Hurrican Ike Party

[BJinTexas]

It's coming my way. OMG my beautiful city if Austin Texas is being "flooded" with people running from Houston/Galveston. I don't mind, as long as they leave. After Katrina, our crime increased and it went on and on... and actually still continues. Anyway, I do hope that we get alot of rain tomorrow. I'm making a bunch of goodies this afternoon, so I can stay home and eat & watch movies . I am charging my portable DVD player I hope, wherever you are that you and your loved ones are not in harms way.

I think I'll start off this morning with a spicy bloody mary ... and maybe a breakfast taco from our beloved Rudy's BBQ

[nommie]

Re: Hurrican Ike Party

I'll have the same! BTW, hope evacuees are more grateful than the ones frrom New Orleans-this is from the Louisville paper this A.M.
September 12, 2008


Some evacuees less than grateful guests


Hurricane evacuees aren't what they used to be.

Since when do refugees from a life-threatening hurricane get off complaining about accommodations when someone has rolled out, if not a red carpet, then at least a plush beige?

The parting words of an evacuee from New Orleans in last Sunday's paper were that she and some of the other nearly 1,500 who had been here the past eight days in the new South Wing of the Kentucky Exposition Center were unhappy with the food, the service and lack of respect. I'll buy one or two of those complaints on a given day, but not all of them.

Another woman resented the code names such as "tigers," "lions" and "cardinals" that had been assigned by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to 30 different groups for keeping track of their free transportation.

The next time there is an emergency in New Orleans, the first woman declared, she was staying home.

She sounded more like a sniffish diva checking out of an overpriced five-star hotel than a woman who'd been given immediate emergency assistance.

We have an old saying in Kentucky: "Never look a gift horse in the mouth."

In Bluegrass parlance that means, if someone is giving you a horse, don't check the animal's teeth to see how old it is. Granted, in these days of high veterinary bills and hay prices, the wisdom of that axiom may have been weakened, but not its message.

When people who have been forced to flee their homes at the last minute don't feel fortunate to be given a clean, warm cot to sleep on, a safe place for their children, three free meals a day, police protection and medical attention, something is wrong.

Between late Thursday, Aug. 28, when Louisville was asked by New Orleans if it could handle an unknown number of evacuees, and Saturday, Aug. 30, when the evacuees arrived, here is what the Red Cross in Louisville and its partners and volunteers were able to prepare for these unexpected guests:

Off-duty firefighters and volunteers had set up hundreds of tables and chairs and cots with blankets. Universal Linen Service had delivered 3,600 towels and washcloths. More than 750 Red Cross volunteers from Kentucky and Southern Indiana had turned out to help with everything from laundry service to spiritual and emotional counseling, child care and food service.

Meals were served at 2 1/2-hour intervals, but free food, snacks and beverages were available around the clock. The Southern Baptist Convention's portable kitchen, which can prepare 17,000 meals a day, helped supply lunch and dinner every day from Day Three. Until the kitchen arrived, Papa John's, Pizza Hut, Yum! Brands, Texas Roadhouse and McDonald's handled meals.

The Salvation Army brought clothes for those who had left home without enough clothing. The Louisville Free Public Library donated books for the nearly 500 children in the shelter. The Christian Appalachian Project brought showers. The Louisville Water Co. brought bottled water.

Separate sleeping areas were designated for single men, single women and families. Game tables were set up. Best Buy lent televisions so evacuees throughout the shelter could watch the weather, news or entertainment. Youngsters could play video games, and supervised learning games were available for small children. The YMCA brought an inflatable playroom.

Verizon Wireless lent 40 cell phones, and free laptops were available for sending e-mails or listing contact information through the national Red Cross. Free trips and tours were offered to the Louisville Zoo, Kentucky Derby Museum, Louisville Slugger Museum, Muhammad Ali Center and the Louisville Science Center, and tickets were donated to evacuees for a Louisville Bats game and a University of Louisville football game.

Many other organizations, churches and individuals went the extra mile trying to make the evacuees' eight-day stay in Louisville as comfortable as possible, and doubtless many appreciated the effort.

There was the chef from New Orleans who spent most of his time writing down his recipes for Red Cross workers and others in the kitchen. And there was the happy reunion between a Red Cross volunteer who had served in Vietnam and an evacuee who had served beside him in the war for 34 months. Let's hope we see these wonderful people again under better circumstances.

And for the woman and her friends who had nothing good at all to say about their stay here, there is another old Kentucky saying: "Don't let the door hit you in the back leaving."

[Sabine]

Re: Hurrican Ike Party

BJinTexas, I know what you are talking about, same here in SA. I think we still have people here that came from LA when Katrina hit, and are still here, only now they draw welfare from the state of Texas. Enough said.
Breakfast taco sounds good, but I think I just stay with coffee for now.

[Stella]

Re: Hurrican Ike Party

i am currently in baton rouge.

this place is flooded with new orleans peopole.

don't know what i was thinking to go to the grocery at 3 pm.
the cubbards ere bare. no meat. no dairy no fresh vegs. i have naver seen a store so empty.

people are mean. everywhere we go people are just mean.

my kids were sitting in this little area outside of bath and body works, as most of ya know my oldest works there. she gets a thrill out of seeing other stores, how they are set up and such. so they are sitting outside of the store while i went potty lol

DD is looking in the store, gazing around, i mean my kids had no food, no drinks, they were just sitting and waiting on me.
DD is looking in the store, and a person, won't say lady comes out, walks up to her and says " that ain't no wall there, i see you looking at me what the F**k you looking at B***H. DD said huh? who are you? i wasn't looking at anything, i'm waiting on my mom.
she mumbles something and walks off.

oh geeze. i wanna go home. back to la la land where we have candy moutain and lollipop shops. this is horrible.

[nommie]

Re: Hurrican Ike Party

Oh Stella, I am so sorry! I know you miss your home aand it sounds like a bunch of rude people you are encountering.

[Manzanita]

Re: Hurrican Ike Party

I was slammed on another message board during the Katrina crisis for passing on what my dd experienced while helping the New Orleans evacuees. Long story short, the majority were rude, confrontational & aggressive while she volunteered numerous hours at a Houston stadium.

She & her family are going to weather this storm in the Memorial district of Houston with her 98 year old aunt & cousin (they're up from Texas City). She tells me they're stocked up on beer, wine, water, non-perishable foods, batteries & charcoal so it sounds to me like they're good to go!

[nuisance]

Re: Hurrican Ike Party

We had alot of people in Wichita Falls from NO, after Katrina, and a bunch have already gotten here to wait out Ike. Most of them polite, thankful, but a bunch of them, rude, demanding, expecting everything for free, want money, food, transportation, roof over their head, for nothing. Sure, I understand alot have no money, but they can do something to help out. Mow the lawn, clean up around the area, volunteer to help others. It's sad to see people like that.