Several thousand refugee families here locally

[therealashe]

We have a shelter here in Tallahassee and they are requesting help for families here. Our hotels (over 5000 rooms) are all sold out, and the families in them will have to be out in time for the football game

I'm sure those of us in surrounding areas (Texas, Georgia, Alabama, Florida) have many people locally that could use help.

I urge you all to contact your local Red Cross to see if there are any families/shelters in your area that need assistance.

Our local shelter is asking for

1. Donate money to the Red Cross
2. Donate supplies - when I visited this morning they were asking for a
few loaves of bread to make sandwiches for lunch - it doesn't take much to
make a difference.
3. Donate toys, games, books, magazines, clean clothes - whatever you
think you would want if you were stuck in a shelter with your kids.
4. Donate an hour or two to help them prepare sandwiches or sign
families up for help.

One other thing you could offer is to "adopt" a family. I met one family today at Chick-Fil-A. We started talking and that's what gave me the idea.

Some things you could consider doing would be: Arrange play dates for them with your kids, give them a place to take a shower (the shelter has no showers), invite them over to watch TV and relax in a home away from the chaos of the shelter, have them over to wash laundry, let them know about things they can do around here (parks, movie theatres, malls, etc.)

Many of these families may be stuck away from home for several months - they are going to need help finding a rental, finding a job, finding a pediatrician, getting their kids into school. There are many things that we can do to help and if we each help just one family it would not seem like so much to each of us but would make such a difference to these families that have no where to go right now.

[Tallygrl]

Where can we bring donations...we've already given money to the Red Cross on-line, but I'd love to help out locally as well...

[therealashe]

Tallygirl...

Email me at justashe@comcast.net

I'll give you the local contacts. I have two different names and numbers for volunteer sign up. They need help at the shelter, which is over by Thomasville Baptist.

[otowntiger]

[quote="therealashe"]We have a shelter here in Tallahassee and they are requesting help for families here. Our hotels (over 5000 rooms) are all sold out, and the families in them will have to be out in time for the football game


It's hard to believe that they will ask those poor people to leave because of a stupid football game. Dont get me wrong, I am an avid college football fan (LSU alum, hence the nickname), but at LSU in Baton Rouge they did the right thing and postponed their season opener for a number of obvious reasons, one of which is the local hotels are all used up by refugees and the school officials didn't think that it was right to displace them because of a football game. Another reason is the fact that the BR campus is a staging area for triage for the hurricane victims. I understand that helicopters are airlifting in hospital patient transfers and injured folks every few minutes. Baton Rouge faired well considering the several hours of hurricane force winds and is now quickly becoming the largest city in Louisiana as all kinds of businesses, t.v stations and newspapers out of N.O have temporarily relocted there.

[yzerfan]

From the Pensacola-Ft. Walton Beach area.

http://www.pensacolanewsjournal.com/app ... 31013/1006

Young evacuees showing up at local schools
Michael Stewart
@PensacolaNewsJournal.com
ADVERTISEMENT

Area school officials are beginning to see students from storm-ravaged areas in Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana show up at local schools.

More are expected to arrive, many with no homes, spare clothes or school records.

“We believe we will have a huge influx by Friday,” said Paula Shea, Florida Department of Education director of governmental relations.

Escambia County School District Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction Paul Fetsko said 19 children showed up at elementary schools to enroll Wednesday. The schools were closed by Hurricane Katrina and are scheduled to reopen Thursday.

“We had two vans at Woodham High School,” Fetsko said.

In Santa Rosa County, Fetsko’s counterpart, Tim Wyrosdick, said eight students from Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana enrolled Wednesday.

“Those are just the ones I know about,” Wyrosdick said. “I think we will see more of that.”

The numbers were even greater in Okaloosa County, where School Superintendent Don Gaetz attributed a 100-student spike Wednesday to Hurricane Katrina.

“We expect to see more (today) and more after that,” Gaetz said.

Wyrosdick said he doesn’t expect a major influx of students.

Others are not so sure.

Escambia Superintendent Jim Paul said that the Federal Emergency Management Agency estimates the number of refugees in Southeastern states at 300,000. Several hundred refugees have taken shelter at the Pensacola Civic Center alone.

Gaetz said he was told by an official at Eglin Air Force Base to expect an influx of students from Keesler Air Force Base at Biloxi, which was badly damaged.

“He wasn’t in a position to say how many or how soon,” Gaetz said.

School officials in all three counties said they will do whatever it takes to enroll the children, but admitted the process might be rough. With many schools flooded, badly damaged or destroyed, getting previous school records might be impossible.

With no records and no proof of immunizations, many of the children will likely need to take their shots over again and undergo physicals.

“Then there’s the emotional side,” Fetsko said. “Some of these children may have seen some horrific things firsthand and may need some assistance.”

There’s also the question of class-size regulations and whether a sudden influx could put the schools over their student-teacher ratios.

Officials in all three counties said their priority is to serve the students and worry about class-size requirement later.

[mahicks]

We have a shelter here in Tallahassee and they are requesting help for families here. Our hotels (over 5000 rooms) are all sold out, and the families in them will have to be out in time for the football game


It's hard to believe that they will ask those poor people to leave because of a stupid football game. Dont get me wrong, I am an avid college football fan (LSU alum, hence the nickname), but at LSU in Baton Rouge they did the right thing and postponed their season opener for a number of obvious reasons, one of which is the local hotels are all used up by refugees and the school officials didn't think that it was right to displace them because of a football game. Another reason is the fact that the BR campus is a staging area for triage for the hurricane victims. I understand that helicopters are airlifting in hospital patient transfers and injured folks every few minutes. Baton Rouge faired well considering the several hours of hurricane force winds and is now quickly becoming the largest city in Louisiana as all kinds of businesses, t.v stations and newspapers out of N.O have temporarily relocted there.

Sounds bad to kick out a victim to make room for a football game don't it??

I said the same thing as I was literally in tears at work yesterday trying to find shelter for a family of 12 from Slidell for the next 8 weeks that will be kicked out of their hotel room for the Florida State/Miami Game. Whats worse than that was the amount of rental house properties that I called that said 8 weeks?? are you serious? Forget about it.

I love Tallhassee, but I't reall put a sad taste in my mouth. Kinda made me feel like We were saying "Sorry, FSU/MIA game is more important than you having a roof over your head. From a business standpoint though, I understand the logic of it.

What I don't understand why people with empty houses won't let a family of 12 with medical problems pay rediculously high rent for 2 months...

Oh well..

[birdwomn]

I think the people in Tallahassee need to get with the program.

I realize that the game is important to aid the income of the community. But I am thinking they should be allowing the evacuees to stay put and let those people coming in for the game to stay in shelters.

Trust me, it takes alot to say this as I have be a FSU fan my entire life, and I LOVE going to the games.

These people have lost everything and it is not a local problem. Those of us in Florida should understand this better than anyone.

Personally, I have to wonder if people should be using precious gasoline to get to a football game out of town. It may be a decision we regret later.