Godless Mom in the Bible Belt

Saturday, September 03, 2005

Update from Houston

Scott rolled in late last night after a trip to Baton Rouge to set up a temporary office for his firm's employees in New Orleans. He said there is a massive, very visible police force on the streets and that order is being maintained very well so if you've heard any rumors to the contrary (CNN) they aren't true.

He had a reservation in Lake Charles and the hotel called and asked if his trip was for business or pleasure. I guess the Governor has told all hotels that they are to take hurricane survivors only, business and pleasure reservations have all been cancelled. On the road home he inched along in the huge amounts of traffic still leaving the area and passed a huge convoy of private vehicles all loaded with supplies headed toward the Houston Astrodome, they had massive police escort. All of the electronic freeway signs here tell the hurricane evacuees that the Houston shelters are full and they must continue on to San Antonio or Dallas.

If you live within 500 miles of the areas affected by the hurricane and have space available in your home please consider opening your doors to some of these folks. They cannot begin to put their lives back in order until they can find a little stability for their children and some decent facilities for their elderly. This website is putting homes together with families in need.

I've got a lot going on around here. I will most likely be away from blogging until Tuesday.
posted by GodlessMom, 7:38 AM

8 Comments:

Blogger Lucy Stern said:

Thanks for the update. I was very impressed with the HEB campaign to get supplies for the people. I was in there yesterday and the store was packed with people shopping. They had huge boxes on pallets where people could put water, diapers, toothpaste, food and etc for donation. Outside the store there was a tent set up for people bringing in donations of their own. It's good to see so many people concerned and ready to help.
Posted at 10:29 AM  

Blogger BarbaraFromCalifornia said:

You are a truly angel posting this information. Thank you so much for the update!

Last night, I was thinking of how I wish I lived closer and could do something. Today, I am going to go give blodd.
Posted at 10:46 AM  

Blogger TLP said:

I wish the news would show a full picture of what's going on instead of the same old stuff.
Posted at 12:30 PM  

Blogger Lila said:

Thanks for all you're doing, and for the info.
Posted at 2:18 PM  

Blogger Saur♥Kraut said:

I live in central FL, so my guess is that they don't want to come this far. It's also the next place for a hurricane to hit, and leave them homeless again.

If I were a survivor with little more than the clothes on my back, I would head toward TX or into the midwest where I could get a job and some shelter for my family.

It's such a tragedy. I have business colleagues that are there right now. They flew in to assess everything and flew out to organize what they need. They're flying back this weekend.
Posted at 3:35 PM  

Blogger Fred said:

Great update. I'm actually watching FOX right now, and they're more upbeat than I've seen in days. Looks like most of the refugees are going to shelters now.

The hard part begins now. How to rebuild? What to rebuild? And don't forget about Mississippi - their gambling industry is gone.

It's a nightmare, but if anyone can do it, the U.S. can.
Posted at 7:28 PM  

Blogger Blueberry said:

I think someone mentioned on the radio today that Texas will be filled up soon (with as many refugees that they can take) and they will have to look more in other states. Austin I believe took about 7000 people, and I think the long line of school busses I saw last night might have been some of them arriving. I've wondered why they couldn't convert some of these empty big boxes (like that abandoned Home Depot right next to the newer big box Home Depot that they built!) into temporary shelters, but I guess it must be more complicated than I think. My husband said he was watching some coverage on C-span that was neutral and without the usual media spin found on the other newsfeeds. I remember being quite impressed with them last year when they covered an anti-war march by just showing it, completely uncensored, unedited, and without voiceover comments. Now THAT is what I'd like to see done more often. In many cases the media could just show us video and let us make up our own minds on it.
Posted at 9:13 PM  

Blogger A Little Bar of Soap said:

God bless you for your actions. Now we just need to work on your faith.
Posted at 10:01 PM  

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