A question for all our WS posters...

[sue1017]

This site represents crime and peoples passions about them (meaning the people that commit them). I would have a hard time opening my home and my heart to any stranger. We do it all the time when we have party and our friends will bring someone we don't know and then they crash at our house. But crashing overnight is a small thing in comparison.

I couldn't do it. It wouldn't be prudent.

S

 

[Magnum PI]

This site represents crime and peoples passions about them (meaning the people that commit them). I would have a hard time opening my home and my heart to any stranger. We do it all the time when we have party and our friends will bring someone we don't know and then they crash at our house. But crashing overnight is a small thing in comparison.

I couldn't do it. It wouldn't be prudent.

S

I completely respect that. In this case, I am as much the stranger. If I had wife and children here, I would have to consider that, but I don't. They are safe and sound in Texas. I would require background checks, which I can do, and I would have to feel completely good about it. I travel a lot, and I would love someone here for many reasons,(not to mention my cats) I am not unaware of the chances one takes, but I have established family and friends around. I am also a sucker for lost causes sometimes...mpi

 

[Bobbisangel]

I'm to far away and wouldn't have the room but if circumstances were different here I wouldn't mind having a mom with a couple kids stay here. It would be uncomfortable at first not knowing each other I would imagine.

I wonder why the government doesn't rent apt complexes for families even if the families double up for awhile. Or rent houses for multiple families. This isn't going to be a short term thing. These poor souls have no where to live...period. They need some stability right now. Some place they can call their own. I can't imagine losing everything I have ever owned and not having anywhere to live...having to depend on others for everything...even my underwear. Shelters are short term...staying with strangers is short term.

I heard today on the news that a woman in Tx is letting 13 people live in her home. A white couple whose baby is still in the hospital...new born...and will be for awhile are two of the people. I think the others are the couples family members. I don't know if the woman actually lives in the house or if it might have been a rental. Pretty nice though.

I would imagine quite a few people have family in other states or in places that didn't become damaged that they can stay with. There are thousands of people who have to live somewhere. What a mess. My heart just breaks for these people.

 

[Becba]

I considered it but I am too worried about being able to get along with people I don't even know.

And also there may not be able to get their own place for a long time.

 

[txsvicki]

I know if I were a victim in the same shoes there's no way I'd want to live with a stranger unless it was through my church or friends or family. Someone that I could trust. I'd rather be put up in an apartment on low rent housing in the long term until I could get back on my feet. If elderly, I'd like some sort of help besides a cot in a stadium though.

 

[kgeaux]

Hopefully this will not be misinterpreted. But I'd be very, very careful about who I invited into my home.

Many of the evacuees are fine upstanding people. But some of them are gang members from those awful ghettos. You are talking about people to whom drive-by shootings, drug distribution and manufacturing, thieving and robbing are a way of life.

We have had rumors in here in Lafayette of carjackings, knifings, shootings, and armed robberies since the busloads of evacuees were brought to the Cajun Dome. Most of this is just rumor, but some of it is true. Five of the arrests listed in today's paper are of people from New Orleans. Driving while intoxicated, inciting a riot, refusing to move on, manufacture and distribution of a Schedule III narcotic.......it's scary. Very scary.

 

[CyberLaw]

I don't think that I would open my home to "strangers" .

I would probably make a donation, share the cost of a hotel room, but the safety of my family and my children comes first.

Would I risk my daughter being molested or raped. My family held hostage at gun point, beaten, no.

You don't know who you are going to get living under the same roof as you......I am not taking a chance with my family........

You may hear "horror" stories in the near future about people who opened their homes out of the goodness of their hearts only to be "repaid" with violence.

I put money on it............and I don't bet to lose........

Is the guy living under your roof, phrone to domestic violence(but never charged), is he/she drug addicts(who now need a fix badly) is the "nice" man really a child molestor(but of course never caught), does the person have a violent temper, anger issues, destroys personal items when he gets mad and upset. Did he "play" you by acting as a nice normal person, when in reality when you have him in your home, he is not and never will be.

Does he have a gun hidden in his bag. Does he want your home without you in it.

Too many diverse people out there for me to ever open my home to "strangers", I am not going to live with the choice I made to offer my home to a stranger out of the goodness of my heart if it means putting my own family in harms way or in any way shape or form in harms way.

I am not being selfish, just pragmatic.......

 

[Beyond Belief]

This is an excellent thread with honest opinions.:clap:

 

[concernedperson]

Hopefully this will not be misinterpreted. But I'd be very, very careful about who I invited into my home.

Many of the evacuees are fine upstanding people. But some of them are gang members from those awful ghettos. You are talking about people to whom drive-by shootings, drug distribution and manufacturing, thieving and robbing are a way of life.

We have had rumors in here in Lafayette of carjackings, knifings, shootings, and armed robberies since the busloads of evacuees were brought to the Cajun Dome. Most of this is just rumor, but some of it is true. Five of the arrests listed in today's paper are of people from New Orleans. Driving while intoxicated, inciting a riot, refusing to move on, manufacture and distribution of a Schedule III narcotic.......it's scary. Very scary.

You and I have been trying to call attention to the crime in the area for a long time. Unfortunately, it has taken a disaster for it to get noticed.I also hope that national guard troops will be deployed to major evacuation areas to reinforce local LE. Otherwise, those infrastructures will be facing the same dire situations as NO....no one can be expected to work 24/7 indefinitely. It isn't fair to communities to be accosted by the criminal element from NO when they have their own to try and corral. Help is needed all over.

 

[DEPUTYDAWG]

For many of the same reasons already posted, I would have serious reservations without knowing something about the people first. Once they've been "screened" so to speak at a shelter, etc. and knew something about them and their history, I might consider.

I do have three special causes, if you will...those with Diabetes, Celiac Disease, and those with horses, as someone else mentioned. People with Celiac have special dietary needs, which certainly have gone out the window for anyone living in shelters, etc. So, I have already been in contact with connections I have through the celiac support groups, (one in the Dallas area, but another is through a nationwide support group), stating I'm willing to do something to help with their dietary needs, etc. Just knowing they've got someone familiar with their special needs should be of comfort. So, those support groups are getting the word out, and hopefully those in the support groups can find those who need help.

And ofcourse, then, my bleeding heart would go out to the elderly...well, then, families with babies...and...on and on. Oh man...

 

[Gabby]

I am afraid that I could not open my home to people that I do not know. Also the danger of disease they carry .. due to unsanitary conditions.. I have small grandchildren that this could affect... I just can not do it ... I have to keep my family safe from disease and harm.

 

[kgeaux]

You and I have been trying to call attention to the crime in the area for a long time. Unfortunately, it has taken a disaster for it to get noticed.I also hope that national guard troops will be deployed to major evacuation areas to reinforce local LE. Otherwise, those infrastructures will be facing the same dire situations as NO....no one can be expected to work 24/7 indefinitely. It isn't fair to communities to be accosted by the criminal element from NO when they have their own to try and corral. Help is needed all over.

Yes. No one wants to listen! But we do have major problems here. When a little state like Louisiana has three to four serial killers operating at the same time, over a period of many, many years, and I cannot even count how many serial rapists were discovered when they started testing DNA samples that have been sitting on shelves, some of them for a decade or more, there are SERIOUS problems. Our LE, although improving, leaves so much to be desired. Our state leadership turns a blind eye. And then there are the ghettos.....

When hundreds of thousands of people who are living in poverty are stuck together in projects like Desire and Cooper, you have a recipe for disaster.

I am hearing that we will get National Guard troops in every town where there are large numbers of evacuees. I don't know when. But the governor has hired an ex-FEMA guy to head up the whole Katrina thing, and he seems to really know what to do and how to do it. So I have hope!

By the way, my friend's uncle who was in the trauma center at UMC in New Orleans, has been located! He is in an Atlanta hospital! He is alive! What good news!! We haven't heard much about Atlanta, have we, concerned? But y'all have stepped up to the bat, too. Thank you to Georgia for opening doors! For being there to help us!

 

[Linda7NJ]

I don't think that I would open my home to "strangers" .

I would probably make a donation, share the cost of a hotel room, but the safety of my family and my children comes first.

Would I risk my daughter being molested or raped. My family held hostage at gun point, beaten, no.

You don't know who you are going to get living under the same roof as you......I am not taking a chance with my family........

You may hear "horror" stories in the near future about people who opened their homes out of the goodness of their hearts only to be "repaid" with violence.

I put money on it............and I don't bet to lose........

Is the guy living under your roof, phrone to domestic violence(but never charged), is he/she drug addicts(who now need a fix badly) is the "nice" man really a child molestor(but of course never caught), does the person have a violent temper, anger issues, destroys personal items when he gets mad and upset. Did he "play" you by acting as a nice normal person, when in reality when you have him in your home, he is not and never will be.

Does he have a gun hidden in his bag. Does he want your home without you in it.

Too many diverse people out there for me to ever open my home to "strangers", I am not going to live with the choice I made to offer my home to a stranger out of the goodness of my heart if it means putting my own family in harms way or in any way shape or form in harms way.

I am not being selfish, just pragmatic.......

I agree! I'll do plenty to help but will stop short of opening my home for the very same reasons you stated.

 

[Marstan]

:waitasec: What a question - one I have been faced with for the past few days. I have a large home, three dogs, two birds, a husband and a daughter. I have two large extra bedrooms but I too ask myself if the risk is worth it. My heart goes out to everyone who wanted to leave but couldn't. I am less inclined to reach out to someone who refused to leave and put their families at risk.

What I will do, is what many many people will do, reach into my pocket book and make a donation. It is the very least I can do and I would say it is painless but I cannot admit to that.

I cannot or will not put my family at risk by not knowing who would be living with me and my family. Most of us here at WS realize the danger of not paying attention to what is going on around us, we read the papers, we watch the news, and yet we are still astounded at what happens when someone puts their guard down.

What exactly can we do and still maintain our safety? At what point are we accused of being selfish, mean, because we think of our own children and families? Would I have left that area before the hurricane hit, IN A HOT MINUTE, I would have ran. But I know I would have had the ability to leave.

My prayers go out to the families in crisis - those that wanted to leave but couldn't. And for those families who are separated and the people who have been prayed upon - by scum who are wandering the streets looting and shooting, raping and pilaging.

my thoughts are jumbled and i find it hard to put into words what i feel .... mumbling ended.

 

[Casshew]

Marstan that was an awesome post

 

[Marstan]

Thank you Casshew - :blowkiss:

 

[Miss Daisey]

We don't have children living at home so I wouldn't worry about that if we took in strangers. I'd consider taking in an elderly couple...maybe two couples...or a Mom with young children....until other living arrangements could be made for them....for say; a few months?

Better still, I liked Franklin Grahams suggestion that each church "adopt" 10 families and make a combined effort to supply food, shelter, get the kids in school and help parents find jobs to eventually be self supporting again.

It's such a difficult question. We all want so much to just be able to DO something besides donate money.

I agree with posters w/children who are afraid to bring strangers into their homes. I wouldn't do that either...under any circumstances. And the elderly couple(s) or the Mom would have to be drug free and no weapons to live w/me. And it would help if they're a lot older than me. That is to say; I'd want to be completly in control of such an arrangement before I'd feel comfortable bringing strangers into my home...even for a short time.

 

[Sassygerl]

Many of these children more than likely will be going to school with my children....I am concerned about disease!!!! I heard on the news that at one shelter the illness/diseases have begun Are they not planning to quarantine for at least a short time? I know in Houston the children start school next week.

 

[CyberLaw]

I don't know what "diseases" you are talking about.

There has been some case of "water borne" illness(treated with anti-biotic) that is from contaminated food and water.

But it is passed on by containated food and water.

Once people are given the proper medical care, CLEAN food and CLEAN water, any illness should clear up.

So I don't think kids have to worry about "passing" on diseases to each other.

There is enough "germs" at school for every one to get sick anyways

I am more concerned about a child's mental health and trying to give them somewhat of a normal existance and back in school.

 

[DEPUTYDAWG]

Re diseases, yes, the State of Texas has already started talking about the impact this will have in the areas that are taking in the families. Not so much that it will be a great plague or anything, but the medical impact will be transferred to these areas, where we already have limited resources for medical help to those without much medical care, etc. It will just be a bigger strain on an already strained system. It will be handled, but at least they're already trying to plan on ways to handle it.