Well, this article's going to be a little less focused than others, so the title's a tad generic (unless I am later inspired, so disregard this sentence if that's the case). I hope the lack of a catchy title doesn't keep readers from checking it out, though.
It's been a long week, to say the least. It started on Sunday, when we waited for refugees that Amarillo was flying in and stated the need to house. After receiving fewer than the promised number of regugees, however, they recanted, as I've previously blogged, and the refugees continue to be housed in those money generating facilities such as the Amarillo Civic Center and the Astrodome (after all, fundraiser's aren't NEARLY as effective if you show a family enjoying small town life with a loving family, rather than lined up in a food line at a facility housing 50,000 folks). From Tuesday through Wednesday afternoon, you know much of the story. I contacted TexasWahine, as I was unsure how long it would be until I was online, and she blogged the pertinent information for us. On Tuesday night, I was threatened to be run out of town for bringing in the refugees. Tuesday night through Wednesday were pretty trying.
On Wednesday night, we discussed the matter at church, and more of the individuals in town began to express some level of solidarity with what we're trying to do. This is a great town, and the number of good people here FAR outweighs the number of bad, as the days intervening have shown. But for a day, it looked as if I would have to keep this ball rolling on my own, if I wanted to see something done. Wednesday was a day of calling bureaucrat after bureaucrat, only to get nowhere.
On Thursday afternoon, Texas' mother called (for those uninformed, we're buying the house Texas grew up in). She gave us information on the situation in Houston, and told us of some possible opportunities where we could help. Seems some of the evacuees had moved into hotels and now, without jobs, their money's drying up. They haven't received FEMA checks to help with their housing, and don't qualify to be housed in the Astrodome. I'm thinking, as she thought, that that's an area where we could help.
I've been asked by several in town if I could just specifically request WHITE refugees, because they think the town would accept that better. See, here's the problem. That's called "discrimination" (REAL discrimination, not the Jesse Jackson brand of it), and I won't have my name associated with it. It also would DISQUALIFY us from being able to accept refugees, a fact of which many of these individuals seem completely ignorant.
Friday night, I relaxed at a football game and enjoyed a few cheeseburgers. It has been a long week, and I'm going to have SOME semblance of a weekend!
(As a sidenote to certain individuals who feel like I'll be a Republican if I ever make it rich...if I was trying to make it rich, I picked a crappy way to do it!)