Posted on 11/29/2005 4:39:00 AM PST by Flyer
With Christmas around the corner, a group of Katrina evacuees worry they can't give the holiday to their kids.
Hauling home a Christmas tree is at least a $30 cab ride.
For Sheryl Lee whose New Orleans home was destroyed, her brand new house is a "dream come true," she said as she wiped tears from her eyes.
Yet for all that it offers, it is also a trap.
"No way to get to a shopping or nothing," Lee said.
The Clarke Springs subdivision, with its neat rows of humble homes, sits outside the beltway. The nearest Metro bus stop is a 30-minute walk.
Sheryl and her neighbors, all Katrina evacuees placed by the city of Houston, do not own cars.
"It's not close by too many things. So far out," said Colette Montgomery, Katrina evacuee.
Neighbors believe at least 40 Katrina families live in the Clarke Springs subdivision. What they're worried about now is whether they can provide Christmas for their kids.
Like all kids, Sheryl's 9-year-old daughter and 12-year-old son love Christmas, but look around and you won't find a single decoration because hauling home a tree is at least a $30 cab ride.
"And that kind of money I don't have right now," Lee said.
With no car, not only is a job hard to come by, so is Christmas.
"Although they [children] lost everything they had once before, but I could try to get them just a little of it. Might not be all, but it's a little," said Lee.
"The big deal is that freebies are a good way to ensure that personal responsibility never takes root."
That's why I suggested they have to pay a few dollars. Maybe $4 or $5. Whatever.
Geesh...
This year is tough for us, we have braces on both childrens teeth, and are looking forward to crowns, and a bridge with the missing teeth for my son. I guess he's getting his two front teeth for christmas.
Other medical expenses still being covered as well. Gall gladder surgery my son had this past year. If I didn't have an artificial tree we've used for the past few years, I wouldn't know what to do.
I'm training to go back to work. Things will get better. It is only this year, possibly next that will be tight.
I think it's wonderful when Americans help other Americans who are temporarily down on their luck. And I wish all the best to the Katrina evacuees. However, it's been awhile since the storm. You've had food and shelter. Some of you have new homes which you didn't have to pay for. I am still struggling to pay for mine.
If you haven't figured it out by now, you need a job. And to get a job, you need transportation. Eventually someone may ask you to pay your own utility bills. Maybe even buy your own food. THINK ABOUT IT. A wise and industrious evacuee would have had several months to get back on their feet.
:-) Some of us have lived through times in which we didn't have two nickels to rub together and learned how to get through a tough situation without being a victim.
If a schoolbus is sitting in a big lot on a Saturday, why not collect $100.00 to pay a driver to make use of it?
Until death do they part.
"their mental thought needs some tweaking.
Yep, but it difficult for retrain those who have a B.S. in Victimology."
Yes it is hard.
Boy, it's a shame that these folks don't have legs. If they did, they could perhaps WALK to catch rides with friends...or even ride bicycles!
well in life theres good times & bad. some of my best xmas's were when i was dead broke. instead of whining go find a tree branch and decorate it . find a way to make xmas fun for your kids. be thankful for what you have. most of all teach your children the real meaning of xmas! if you whine & complain about your life your children will learn to do the same. wake up & smell the coffee & be glad you're all alive and have a roof over your heads. so xmas wont be as it has been in the past but at least you are alive. some day you will look back on this xmas and realize you've got plenty to be thankful for!!!!
And then they'll complain somebody else has a seat further from the fire.
Radical thought....what would happen if a grassroots campaign started up that (for just one Christmas season only) we STOPPED giving...just once...just to make a point.
Point being.....we're charitable, but only to a point.
"Maybe a church might be able to"
That's certainly a possibility, too.
Call up a manufacturer and/or truck dealership today and ask them what a good, USED (not to mention, "new") "bus" costs.
Then figure out how much fuel is required to run the thing and for how many miles. Then calculate how many miles it would have to be driven (and by whom, add in a salary for a licensed bus driver) (and insurance for the bus at chaffeur rates), and then figure out the basics to purchase (or lease) a "bus" and to operate it for one, two, maybe three days.
One tank of diesel alone will run far over a hundred dollars...probably close to several. Add that to the costs of the vehicle...and the salary/ies involved...
No one unless the uninsured on rural roads can just acquire "a bus" of any type and condition and "just" make use of it for several days transporting other people on public roads...all of whom will sue if and when their knees are so much as bumped.
The best realm for this type of idea, as I already described, is for some private group or individual to donate (that means, it's a gift from someone else's generosity, just as are the new homes this woman and hers have received, among other things) and then again show up and rescue them with helps and shuttling and Christmas cheer.
The woman is a prime example of just who needs to learn to do for herself. She illustrates that, despite having received great generosity, she is still feeling sorry for what she does not have...and that it could never be enough, probably. She has a spiritual and emotional problem.
Sometimes giving without restrictions to people like this harms them more than helps them. It prevents her from learning useful and good things and had she learned it earlier, she would not feel so unable at present. Better for her to learn that her happiness is within her ability to provide for herself and her children and it's not dependent upon a tree or whatever.
..My grandmother, widdoed at 45, took a preschool job in the city (lots of children & all that entails)...
..and walked 4 long blocks each morning---rain, snow, heat, barking dogs...to the bus stop
...worked all day..
...and walked 4 blocks home each evening from the bus stop, to her 'old' home....for 15 years!
...she never complained....ever!
She had never learned to drive a car....and felt she was too old to try.
And she never depended on the kindness of strangers....she always paid her way, even though the neighbors loved her and was generous with their time.
"Oh the horrors of it all...having to walk a whole 30 minutes!!"
They didn't say it in the story, but I would assume the trip back is the problem, depending on what you buy. Sorta hard to carry a week's groceries or all your Christmas presents that 30 minutes.
widowed!
Like I've written before (several times), YOU go price it out, budget it and organize it. It's your idea, so make it work.
Same principle and advice applies to this woman.
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