[Steppes] Fw: Food for thought: Ways to help evacuees already in Dallas!

[Trish Kvamme]

I am a member of the McCoy CISD PTA Board and this was mass sent to alot of 
us Mom's this morning.  Perhaps there is some info in here that can be 
helpful, I edited alot of the school specific stuff.

I am sorting through my Mom's things and mine for stuff to take.

Many Hugs.

Larissa
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>For contributing, volunteering, and/or passing it on. -- >
>Subject: Katrina Evacuation Center on East Grand
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>The people in the Superdome are going to the Astrodome, other people are
>coming here.  The Red Cross has set up 2 evacuation centers in Dallas, one
>at the Samuel Grand Rec Center next to Mount Auburn Elementary, easily off
>I30 from downtown.  They are focusing on feeding, intake, and basics
>and  they don't need anything but they are sending people across the street
>to St Luke's Community Center (not the church off the highway) 6211 East
>Grand, where there is a supply area being set up.  The phone at St.
>Lukeâ?Ts is ringing off the wall, they likely cannot call you back.
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>How can you help?
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>Here are 5 ways:
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>     * Donating straight to the Red Cross helps with the basics, obviously.
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>For those of you wanting to make donations to the American Red Cross toward
>relief for the victims of Hurricane Katrina you can do so online at:
><https://www.redcross.org/donate/donation-form.asp>https://www.redcross.org/
>donate/donation-form.asp
>
>Also, the Red Cross is actively seeking volunteers for its Disaster
>Services Team to help victims of Hurricane Katrina who have been dislocated
>to Dallas.  Volunteers are needed for a variety of relief efforts including
>interviewing, communications, feeding logistics, shelter surveys, shelter
>operations and many more.  To volunteer, please contact the Dallas Area
>Chapter of the Red Cross at (214) 678-4800.
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>2. NOW take some of the following directly to St Luke's/no need to
>coordinate with anyone.
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>children's socks and underclothing
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>similac infant formula with iron
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>t shirts
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>towels
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>medicine for children (cough syrup, tylenol)
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>personal toiletries inc: tooth brushes and paste, soaps, deodorant, wash
>cloth (travel size okay for all you who take them from the hotel!)
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>coloring books/crayons
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>pillows
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>blankets
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>diaper wipes (I think Red Cross does diapers)
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>Certificates--grocery, pharmacy, phone, gas, and walmart
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>(The reason for the walmart inclusion is this--these people may not go
>home, may not have anything to go back to but they could work if they had
>their stuff.  The example given is steel toed work boots for a construction
>worker.)
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>boxes/sacks*see Altrusa paragraph below
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>3. If you know anybody who uses day labor, see if they can use an extra
>hand.  Get them to hire some of these displaced persons.  If nothing else,
>it may give them the opportunity to earn enough money to go back home.
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>4.  Altrusa Int'l Inc of Downtown Dallas will be trying to organize
>staffing assistance for St Luke's as they have no system for sorting or
>intake.  They will likely need boxes or grocery sacks to put items into
>once they are sorted. >
>
>5. If you know someone at DISD or someone in a retired teacher's
>organization, contact them and see if they can get something going for the
>kids who just started school and can't either go back or register
>here.  Few people evacuate with their immunization records and even if they
>did they don't have permanent residence here.  Coloring books and crayons
>won't hold them long and it would be sad if they lost the fall
>semester.  SEE AP article below; it appears that DISD will accept these
>children.
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>We can help.
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>Thanks.
>

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>Astrodome, Reunion targeted as shelters
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>10:54 AM CDT on Wednesday, August 31, 2005
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>Associated Press
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>HOUSTON - At least 25,000 of Hurricane Katrina's refugees, a majority of
>them at the New Orleans Superdome, will travel in a bus convoy to Houston
>starting Wednesday and will be sheltered at the 40-year-old Astrodome,
>which hasn't been used for professional sporting events in years.
>
>Rusty Cornelius, administrative coordinator for the Harris County Office of
>Homeland Security and Emergency Management, told The Associated Press that
>initial plans were being made early Wednesday.
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>"We are planning on being able to do a full shelter operation for 25,000
>people," he said.
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>A Dallas emergency management official also said more evacuees could end up
>at Reunion Arena, which will replace the two smaller shelters currently
>operating elsewhere in Dallas.
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>Dallas Independent School District spokesperson Donald Claxton also said
>Wednesday morning that the district's schools would accept any child who
>came to Dallas to escape the hurricane.
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>Cornelius said the refugees would be bused to Houston, but all would not
>necessarily be on the road at the same time. He said specifics of the
>transport and housing for the refugees were still being worked out with Red
>Cross and state government officials.
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>"We want to accommodate those people as quickly as possible for the simple
>reason they have been through a horrible ordeal," he said.
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>Texas Gov. Rick Perry talked to Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco early
>Wednesday and agreed to the plan, Perry spokeswoman Kathy Walt said.
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>The Federal Emergency Management Agency will provide 475 buses for the
>transfer, and the Astrodome's schedule has been cleared through December
>for housing evacuees, Walt said.
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>Texas also is looking at the possibility of using the Ford Center in
>Beaumont for some long-term housing for other evacuees from Louisiana who
>may be staying in hotels, motels and campgrounds.
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>"Obviously from Gov. Perry's standpoint, Texas is going to lend a helping
>hand and take care of those who have been devastated," Walt said.
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>Blanco has said she wanted the Superdome -- which had become a shelter of
>last resort for about 20,000 people -- evacuated within two days, along
>with other gathering points for storm refugees. The situation inside the
>dank and sweltering Superdome was becoming desperate: The water was rising,
>the air conditioning was out, toilets were broken, and tempers were rising.
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>The Astrodome is the famed landmark that helped put Houston on the map four
>decades ago. It still stands but is dwarfed by Reliant Stadium, the Houston
>Texans newly constructed home.
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>The Astrodome opened in 1965, 10 years before the Superdome in New Orleans.
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