A Good Problem
As I wrote earlier, yesterday my family and I were supposed to go to one of the camps our church is working with to help the newly homeless. But for the past two days volunteer groups have been told to stay home! The reason? Well, read what the camp director wrote today:
We are still being inundated with calls from people needing housing. "I have a family of 20 living in a hotel - they're in five rooms now. They are out of money, but we've paid for them to stay one more day."
When we get to the hotel, the family is desperate. They know they are going to have to leave. But for another night, they have been provided food and a place to stay.
Five rooms x $50 for a month = $7,500. $7,500 for one month's rent! Plus food. Maybe a gift card to local restaurants.
Well-meaning people are doing their best to help for one more day. They are compassionate and doing whatever they can to actually make a difference. They are tired of waiting; they want to do something!
In the meantime, we know those needing assistance will be heading to Sabine Creek. We have doctors on standby, schools ready to receive kids, volunteers to assist, job placement offers...and no takers. Yet.
Local hotels aren't complaining, nor should they be. Their staff members have been very generous, and now they have generous people helping them in return.
One hotel called tonight. I thought it was a concerned manager trying to find help for a displaced family. Instead, he explained that churches had provided so much food, clothing and other items, that he was wondering if he could send some of it to us. They have also provided the funds for people to remain for a short time longer.
There is no fault in any of this. Generous, concerned individuals have provided the necessary quick fix during this "triage" stage. Families in hotels really are a day away from total homelessness, and have no idea what tomorrow holds for them. But it is time to move beyond crisis and toward recovery wherever it is possible.
This Labor Day weekend, people are off work, they are concerned, they are volunteering, they are giving. Evacuated families will cling to hope in a generously provided $7,500 per month hotel, and when they finally have no other resource, they will come here during this week as many of our volunteers are required to return to work.
At Sabine Creek, we could take those same resources and care for dozens of people in a nice location with a place for their children to actually play and go to school.
And so we tell them that we're here when they need us. And they most definitely will.
I've gotta run. We just got a call that 4 large families in a hotel are at the end of their rope with no place to go. We'll see....
As problems go, how do we rank the fact that too many people have been generous to the point that evacuees have generously been provided with housing and food? That churches have brought too much?
Then there was the little team that took clothing to our friend, Teresa's, sister's family. Teresa just returned a few hours ago, and things are looking up there for her sister's relatives. Teresa said, "They where allowed back in to their neighborhood today to retrieve anything they might need. The two houses seem to be in very good condition. Just a little damage that can be repaired when they are allowed back in for good. The clothing that was supplied was of the quality that anyone would be proud to own. The young son-in-law's job has relocated to Baton Rouge for the time being so he will start working either tomorrow or Wed. The brother-in-law may get paid just because he is a goverment employee for the New Orleans Parish. The only one who doesn't have a job is the sister-in-law. She will be volunteering to help distribute clothing to other needy people." So she was in very good spirits.
Thanks for the prayers, folks. It's only the beginning, but it's nice to have a glimmer of hope (and to have at least one conversation during which no one cast blame on anyone else!).