[Dialogue] Katrina refugees - coming soon to a state near you

[Sherwood Shankland]

For many, perhaps most of us, the locus of care will be right here in
our own communities. In Fairfax, Virginia we have two families in our
church who are receiving displaced relatives and several of us are ready
to house people, help get kids into our schools etc. 

For colleagues who are ready and able to pick up and go to other states,
linking to larger organizations like Church World Service seems like the
structural link.  Ted Farrar is a CWS director here in Maryland...

What other organizations do we have connections to? Like PACT, National
Network for Youth, etc.

Sherwood Shankland
703-503-5457
 
 

-----Original Message-----
From: Dialogue-bounces at wedgeblade.net
[mailto:Dialogue-bounces at wedgeblade.net] On Behalf Of jim rippey
Sent: Monday, September 05, 2005 11:29 AM
To: Dialogue
Subject: [Dialogue] Katrina refugees - coming soon to a state near you

Janice, Jann, et al:  of interest re: your project hopes.  Note Red
Cross cautions (and turf jealousy??)  down in the article.

Jim Rippey in Bellevue, NE

------------------------------

Note: Mon a.m. 9/5/05, ABC showed Perez's plane on the ground loading 86
refugees.  They interviewed him and reported on the relief supplies that
had been unloaded from the plane on its arrival.  Perez said he was
prompted to act by the slow government response.

----------------------------

Hurricane victims may be coming to San Diego, By: MARK WALKER, North
County Times, Escondido, CA0903/05

The head of a local oil and gas exploration company is planning to bring
more than 140 victims of Hurricane Katrina to San Diego on Sunday
through a private relief effort he is bankrolling.

David Perez, chief operating officer and chairman of the board of San
Diego-based Surge Global Energy, said he was arranging the evacuation
flight without the sanction of any government or relief agency. If all
goes well, Perez said, he might arrange for additional evacuation
flights.

Perez was scheduled to leave San Diego for the Louisiana capital of
Baton Rouge, La., late Friday night or early this morning.

On Friday evening he said he had chartered a Boeing 737 that would leave
New Orleans on Sunday morning and arrive in San Diego by mid-afternoon.

The New Orleans airport reopened for humanitarian flights and the owner
of a Carlsbad jet-leasing firm said arrangements for the charter had
been confirmed.

"This is a humanitarian effort for a nightmare taking place right in
front of me," Perez said. "If I can help make these people's lives
better for one week or one month, that can make all the difference in
the world."

The 42-year-old Carmel Valley resident said he did not have a clear idea
of how the people he hopes to help will be selected. Law enforcement and
relief agencies in Baton Rouge and New Orleans have been asked to assist
in that process, as have Jewish relief organizations in that region, he
said.

Perez said the effort could go beyond one planeload of homeless
hurricane victims. His goal is to evacuate as many as 500 families or up
to 2,000 people, he said.

The details on where those people will stay once they arrive in San
Diego, and how they will be cared for, were still being worked out,
according to Perez and others helping him.

"If I can help even one person, I don't care how much I have to spend,"
Perez said during a telephone interview from the San Diego offices of
the public relations firm Porter Novelli. That firm represents
Carlsbad-based Executive Jet Services, which is helping Perez with all
flight details.

Earlier in the day, Perez ordered the purchase of food, water and
medical supplies and was also underwriting the costs of Executive Jet
Services delivering those goods to the Gulf Coast.

Executive Jet Services owner Tara Hollier said Perez spent well more
than $100,000 buying relief supplies and arranging for the flights.

The company has been arranging relief flights into the Gulf Coast since
Wednesday, Hollier said.

An American Red Cross official in San Diego said agency officials were
not endorsing Perez's actions but understood his motivation.

"I commend Mr. Perez for putting his money where his mouth is and his
impulse to help is admirable," said Red Cross spokeswoman Gayle
Falkenthal. "He shares the feelings of so many people we talk to who see
the news coverage and feel frustrated that people aren't getting help
soon enough."

The Red Cross does not support private relief efforts that take people
thousands of miles from their homes without clear-cut arrangements for
their housing, employment and medical needs, Falkenthal said.

In this case, however, none of those concerns may be at issue.
Falkenthal said Perez seems to have the financial resources, energy and
initial planning to take of those he brings to the county without having
to rely on local social service agencies.

"Generally, however, it is our hope that people would work with
organizations such as ours that have the systems and resources in
place," she said. "There are so many things to consider to make sure
someone is taken care of and Mr. Perez may not be aware of all of
those."

In 1986, Perez co-founded Cellular Solutions, a wireless software
development company that was sold in 1990. He spent the rest of the
decade starting other companies and working as a consultant.

In 2004, Perez was named chief operating officer of Surge Global Energy,
which also has offices in Calgary, Canada, and is involved in oil and
gas operations in Texas, Alberta, Canada, and in Argentina.

North County Times, Escondido, a Lee Enterprises paper serving north San
Diego County and southwest Riverside County, CA Contact staff writer
Mark Walker at (760) 740-3529 or mlwalker at nctimes.com. 
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