Ok so I tricked and treated you ... here is my story
Just a handful of the folks at JU know I am from Lake Charles, LA but live in Shreveport now. Almost my entire family and my wife's family currently reside there, err well uh, well they reside scattered out in every cubby hole in my house and every other place we could find to put them.
I have a 3 bedroom 2 bath home. I have 2 - 80+ year olds, 2 - 40 somethings, 4 - 20 somethings and my wife and I. We also have 3 - poodles, a Wiener dog, a Chihuahua, a very large Boxer, and a Catahoula puppy. Two of those dogs are mine.
Yes that is 10 adults and 7 dogs.
My house has been chaos for a week and a half now. There is always some sort of food cooking or being eaten. One bathroom is always full (thank god for two baths). My computer has been overtaken by the 20 somethings and the adults use my wife's computer. There are many other issues but you know, I wouldn't have it any other way.
I have seen other places were there are large numbers of folks who don't get along, clean up, or respect each other. I am thankful that I have a wonderful group of people with me.
There are a lot of displaced people from south Louisiana right now. There are many who don't have a good place to run to. Some of my family stayed through the storm and left later when the conditions became too miserable to live.
The saddest commentary I have to offer is that trying to get them assistance in the state of Louisiana is horrible. One of my ‘borders’ went to Arkansas with her friends for the weekend. When they arrived at the hotel they were told "Your bill is taken care of. When you get settled in, the Red Cross office is just down the street and they will get you some assistance with food while you stay here."
Here in the great state of Louisiana we can't even get assistance with food. All of these people aren't getting paid what they would normally make. (They are getting at least half though - people in south Louisiana have learned how to take care of each other) They still need to eat. We just got the last of them approved for the FEMA deposit. Some of them were automatically declined because they were responsible and had homeowners insurance.
Let’s not help those who help themselves. Let’s only help those who lack the drive and ambition to make something better for themselves. This is frustration.
My wife and I both work and don't really have a whole day to go down and apply for the assistance we are entitled to. In the end we will probably do nothing.
All of our people qualify for food stamps due to the hurricane(yes I know that is a very un-PC term). The local offices computers were only set up to process Katrina victims up until Friday. All of the Rita victims have until Wednesday to apply before they stop providing benefits.
I am disgusted with my state and how they take care of their own. It is a good thing that the people from south west Louisiana are proud, hard working people who can take care of their own.