Posted on 09/19/2005 4:24:49 PM PDT by WestTexasWend
HOUSTON -- First lady Laura Bush served smothered chicken to Hurricane Katrina refugees Monday at the city's convention center shelter, still home to about 300 survivors uprooted by the storm.
Bush also met with religious leaders and volunteers during a three-hour visit to Houston.
"This type of relief never could have happened without all of us," Bush said as she sat in a semicircle of Muslim, Jewish and Christian leaders at the George R. Brown Convention Center. "It will be a long road for us. We have to stay with them every step as they rebuild their lives and it is not going to be easy."
Some refugees in Houston reacted with anger to President Bush's speech last week announcing the massive federal rebuilding effort along the Gulf Coast, complaining that he has ignored them while they were exiled. The first lady's visit seemed to salve some of that displeasure.
Bush said her husband plans to visit refugees in Texas this weekend.
"One of the most important things that happened is the first responders responded and that is very important," she said. "They did whatever they could to make sure people had what they needed. The government response is going to take a long time. We are going to have many, many months of continuing to work to make sure everybody has what they need."
Bush also stopped at a Home Depot store. The company has rehired about 10 of its displaced workers from Louisiana and Mississippi in the Houston area.
Refugee Keith Flores, who has worked at Home Depot for 20 years, said he's happy in Houston, but wants to return to New Orleans with his Great Dane, Duke, who is being cared for by the Humane Society.
Bush also stopped and talked with families at a center that helps homeless mothers who need child care while they look for work. She joined them in molding Play-Doh and left behind M and Ms and notepads for them.
At the convention center, a 10-year-old boy named Austin told Bush he couldn't believe she was the first lady.
"I'm married to the president," she said.
Laura Bush then grabbed the hands of 8-year-old Altonecha and 9-year-old Lionnetta and walked through the shelter with them.
"I think it is nice because she don't have to come," said refugee Kizzy Mickens, who later ate a lunch served by Bush and Republican U.S. Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn of Texas. "Just coming to see us, to see how we are doing, it is like a blessing because she never knew we existed but we knew about her."
After the president's Thursday night address, Melissa Washington, 28, said she was bothered by Bush's failure to visit those who were still sleeping on cots in shelters.
"He didn't even come down to see what was going on," she said. "Where was he? Chilling while we were out there dying with water over my head. How do you think my 9-month old baby was feeling and my mother who can't walk?"
The president has visited the hurricane-ravaged areas several times since Katrina slammed into Louisiana and Mississippi on Aug. 29. He visited a shelter in Baton Rouge on Labor Day.
Tens of thousands of refugees found their first hot meal and shower in Houston after days of sleeping along freeways or surviving the harsh, putrid conditions inside the New Orleans Superdome or convention center.
Former Presidents Bush and Clinton and their wives visited two shelters in the Astrodome complex on Sept. 5. The former presidents announced the creation of a new fund to assist Hurricane Katrina victims, similar to an effort they spearheaded to assist those impacted by the Asian tsunami.
This weekend? I hope it isn't a flyover flight surveying the destruction left in the wake of Rita.
Correction...the president will visit evacuees in TX, but it doesn't say where. Assumption it's Houston is mine.
All these displays of compassion are becoming a big waste of time. Bush is dealing with Democrats who hate his guts. It may feel good on a personal level, but with the Democrats trashing him 24/7, it won't do him any good politically.
Who wrote this sh$t?.....What disrespect....that's Mrs. Bush or the First Lady.....not Bush!
Bump to read later
Just in time for Hurricane Rita. Now that's caring!
Holy cow.............words fail me. "Chilling??"
btw, this is a REALLY disrespectful article. Liberals stink.
GMTA. This is garbage.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.