Last Shelter in Town Shuts Down

The last shelter in College Station was shut down today. This is good news because the aid workers here were quickly able to organize housing for all the people in the area.

Using the Lincoln Center as a shelter was part of a collaborative countywide emergency plan established more than a decade ago to respond to such emergencies as a hurricane hitting Galveston.

"We've been practicing for this to happen,"

Gerling said. "We've had this game plan for years. That's one reason we were able to respond so well. We had done it a million times on paper, but this time we were dealing with real people and real emotions."

There were only a few problems at the shelter up here. A transvestite was arrested and later released when he insisted on using the woman's restroom for all needs. We haven't had the problems with addictions that the Houston shelters are dealing with.

The Houston workers are trying to get everybody into housing there but I worry because there are a lot of neighborhoods that have open apartments because they are so scary to live in. I've heard that families are getting vouchers worth $600 a month towards housing but in Houston, that will barely get a 2 bedroom apartment.

Already I can see the effects of volunteer burn out. We were looking for something as a scout pack that we could do but there was no interest in helping. Our best thought was a book drive but we are crushed on all sides with other drives. There was just did a school supply drive for new students. In the coming months around the corner Americans hold the winter coat drives, Thanksgiving food drives, and the Christmas toy drives. Now that the refugees are in housing, they will start to blend in and some of their needs may go unmet.