Bruce Widbin headed south expecting hopelessness, misery, and desperate need.
Instead, he found Hurricane Katrina evacuees at a Red Cross disaster relief center watching big–screen TVs, shooting hoops, listening to live music and choosing between ham, roast beef or barbecued turkey.
Widbin, a Wever resident, took a charter bus Sunday to Jackson, Miss., intending to return with a full load of southerners ready to start a new life in Iowa.
But, despite promises of houses and jobs waiting, only one family among the roughly 300 people at the Mississippi Coliseum relief center accepted a ride north.
And they had relatives in Dubuque.
"I walked around the center and there were big–screen TVs, three full semi–trucks pulled up serving pizza out the windows, medical areas, basketball courts and balloon tying and activities for the kids," Widbin said Wednesday. "The meal line was huge, like a big church buffet."
A member of Grace Bible Church in Wever, Widbin organized the bus trip with help from his congregation and the faithful at Harmony Bible Church in Danville. Trailways Bus System in West Burlington donated use of a bus.
This was no fly–by–the–seat–of–your–pants mission. About 50 families from the two churches had agreed to welcome evacuees into their homes. Additional apartments were set aside if needed. And several businesses were ready to hire people fleeing the hurricane.
Widbin worked with a sheriff from the Jackson area for three days prior to the trip to make sure everything was in order.
"She said, 'Oh, come on down, we'll have no trouble filling your bus,' " he said.
The sheriff spoke on the radio, appeared on TV and posted fliers around the shelter promoting the Iowa effort. But when the time came to leave, most evacuees preferred to stay.
"The people had it so good," said Widbin, who returned home Monday night. "They were just so comfortable."
Most families living in the center had evacuated before Hurricane Katrina hit, Widbin said.
The bus carried a load of relief supplies, gathered in large part by an African–American church in Burlington, that were loaded on a truck in Mississippi and sent further south to the Gulf Coast.
Not one to quit easily, Widbin wanted to look elsewhere when he realized people in Jackson were not excited about a move to the Midwest.
But when he asked about nearby relief centers, the top Red Cross official in the city did not know the locations.
"... The size and bureaucracy and territorialism within the Red Cross just really encumbered our ability to take action," Widbin said.
The largess heaped on the evacuees also left Widbin wondering: What happens when the philanthropy ends?
"There is no way the volunteers and the businesses can continue to provide that level of service and facilities for more than a couple of weeks," he said. "When the Red Cross goes to close the center, if the mentality of the people is, 'The government will take care of us,' and not to go out and fix the problems themselves, then you are going to hear a clamor when the services disappear."
The two churches are hardly alone in their failed generosity. Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack said last week his state would welcome 5,000 evacuees from the Gulf Coast. As of Tuesday, only about 40 had arrived.
Widbin is on the hook for the diesel burned on the run south. And he still feels the clinch of disappointment from accomplishing so little.
But he has found reasons to be thankful.
There was the pleasure of watching his 15–year–old son Jeremy, who went along on the trip, play with the children in the relief center and interact with the police officers standing watch.
There was the joy of meeting that lone family that did come to Iowa.
And there is the comfort of believing he acted on God's will, no matter what the outcome.
"We saw a need, we acted, and we did it in faith," he said. "There's nothing else I can say."Of course, I don't know if I could relocate to the cold north.
Also, a poster said a family in Dallas who took in evacuees had their 13 year old daughter raped by one of them. He (the rapist) is now in jail.
I wonder, could I take in an absolute stranger in this situation?
---Katie
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