COLUMBIA--Volunteers from dozens of private and
public organizations buzzed about a rehabbed military building here Thursday,
all working to ease the way for hundreds of people who fled the Gulf Coast
following Hurricane Katrina.
"We want to treat them as guests, not victims, not refugees, not evacuees,"
said organizer Sam Tenenbaum, a local businessman who helped put together the
relief effort dubbed "SC Cares."
Key was the decision to give the displaced private hotel rooms, rather than
placing them in public shelters, Tenenbaum said. Hotels were picked because they
were close to bus lines that bring them to the centralized welcome center on the
University of South Carolina campus, where they could obtain clothing, medical
care and get advice for obtaining further aid.
"It's just very rational. You deal with them with empathy -- not sympathy,"
said Tenenbaum. "At any one time, you could find 500 volunteers here.... I like
to call it a tsunami of caring."
Surrounding a central auditorium where the evacuees registered with the Red
Cross, volunteers from the Columbia Chamber of Commerce organized housing. Toys
and games were provided in a children's room, while the South Carolina Medical
Association offered medical and pharmaceutical care.
Chaplains from various religious organizations provided counseling.
The 16 Red Cross chapters in the state have helped about 800 families so far,
said Scott Salemme, the group's Midlands chapter chief executive.
"We think that several hundred more are in the state with family or friends,"
Salemme said.
Salemme said all who fled the Gulf region should go to local Red Cross
centers to get assistance.
There could be more evacuees coming, but no one seems to know for sure how
many. Officials said late Thursday they were not expecting anymore evacuees
until Wednesday.
"It's unbelievable, isn't it?" beamed Columbia Mayor Bob Coble, standing in
the crowded hallway. "We're very blessed" with the efforts of so many
organizations and volunteers.
As of last night, some 1,400 hotel rooms were available, Coble said.
"These people are total strangers. They ask what city they are in," the mayor
said. "A lot of people have told me they won't be going back."
Coble said USC president Andrew Sorensen offered the empty three-story
building and sent university employees to make it inhabitable for volunteers.
"Monday afternoon, there was stuff stored in here. By Tuesday, it was a clean
building with lights, air conditioning, telephones, faxes and cable television,"
said Bill Hogue, chief information officer for the university.
University technicians designed a software program the support agencies could
all use, and borrowed the university's ID system to photograph and hand out
laminated cards for the newcomers, Hogue said. Pointing to the tangle of cables
draped through holes in the computer center ceiling, Hogue said the system
supports more than 100 telephones, 50 computers, and 10 TV monitors.
A special cable channel was set up on the university system so information
could be dispersed quickly, Hogue said.
"It turns out that the faxes have been very critical," Hogue said, noting
that many who came didn't have access to their medical records and pharmacists
needed to fax prescriptions for them. "It's been a full team effort across the
university and the city."
At Cooperative Ministries across town, Judy Waters, director of crisis
programs, said bags of clothing have been dropped off at the center, and more
volunteers are needed to shift through the mountains of donations.
COMPLETE
KATRINA COVERAGE
