Sam Tenenbaum is walking the walk.

The chairman of South Carolina Cares was there when Gulf Coast evacuees stepped off the bus in Columbia after Hurricane Katrina, shepherding them through the process of securing aid, shelter, medicine and food.

And he will be there again Dec. 1 when the Federal Emergency Management Agency stops paying the bills for the hundreds still housed at hotels in the state.

Tenenbaum made the pledge even as South Carolina's congressional delegation prepared a letter addressed to Michael Chertoff, the head of the Department of Homeland Security, complaining about the deadline and demanding an extension so aid agencies have more time to help evacuees make the transition from hotel to housing, U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn said.

South Carolina Cares, Clyburn's brainchild, is a coalition of aid groups in the Columbia area formed to assist Katrina evacuees. Tenenbaum is seeking nonprofit status for the organization and said he will do everything in his power to put South Carolina values into practice.

"By Tuesday I'll have $75,000 in pledges or actual money to take care of people through the month of December," he said. "If need be, we'll do it statewide."

Clyburn said he remains dedicated to the mission of South Carolina Cares, and he said he was bewildered at FEMA's latest announcement.

"I thought what we would be doing with FEMA right now is working out a plan to relocate these people to their homes," he said. Instead the agency has given evacuees two weeks to find alternative housing and offered no guidance, he said. "I just don't understand these people, where their thought process comes from."

The problem at FEMA is not endemic, Clyburn said. Not long ago, the agency stood as a model of efficiency. The current disarray is a result of "the new people," he said.

"I find it surreal that this much incompetence should be stacked up in this one agency," he said.

While FEMA's response to Hurricane Katrina angers Tenenbaum, he said he's focused on the challenge at hand and determined to put philosophy into action.

"We're walkers," he said. "We walk the walk."

Contact Adam Parker at aparker@postandcourier.com or 745-5860.