Frustration?

It appears as though Kansas will not be getting the number of families we were told to expect. I can see it now in Houston, Dallas, and other shelters.... no one showed up for the line to Kansas.

There are thousands of cots in Topeka and Wichita all set up and ready to go. Volunteers are waiting patiently. Now we can stand down.

I am feeling both relief and disappointment. Relief that our community won't have to face this challenge, disappointment that our community won't have to face this challenge. Does that make sense? I'm disappointed that I won't be challenged to reach out to these families. I suppose it's possible that Red Cross might want to send me out-of-state, but I'll bet help is not needed in those shelters, at least at this point. We will continue to get a trickle of families coming here, probably for a long time.

I asked another Case Manager how she feels about this. She is disappointed because the work we are doing with the more than thiry families who have arrived provides her with a way to step outside of a severe health threat she is facing. She benefits from being a helper... and she is very good at that.

I can understand why a poor African-American family from the Gulf Coast would look at their prospects for relocation and have little interest in coming to Kansas.

On the other hand, we had one survivor, a young man, get here because of a friend at Ft. Riley. After meeting a couple of times with us, he told his case manager in a New Orleans drawl, "I think I'm going to settle permanently in Manhattan. It's so peaceful."