Posted on 09/03/2005 12:20:03 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
A massive interfaith effort is under way to feed Hurricane Katrina evacuees at large-scale shelters in Houston, including the George R. Brown Convention Center.
The plan is not final. But organizers expect religious groups to raise an initial $4.4 million for 30 days of food and to supply 720 volunteers a day to provide and serve three hot meals to many thousands seeking shelter in Houston.
"I do not view this as a faith community issue," said the Rev. Kirbyjon Caldwell, pastor of Windsor Village United Methodist Church, which will participate in the effort and other relief projects. "This is a human decency issue."
The religious effort, dubbed Operation Compassion, is being discussed with city and state officials and Interfaith Ministries for Greater Houston. Second Baptist Church is the central administrator of the effort.
The initial plan was to provide meals at Reliant Astrodome, where Aramark is now serving food. But after the shelter was filled to capacity, city officials asked faith groups to serve at the other large shelters the city is arranging, said Lou Keels, communications manager for Interfaith Ministries.
The groups expect to serve food at other shelters as they open, Keels said.
"We hope to feed people for at least the first 30 days, but probably 60 to 90 days," she said.
Efforts slipped into high gear Thursday morning, when hundreds of leaders from the spectrum of the city's religious landscape gathered at Second Baptist. At the meeting, senior pastor Ed Young, "talked about the great crisis we are in and the need to mobilize as many of our people as possible," church spokesman Gary Moore said.
Second Baptist plans to provide funding and volunteers for the first round of the effort that it hopes will begin Tuesday at the convention center. Lakewood Church, the Catholic Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston and the Episcopal Diocese of Texas are among the Christian groups cooperating with the effort. Houston's Muslim and Jewish communities also are participating.
"I think people are genuinely touched by the immensity of the disaster, and I think people will respond," said Rabbi Shaul Osadchey of Congregation Or Ami.
Volunteers must be trained and are asked to organize through the religious group they are affiliated with, Keels said. Donations of food and money should also go through those groups, she said.
tara.dooley@chron.com
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OPERATION COMPASSION A two-hour training session is required for volunteers. • When: 9 a.m. today, 2 p.m. Sunday, 1 p.m. Monday
• Where: Second Baptist Church, 6400 Woodway
• Other sessions: 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at Second Baptist's West Campus, 19499 Katy Freeway; 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at its North Campus, 22770 U.S. 59 North in Kingwood.
• Registration: Volunteers are asked to register with their local religious organizations, which will coordinate with Second Baptist. Individuals without congregations can come to training without registering.
• More information: www.second.org/global/operation_compassion.aspx or 713-365-3479.
Windsor Village United Methodist Church
Bumping for this worthy effort.
Shelters expect 'glut' of furry evacuees The SPCA here is already housing hundreds of pets left homeless in Katrina's wake
TEXAS - 18,000 apartments across the state open to evacuees Requirements waived, making families eligible to get voucher
Bumping right back at you.
Bump!
Sept. 2, 2005, 11:27PM
Brazoria County has room for evacuees
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle
LAKE JACKSON - Hurricane Katrina's rampage put Brazoria County officials and residents in an unfamiliar position — aiding, instead of being, evacuees.
An estimated 1,000 to 1,200 evacuees from the storm are in Brazoria County, said Jeanie McDonald, a Salvation Army volunteer. Only five were in a shelter, she said. The rest are at motels, renting beach houses or staying with friends or relatives. Toni Hodges Klasel, director of the Brazoria County Red Cross, said there's still plenty of room at the Second Baptist Church shelter in Angleton.
More information is available on the city Web site:
www.ci.lake-jackson.tx.us.
Sept. 3, 2005, 1:14AM
Relief goods needed, but drop at right spots
Some donors were redirected from Astrodome to the official collection sites
By ROSANNA RUIZ
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle
Relief agencies say they need food, clothing and other necessities for the Katrina evacuees, but please don't bring them to the Astrodome.
People bringing donations to the Dome on Friday had to be redirected to official collection sites or to ongoing donation drives around the city. Nonetheless, some set up their own impromptu site on Kirby near Reliant Park.
Donors dropped off toys, clothes, diapers, sleeping mats, umbrellas, walkers and a bucket of cold soft drinks, creating a mountain of stuff, and evacuees showed up with shopping carts from nearby stores to collect the goods.
Traffic concerns
Luis Guerrero, a spokesman for the United Way, said donations should be collected by experienced volunteers at the Houston Food Bank or a Salvation Army branch so the supplies can be sent where they are most needed.
Also, he said, traffic into and around the Astrodome has to be minimized.
Houston Food Bank and Salvation Army sites will be accepting donations throughout the weekend, and Houston-area banks are also accepting them on behalf of the United Way's Katrina relief fund, he added.
"We want to stay focused with the Houston Food Bank as the central sites for delivery of goods, Salvation Army sites for clothing and for giving money go to unitedwayhouston.org," Guerrero said. Donations to the Red Cross may be made by calling 713-526-8300.
At one donation drive conducted by Spanish-language media company Univision, dozens of pickups and cars loaded with cases of bottled water, paper products and food slowly snaked into Bank One's parking lot on the North Loop on Friday.
The donors created a small traffic tie-up along the 1400 block of the North Loop as the line into the parking lot stretched along the eastbound access road.
Among them was restaurateur Honorio Galvan, who spent more than $550 on supplies loaded into the bed of his pickup.
He said he heard about the donation drive on the radio and wanted to help, simply because "they need it."
Another donor, Jesus Diaz, was hauling about $600 worth of water, food and toiletries in his pickup.
He said he knows no one in Louisiana, but still wanted to help someone, somehow.
Four tractor-trailers had been filled with donations by Friday afternoon, the second day of the drive, and once full, the trucks were sent to the Houston Food Bank for distribution, explained Renzo Heredia, community affairs director for Univision radio.
He said he was touched by the overwhelming generosity of the hundreds of Houston residents who had stopped by during the drive.
"It's unbelievable," he said as volunteers scurried to collect donations from truck beds and cars. "The way they opened their hearts — that is Houston for you."
Sweaty volunteers quickly unloaded the supplies, passing cases of bottled water and other items from one to another, then piled onto a stack.
Helpful community
Volunteer Joe College said he has family and a close friend in Louisiana.
"The people are in need. This could be us," College said.
La Tremenda board operator Alberto Larios sat down for a moment to rest after a grueling day. "I do expect this," Larios said. "The community has always been there when we need help."
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/3337473
[MORE AT SIDEBARS AT LINK ABOVE]
Post 1 should address your comment about the involvement of "megachurch" Lakewood in the rescue effort as you expressed yesterday, bahblahbah. Looks like the minichurches are involved, too.
***......Nearly 500 buses were supposed to transport 25,000 people from the Superdome to the Astrodome.
But the first bus to arrive in Houston was not provided by FEMA. It was a yellow Orleans Parish school bus driven by an unidentified teenager.
He had stolen the bus, loaded it with family members and left ahead of the official caravan.
Initially, Texas officials refused to admit the school bus refugees to the Astrodome. Then a Red Cross official named Margaret O'Brien-Molina noticed the children aboard. She walked them in, holding the hand of a 5-year-old girl.
"That little girl, think about what she's been through the last few days," she explained.
Before the day was over, the Astrodome was full and freeway signs that had welcomed refugees were switched to a different message: "Houston shelters are full. Go to Dallas or San Antonio."........***
http://www.sptimes.com/2005/09/03/Worldandnation/Despite_problems__bet.shtml
***RIVERVIEW - Tony Burtchaell stood in his nephew's Riverview home Friday, bare chested, jobless and not knowing what remained of his life in New Orleans.
One of his two remaining shirts spun in his relatives' washing machine as he talked about losing the house he shared with his 80-year-old mother, Virginia, in the city's southern district.
They'd been through this before. Forty years ago, Hurricane Betsy forced his family into a neighbor's attic to escape floodwaters.
Betsy was a cakewalk compared with this, he said.
Burtchaell worked as a stagehand at the New Orleans convention center before Katrina rendered it a makeshift shelter, where already deplorable conditions deteriorated terribly for those seeking help. Seeing the mayhem on his nephew's television is emotional for him. ``I'm just going to take it one day at a time,'' Burtchaell said. ``I don't know what else I can do.''
He is one of 16 relatives and friends who fled Katrina's devastation this week to seek refuge in the Riverview home of Bill and Cathy Welch on Estate Cove Circle. Five more are expected today. Among those who came were Bill Welch's parents, William and Colleen Welch of Diamondhead, Miss., and Cathy Welch's sister, Antoinette Boyle, and her husband, John, from New Orleans. The caravan also included a few friends, several children, four dogs and three cats.
Two of the Riverview family's neighbors have offered to take in the overflow. Having 20 people and eight animals in one house is stressful, but the Welches said there was no choice.
Their floors are covered with air mattresses, pillows, blankets and suitcases stuffed with whatever one thinks to grab when a disaster is looming. ``It's a tight fit, but we wouldn't want them to be anywhere else,'' Cathy Welch said.
The Boyles left New Orleans on Sunday morning and arrived in Riverview 26 hours later. The trip included a three- hour traffic jam and not being allowed back onto an interstate by state troopers after they had taken an exit............***
http://www.tampatrib.com/MGB48XX95DE.html
LUNCH: Volunteer Bill Hachmann delivers sandwiches at a Red Cross shelter in Baton Rouge, La. ANDY NELSON - Christian Science Monitor STAFF
Texans try to help their neighbors from Louisiana
HOUSTON - More than 15,000 people displaced by Hurricane Katrina packed the Astrodome on Friday, even though the facility was set up to handle half that many, illustrating the tremendous task facing Texas officials determined to help their stricken neighbors.
The dome can handle only about 8,000 cots, Houston officials said. The city opened two convention centers for the overflow, the Reliant Center next to the Astrodome and the George R. Brown Convention Center in downtown Houston.
Thousands of hurricane victims were also being sent to hastily opened shelters in San Antonio, Huntsville and Dallas, where all city police officers have been called in to duty. Kathy Walt, spokeswoman for Texas Gov. Rick Perry, said other cities, including Austin, are being asked to take in displaced Louisiana residents. Fort Worth officials are considering reopening two closed hospitals and a Masonic home.
Walt said San Antonio's Alamodome was being prepared to accept evacuees, including those turned away from the Astrodome.
The majority of evacuees will arrive in San Antonio by plane rather than by bus, Walt said.
It was unclear how long the Louisiana residents might need to remain at the Alamodome, but Walt said state officials will care for them as long as necessary. New Orleans officials have said that it could be months before residents can return to the flooded city.
In Dallas, storm victims poured into Reunion Arena, the former home of the National Basketball Association's Dallas Mavericks. When it fills, people will be sent to the nearby Dallas Convention Center. Together, the facilities can hold about 1,000 people.
Dallas City Manager Mary Suhm said the city is calling on mayors and county judges throughout North Texas to prepare large public facilities that can be serviced with food, showers and security.
The task for police agencies was beginning to appear daunting.
Dallas Police Chief David Kunkle was calm and measured when he joined Suhm at a morning briefing. But his comments were sobering.
"We are hoping for the best and preparing for the worst," he said. "We're requiring all of our officers to come in, in uniforms. We're also canceling leaves and vacations. ... We are paying overtime and backfilling positions.
"We anticipate we're going to be in this for a very long haul, and we are preparing immediately." .................
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/12546900.htm
bump
Bed linens sit on bunks in a barracks at Fort Chaffee in Barling, Ark., late Friday, Sept. 2, 2005, for people displaced by Hurricane Katrina. Fifty of the barracks, each capable of housing 70 will be used as emergency shelter for the storm victims. (AP Photo/Danny Johnston)
They'll only spend energy on tearing down Bush and America.
They've never added anything good.
Tales of horrors and heroes permeate New Orleans center
.........Ms. Jenkins' husband is a manager at the convention center, and she said the staff was serving hot meals at the beginning.
"Until it got out of hand," she added. "The cook left. He couldn't take it anymore."
So the hot meals stopped coming.
Chef steps in
That is, until Wilfred Johnson arrived. He's a Jamaican chef at Big Shirley's in the French Quarter.
He and others found frozen food and cooking oil in the convention center's kitchen – and a barbecue pit left behind in the neighborhood. So he decided to feed the masses, especially the children.
He sauteed chicken in oil, red pepper, and garlic. He marinated ribs, sausages and shish kebabs. The spicy aromas hid the stench inside the center.
"I'm no hero, man," said Mr. Johnson, a lean, muscular man with dreadlocks wrapped in a red wool hat and a black coral necklace. "I'm just trying to cook so we can survive. Everybody is a hero here for surviving."
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/katrina/stories/090305dntexkatscene.1cccf065.html
craigslist resources for Katrina Survivors
Bump for the LINKS!
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