Great people

[SPURSX3]

I was working at the KellyUSA shelter last week for a few night after work and met some realy great people, young and old, I am still trying to help some out in whatever way I can can.  they are starting to get housing from the city, no not public housing, they ae moving into apartments, rent/utility free for one year, which hopefully Should be time for the  to get their lives back on tracl, not to mention they have their debit cards to help get them started - A LOT of them are loving it here, they love the way the people of San Antonio have bent over backwards to help them, they love the city, they really love their new homes, even though they are emtpy right now.  A lot from here will not be going home at all.  thankfully thee is anough vacant apartment space in the city to cover all of the evacuees we took in, a lot left for family elsewher, or to go live elsewhere, our shelters look like they chould be empty pretty soon at the rate that we are gettign them placed in housing.  They also really want to work, they are not waiting to find jobs they are out there looking for whatever they can get.  I waish these people the best. I plan on going back - maybe tomorrow maybe to visit with some of the people i met - if they are still there, I meet new people everytime I go there.  It is good to see that there is a lot of good coming out of all of this devestation.

[Joe Vancil]

I don't believe it for a minute - all these people loving San An and wanting to stay.  I say it's all because they're NBA Bandwagoners.

 

[SPURSX3]

Believe it or not, Joe, to a lot of these people, this is kind of a dream come true...in a way of course, they were too poor to get out of the horrible life in N.O.  But now, they get a chance to start a new life somewhere else...it just sux that there is NOT one database with names and socials to verify family members and their locations.  you would think FEMA could have mae a registry of some sort to log the name and location into so you could just look it up and find them to say your ok....really stupid process by our govt in my opinion.  I think we depend too much on private charitable organizations for stuff like this, dont we pay out of our taxes to cover this stuff, and the fed has more money then the red cross, salvation army etc could everh have...we need the fed to take more responsibility over this stuff and shell out more tax money that we have already paid to cover the cost of all of this.  there has to be something put in place to help locate and find those lost in major disasters such as this...

[WayOutWest]

Believe it or not, Joe, to a lot of these people, this is kind of a dream come true...in a way of course, they were too poor to get out of the horrible life in N.O.  But now, they get a chance to start a new life somewhere else...it just sux that there is NOT one database with names and socials to verify family members and their locations.  you would think FEMA could have mae a registry of some sort to log the name and location into so you could just look it up and find them to say your ok....really stupid process by our govt in my opinion.  I think we depend too much on private charitable organizations for stuff like this, dont we pay out of our taxes to cover this stuff, and the fed has more money then the red cross, salvation army etc could everh have...we need the fed to take more responsibility over this stuff and shell out more tax money that we have already paid to cover the cost of all of this.  there has to be something put in place to help locate and find those lost in major disasters such as this...

Do a google search for a listing of refugess or something.  From what I understand there are TWO major database engines running with the names and locations of lost people and people searching for people.

For example, a kid can give their relatives names to find out where they belong.

Vice versa and parent can give the name of a child and find out if they have been located.

Most refugees don't have internet access so this useful tool is not available to them unless they stand in LONG lines in gov buildings.  Some people have been visiting shelters and taking info from refugees then going home and doing the search for them.

[SPURSX3]

Believe it or not, Joe, to a lot of these people, this is kind of a dream come true...in a way of course, they were too poor to get out of the horrible life in N.O.  But now, they get a chance to start a new life somewhere else...it just sux that there is NOT one database with names and socials to verify family members and their locations.  you would think FEMA could have mae a registry of some sort to log the name and location into so you could just look it up and find them to say your ok....really stupid process by our govt in my opinion.  I think we depend too much on private charitable organizations for stuff like this, dont we pay out of our taxes to cover this stuff, and the fed has more money then the red cross, salvation army etc could everh have...we need the fed to take more responsibility over this stuff and shell out more tax money that we have already paid to cover the cost of all of this.  there has to be something put in place to help locate and find those lost in major disasters such as this...

Do a google search for a listing of refugess or something.  From what I understand there are TWO major database engines running with the names and locations of lost people and people searching for people.

For example, a kid can give their relatives names to find out where they belong.

Vice versa and parent can give the name of a child and find out if they have been located.

Most refugees don't have internet access so this useful tool is not available to them unless they stand in LONG lines in gov buildings.  Some people have been visiting shelters and taking info from refugees then going home and doing the search for them.

WOW, I was trying that all weekend with no luck.  hopefully he has already located his family, i will try the red cross line here and see if they can help track them down, if they havent found them already.

[Joe Vancil]

I've actually never been to San An, SpursX3.  Skander was there this summer, and from what he said, it's a really cool place.  And it is a place I do want to go sometime in the future.

I do believe that in a lot of ways, the hurricane represents "a way out" for a lot of people who had little opportunity and little hope before.  And hopefully it wakes up a lot of government officials at all levels, and gets them reconnected to "We the People" again.  Or out-of-office...I'm not picky.

The real question is why it takes a disaster to get anyone to pay attention.

And an even deeper question is how many people will still care 6 months from now.

To me, 9/11 showed that we're a VERY forgetful nation.  The day came and passed and I wouldn't have even known it, had it not been for a phone call to a friend in Wisconsin.  Scary to think, but I think Katrina may end up the same way.

 

[SPURSX3]

I've actually never been to San An, SpursX3.  Skander was there this summer, and from what he said, it's a really cool place.  And it is a place I do want to go sometime in the future.

I do believe that in a lot of ways, the hurricane represents "a way out" for a lot of people who had little opportunity and little hope before.  And hopefully it wakes up a lot of government officials at all levels, and gets them reconnected to "We the People" again.  Or out-of-office...I'm not picky.

The real question is why it takes a disaster to get anyone to pay attention.

And an even deeper question is how many people will still care 6 months from now.

To me, 9/11 showed that we're a VERY forgetful nation.  The day came and passed and I wouldn't have even known it, had it not been for a phone call to a friend in Wisconsin.  Scary to think, but I think Katrina may end up the same way.

you are SO right joe, I would not even give it Months I give it weeks before the nw of Katrina start to vanish, and in a year when these people need help again, they will receive a cold shoulder IMO.  It is sad that it takes a disaster to get all this done, amazing, 911 got me thinging more pro-conservative (i had been a liberal during the clinton years) now this is making look more towards liberal, psuedo socialist thinking as far as govt responsibility is concerned. It's amazing that we are closing soo many bases each year and yet our military spending seems to stay the same if not go higher.  there has to be a middle ground where this goiv starts taking better care of it's own people while at the same time puts enough money aside for valid homesecurity and defense.   It seems this is the perfect time for someone to stand up and lead the people, too bad that person is not out there...