful to see so many people, from all walks of life, stepping forward to help!

 

[swilphil]

I just feel like we are treating these people like novelties, not human beings. Listen to some of the things people are saying:

"I hope we get some", "I'm so glad we are getting some" "I wish we would get some" "I'm so disappointed that we aren't getting them after all".

It's not about US being happy that WE get to help. It's about the people who have already had everything taken from them being able to hang on to what they do have left - freedom, personal choice, a say in what happens to them.

Maybe a crowded shelter of their own choosing is better than a private apartment that someone chooses for them.

I agree. The situation isn't about us at all. It's about the hurricane survivors. They will need lots of help in the months to come. In many cases it will mean us going to New Orleans or where ever they decide to relocate instead of them coming to us. I can't imagine not having a choice in where to relocate for an indefinite period of time.

 

[Galahad]

There are about 1000 evacuees that have come to Indy. Many are staying at facilities at the State Fairground and Many in some apartment space that has been donated. Many of them have said that since they lost everything in NO that they plan to just stay here - that they like what they see so far. There are several relief efforts going on for these families. Locally many of our groups are raising funds and materials to help these families specifically. Even if people treat it like it's "about them" sometimes that's not necessarily a bad thing. How much of what a parent does for their child - that should be done for their child - is deep down being done because it's their child - in a more or less self-serving way? It still is a benefit to their child and their community.