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'Ready to get settled'
Hurricane evacuees are
looking forward to their own housing, jobs in S.D.
By Maureen Magee
UNION-TRIBUNE
September 10, 2005
Nyia Williams packed up her family yet again yesterday and moved to her third makeshift home in a week since arriving in San Diego with some 80 evacuees fleeing the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.
First it was the Kearny High School gym. Then came the Manchester Hyatt. Yesterday, Williams and her two young children checked into a waterfront Holiday Inn, where they will live for the next two to four weeks.
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Most of the transplants still feel lucky. Lucky they met David Perez, a San Diego businessman who mysteriously appeared at their shelter near Baton Rouge and flew them west with the promise of food, shelter and work. But some of them are growing weary, wondering
when they will move into real housing or get jobs. The group was treated to a party at Seau's restaurant in Mission Valley yesterday. Heavily attended by media, the event included lunch, corporate gifts and appearances by star players from the Chargers. |
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And Perez himself arrived at the tail end of the event. He thanked the community for their generous donations. He granted some children their requests for autographs. And he reunited with some of the people he had plucked from shelters.
"It's been exactly one week since I woke up with a feeling I've never had before," he told the crowd, reading from a prepared statement. "I am using my God-given abilities to mobilize people."
Perez said the Red Cross and other community organizations and government agencies will take over giving assistance to the evacuees from now on. But it's unclear exactly what will become of these immigrants or what role Perez will have in making good on his promises.
Despite all the uncertainty, some evacuees were optimistic. And they had nothing but praise for Perez.
"He is wonderful," said Debra Chatman, who is here with her husband, two children and a tight-knit group of relatives and friends. "Before I got on the plane, I talked to him to see if this was for real. If we would get our own home for husband, wife and children. He said yes and I just believe in him."
The San Diego/Imperial Counties Chapter of the American Red Cross will open a Family Assistance Center today for all Hurricane Katrina victims, not just those brought here by Perez. The clearing house has been set up at 4579 Mission Gorge Place, near the Grantville station of the San Diego Trolley.
Several agencies and organizations will operate from the center to provide a single convenient location for evacuees to access services including food and clothing, health care, housing, transportation, employment, child care and affiliation with religious and professional groups.
The Salvation Army will partner with the Red Cross, providing meals and snacks at the center. Catholic Charities arranged to get the space for the center, which will be open daily from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., including weekends, for at least two weeks.
The Red Cross has distributed debit cards to evacuees so they can buy meals and other necessities while they are staying at the Holiday Inn.
Meanwhile, Red Cross officials are sifting through offers of housing from the community. Residents throughout the county have offered up 500 apartment units, condos, homes and rooms for varying periods.
"We are talking with each family to find out what they need. What we have heard is that many would prefer to be in their own space," said Peri Lynn Turnbull, a spokeswoman for the Red Cross.
Perez said job offers for evacuees are coming in daily from car washes, construction companies and other businesses.
Many of the erstwhile New Orleans residents say their first priorities are getting housing, accessing their bank accounts and getting their children settled.
The San Diego Unified School District will take 14 children from the Holiday Inn to and from school starting Monday. The children will attend Grant Elementary School in Mission Hills, Roosevelt Middle School in Balboa Park and San Diego High School in the shadow of downtown. One teen will attend adult school; another will enroll in alternative school.
For many families, getting their children in class is the first tangible sign of settling down.
"My grandchildren just need to be in school," said Beverly Magee, who fled with her daughter, grandson and granddaughter. "We're all concerned for the children first."