Hello? There’s compassion here, too!
I seldom give my opinion when regarding the news, but I want to open some areas up for discussion here. Sure, there were lots of problems with how the Gustav evacuation process was handled by Louisiana-run shelters. And yes, a lot of people yelled really loud about what they didn’t get. Some were justified (conditions were awful at some shelters!)  That wasn’t the case with others.  Regardless, the negative cries (whether justified or not), got the attention of the national media.  And the national media bought it, in many cases, as the only side to the story.Â
It’s clear the state needs to get its act together if it’s going to continue in the business of sheltering. Some of the near life threatening situations involving the elderly on behalf of the state are shameful! You can’t expect a 94 year old woman to survive a 7=10 hour mandatory bus ride with absolutely no attention to fare well. That’s abuse.  Â
But maybe the national media big guns stopping there were more than a tad irresponsible. Please let me know if there are exceptions, because I haven’t seen them.Â
I spent today interviewing more than a dozen volunteers, organizers and evacuees from most all of the shelters here. There were lots of fear-based rumors, due to a lack of official answers given to evacuees there.
AND I found story after story of compassion and gratitude.  There were stories of evacuees helping other evacuees, volunteer medical personnel spending the entire week at the state-run Sam’s Club shelter and the old Sports Outlet Mall shelter.  Some of the nurses and PAs I spoke with had medical ailments of their own (broken limbs, etc.). Their family members had to force them to sleep,  Many slept prior to my interview with them today.  I saw an evacuee taking charge and proudly becoming a calming force. (See more on Dee Dee, who lost four family members to Katrina, including her mother, then took charge at the Sam’s Club Shelter and brought peace there during chaos. That airs Monday night at 10 on KTBS and on www.ktbs.com, keyword: miracle). Â
I am awestruck by the generosity and compassion that emerges here in situations like Gustav. I applaud the women I saw in the grocery store, a small sample of what was going on across the ArkLaTex. The women were planning meals for evacuees and sweating over the details about what our guests would or wouldn’t like to eat.  Â
I heard today from those in the trenches that maybe the faith-based community didn’t respond as strongly this time as it did during Katrina because of those who weren’t grateful…no…because of those who thought the initials of the volunteers who were helping them were F.U.  Â
But it’s not just Gustav. It’s not even Katrina. Year after year, research shows the ArkLaTex, one of the most cynical , conservative, fishing and Bible-reading markets in the nation, also rivals, if not is, the most generous.Â
But please don’t take our generosity for granite. We give hard. It’s there and it’s solid. But, you might be best not testin’ it without some gratitude. Â
I’m so proud to live, work and do my part in a community where we give thanks.  Â
September 6th, 2008 at 4:04 am
Your are right Sherri. The bad apples always overshadow the good stories like this. As Jesus said, “Whatever you do for the least of these, you do for me.”
September 6th, 2008 at 9:36 am
Maybe instead of relying on Shreveport and the surrounding community to house and care for these people, the southern areas of the state should take it upon themselves to purchase land (preferably somewhere other than Shreveport) and build shelters to take care of this problem themselves.
Maybe a city tax, in the areas that are affected the most by the hurricanes could take care of this, or an extra $5.00 a month on the utility bill.
Of course the national news media will go for the most dramatic part of the situation, its what they do, and in a time when the most popular thing, or nearly the only thing you can find on TV is all the reality show BS who can blame them, apparently its what the majority wants to see.
No one wants to read or see on the news what a good job Shreveport and the surrounding area did under the circumstances, or the number of volunteers that gave there time and money to help these people. They would rather take a few inadaquacies that were there and report the hell out of it…. repeatedly
The things you hear around the water cooler….
Is it true that the people that stayed in hotels are going to be reinbursed?
September 6th, 2008 at 10:18 am
Yes, Mike, that’s true. We reported that on Wednesday on our website. Here are the details from AP.
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff says hotel costs for people who fled Hurricane Gustav will be reimbursed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Chertoff made the announcement Wednesday at a news conference in Baton Rouge with Governor Bobby Jindal. Details on how much of an individual’s bill will be covered were not immediately available.
It was unclear whether other evacuation costs, such as fuel and food, would also be covered under a recent presidential disaster declaration, FEMA spokesman Manuel Broussard said in a telephone interview. While that decision is being made, evacuees should save receipts for gasoline and other expenses and they should register with FEMA by calling 1-800-621-FEMA, Broussard said.
September 6th, 2008 at 10:37 am
O what a tangled web we weave.
So that being the case, would it be fair to assume that we will be hearing from the people that stayed in shelters wanting the same reinbursment? I mean the hotels were full and they were living in less than satisfactory conditions compared to the individuals that were in hotels?
Regardless if they could afford the hotel or not, if there will be monatary reimbursment for hotels, I think we can expect that the people living in shelters will be expecting reimbursement or donation if you will in the same amount if not more.
September 6th, 2008 at 1:30 pm
Sherri, you ROCK! Once again your compassion shows in your stories. If more people would look to the positive instead of always looking for the negative the world would be a better place.
September 6th, 2008 at 7:47 pm
turtle! I think you’ll really like Monday’s Miracle story at 10pm. You rock!
September 7th, 2008 at 10:44 pm
With Katrina our church just gave out supplies and housed one family. For Gustav our Sunday night service turned into a planning meeting and we became a shelter and housed over 80 evacuees. It was a great experience and no matter what we would do it again despite a couple of ungrateful people.
September 8th, 2008 at 8:46 am
Wow, that’s a lot of work for a church. From what I understand, if the faith-based community takes on being a shelter, the church must stock, man and run it.
September 8th, 2008 at 1:56 pm
We had all of their needs for clothes medicine, we had a doctor and nurse treating people fed them 3 meals, and had 24hour security.we put it all together in about three hours it was amazing.
September 8th, 2008 at 4:10 pm
The generosity in this community amazes me!
September 9th, 2008 at 12:37 pm
This all begs the question, where’s the 40 million from the state going?
BYW, loved the miracle stories about the volunteers. The people in my office told me to pass on their kudos as well. The negative stories were really getting everyone down.
September 9th, 2008 at 3:02 pm
That is a great question Mel, because all of that money that goes to reimbursing shelters and paying for evacuees hotels places like my church will not get a penny of it. But our people never thought of that, they just worked their butts off to help those who needed it.