09/19/05: Inside Reunion Arena

Yesterday (Sunday) we prepped 26 rolling duffels for delivery to the evacuees at Reunion Arena. We loaded 12 into my car, and the remaining 14 into Kendall's SUV. We would have done more, but 26 was all that the Costco had in stock. Kendall's husband cleaned them out yesterday morning.

I headed down first, and Kendall would follow an hour later after she took care of a previous committment. I was armed with a name - the wonderful Debra who worked for the city of Dallas, and was operating inside the arena. More specifically, she was with the Mayor's office, and was working very hard on "Project Exodus," which is the city's name for the massive project they were undertaking to move all of the evacuees out of the convention center and arena, and into local housing.

As I pulled up, I saw a complete change in the dynamics around the arena. Our main entrance was blocked to traffic, complete with police. I pulled on around the arena, and saw streets blocked by police and blockades. What was up? And hmmm, what to do?

I pulled up into a no parking zone next to the arena, and hopped out. We've gotten pretty adept in the last two weeks at acting like we belong there, and working to get what we need. Cops headed over to head me off right away.

and now to contine...

It turns out that Mayor Laura Miller had a dog-and-pony show planned later that afternoon to do some back-patting about successfully moving the evacuees into local housing. All entrances were being blocked for the later shindig.

Time for name-dropping. I explained to the police that I was here to deliver rolling duffels, and was expected by Debra with the Mayor's office. I had to park a distanced away, and head back to the main entrance. Luckily, I found Debra and explained the situation to her. She took charge, flashed her Mayor's badge to the police, and convinced them that it was cool that I do a curb park and unload.

Debra gathered two more helpers, and we all brought the rolling duffels INTO Reunion Arena. This was a first.

The city had tables set up inside to help people check out of the shelter and into housing. We worked things a little differently this time. I left the rolling duffels in the care of Debra and her crew. This lady really had it together, as Kendall had learned the day before. She had families down on the floor of the arena that were expecting the bags, and she didn't hesitate to turn down some able-bodied men who would have liked the bags. While we want everyone who needs a bag to have one, the women, children, and elderly do have a more pressing need. We wish we had enough for everyone, but we just don't. Debra was totally on top of distribution, and I didn't hesitate to leave the bags with her.

I also left the two additional boxes of Koozie Coolers with Debra. These were available to anyone, and the evacuees certainly welcomed them. In a short time, people were receiving a Koozie Cooler bag as they signed out.

After the first unload, I met up with Kendall to get her load of 16 rolling duffels into the arena. Same story, one hour later. We pulled up curbside, unloaded the next round of rolling duffels, and headed inside Reunion, along with Kendall's son Jake.

I can't say enough good things about Debra from the Mayor's office. We would have been completely shut out on Sunday if it weren't for her.

And I'm sure you're all wondering what it was like inside the Arena. Well, we didn't force our welcome. While we were really curious, and would have liked to have checked out the scene, we felt like we had to respect the families who were making the shelter their home for the past two weeks. We resisted the urge to peek down into the floor area. It just seemed wrong.

One last note - while I was unloading duffels, a policewoman approached me and asked what, exactly, I was doing, in a nice way. I explained the project to her, and she loved it. Thought it was the perfect thing to be doing. She told me about her family in Mississippi who had evacuated to Dallas. She had recently helped them get money together to make their way back to their home state, via Greyhound. It would have been great, she said, if they had a bag. They were among the many who had plastic bags for their things, and the bus wouldn't let those bags be packed in the luggage compartments - they had to go on the bus, in laps. I wish we could have given her family rolling duffels. One thing I think we should remember for the future - of all the things we see on those "needed" lists from charities collecting goods, I still have not seen one that mentioned functional rolling suitcases. But they are SO needed. Why is this not mentioned?

TOTAL ROLLING DUFFELS DISTRIBUTED AT REUNION ARENA TO DATE: 142