Ronstadt: Tucson to the Rescue of Evacuees

NEWS & ANALYSIS

Tucson Comes to the Aid of Evacuees

By Fred Ronstadt, Tucson City Councilman
September 9, 2005

I have a friend who always quotes what he calls an old Asian saying; "May you live in interesting times." He jokes that it was meant to be a curse.

Whether you regard currents events as a curse or not, we certainly live in interesting times.

Tucson welcomed 85 guests escaping the devastation of Hurricane Katrina on Wednesday. They arrived at Tucson International Airport and were transferred to the Tucson Convention Center after being evaluated medically. Four of them were sent to the hospital, but in general they were all in relatively good shape and spirit.

It has been said that adversity does not build character, it exposes it. Tucson has exposed its character once more and as I walked through the TCC on Monday and again on Wednesday night I felt the heart of our community pulsing with every bit of care, love, prayer, and energy our community has to offer.

I had an opportunity to listen to our guests and hear their stories. The Mayor, several members of the Council and I visited the TCC and I want to share some of what I saw and heard.

Everyone was overwhelmed by the welcome they received and are glad to be in our community. Most were tired and stunned, as you might expect, but very positive. Of the folks I spoke to, most wanted to go back and rebuild their homes. There was one man who had helped construct buildings at the University of Arizona in his youth and had always talked about coming back…not this way, but he was very glad to be here now. One gentleman rested on his knees in praise and prayer prior to our arrived and remained there after we left. Members of our faith-based community surrounded him providing comfort and support. Three special family members, a.k.a., dogs, were being well taken care of and there were many who had just went straight to sleep. We have mental health professionals on site taking care of some folks and our guests were able to access the Internet to look for family and friends and to let family and friends know where they are.

There was a story of how one of our guests became involved in a physical altercation with law enforcement as he was being removed from his property. After they had him loaded in the helicopter and he had an opportunity to see the reality of the devastation around him he broke down and thanked his rescuers. It was only at the point where he was able to take the birds eye view that the reality of devastation struck him.

As he came off the plane in Tucson he went directly to the closest police officer, hugged him and apologized for the way he behaved.

We recognize that these folks are still coming to grips with what happened and have mental health professionals on site to help them through their healing.

This is another milestone in our community where the pride in being a Tucsonan has been amplified. Our City and County governments came together with the Red Cross, our faith-based community and others to make all this happen.

While monetary donations are still being accepted and should be directed to the Red Cross, our community responded with such immediacy and generosity that we are now asking people to hold off donating food, clothing, supplies, etc., as locations are full.

We have registered over 1,800 volunteers and cannot accept any more. I am refraining from calling out any specific group for fear of accidentally leaving some out since there are so many high schools, churches, civic groups, professional groups, government agencies, etc. who have answered the call to serve our fellow Americans during this time of need.

At this point we do not know when or if we might have more folks come our way.

There are people showing up who had left the effected area on their own and they are being taken care of as well. These self-evacuees are being asked to come to the west side of the TCC. All services at the TCC will be available for self-evacuees who have arrived in Tucson. These services will be offered daily between 1 and 5 p.m. at the west side of the TCC. Approximately 100 families who self-evacuated have registered with our local Red Cross.

A telephone number has been established to contact evacuees who have arrived in Tucson. The number is (520) 624-9661 and is staffed by volunteers from the local Red Cross. Mayor Walkup's office is the primary point of contact and his phone number is (520) 791-4201.

Thank you all for everything you have done!