Traveling from NO to IL Without Reservations
 

My positive tale got lost with a Fodors deletion. I shouldn't have added it on to another political tirade thread.

So here it is if you want to read about some folks who arrived the night before last at 4am in the morning.

We received about 120 NO refugees in Tinley Park IL. We had some excellent large empty buildings because our Library and M.Health Centers have just moved/and or were empty or being rehabbed. They thought they were going to Texas and found out O'Hare to Tinley P. only about 45 minutes before they landed.

We do have a group of 40's, 50's men and also lots of family groups and single people as well. I feel the most for the older single men as most of them are real scrappers and haven't been out of their home state ever, and they are DOWN.

The kids and families/moms seem to be in much better spirits actually. Last night they read a lot of "adventure" stories about airplanes, floods, moving and the kids got to talk a lot. They start school this morning.

They have large rooms, huge multiple shower facilities,a good kitchen at each, plus they have great grounds, a park, I-80 and the train. They like downtown Tinley with the old gas lamps and thought they were downtown. Clothes are not a problem yet.

Thank God we have 85 plus weather and that they will have some time to acclimate. We have a great Halloween planned. IL has taken in 3000 or so but many of them are with relatives. We are going to get more. Elgin has about 500 already, I think.

Two ladies told me that they went to an abandoned house on higher ground for 5 days before they went to the dome. They kept all together, even with grown children to go to the bathroom etc. because they did say it was not safe. They said they heard of a stabbing for sure and people were just nasty on the whole by then.

I do think many of these people will never go back to NO. Maybe somewhere South or other than where they are- but not back to NO.

More later, if you want. And I found the best way to donate is by giving money directly to them. We have welcome signs everywhere but some of the best welcoming was people giving money to them right through the car windows while stopping at traffic lights.

I'm so glad to read about the positive ~ people helping other people.

I also agree with helping people directly where possible ~ no administrative fees, it's immediate, etc.

Keep fighting the good fight!

The older men want to go sight-seeing. So they are today. One threw a coin into T.P's downtown fountain, and his picture is in the paper today.

Two little girls and their moms will be going to downtown Chicago tomorrow, and some of the men and older boys are going to the Sox game tonight or tomorrow night. We have great volunteers who readied the rooms and are now planning outings and shopping trips.

One gentleman left the bus before it got to T.P. and headed back to the airport and flew to Vegas- after he got a phone call. One lady has her boyfriend in Texas and her baby with a sister in Georgia. They might all end up coming here now to decide what they'll do next.

About 10 have already made plans for people to meet them here and may be going to live with relatives in other states soon.

Many of the rest may need to receive multiple coats and boots. But what I like the best is that no one is putting pressure on them to make any big decisions right now. Most have seen enough that they just to want to rest for a good long time without making any big decisions at all.

Keep up the good work JJ5.

There's a dislocated family that somehow got lost and wandered up to our neck of the woods. The local towns have sort of adopted them and is helping out with housing, food etc. They've been the focus of a few news stories in our paper and seem to be doing ok, all things considered.

Ok, now we have three kids 15, 16, & 18 that have to get from Houston to Chicago. We have the money. They have no ID's at all and never have had any. They need ID's to get on a plane. No one will budge.

How do we get through this red tape?

You would think that in a situation like this the airlines would be a little more lenient.

Best of luck, JJ5. Keep up the great work.

Anyone have any other ideas? Some airlines are giving us great deals but we can't get around this ID thing. If they were at this end we could try to get them a IL state ID. Do they have those in TX? Maybe they will have to go Greyhound.

And by the way, we have two families who have left already to go to relatives in Memphis, and one man is moving everyone from NO in his entire extended family here to Tinley Pk permanently- about 10 people- he had six kids on the road to KY when the flood came occurred.

Yes, JJ5, you can get a Texas state issued ID for teens. We got one for my husband's daughter for travel when she was 13.

Thanks, the oldest can get his own and then maybe we can work from there.

JJ5, I've heard that a lack of ID is a huge problem facing many refugees. One would think that Texas, having taken in so many at their dome, would have a system for dealing with this problem. Have your kids tried getting help there? I would think that the Social Security office would be working with all refugees for identification.

I read a interesting story in the NY Times yesterday regarding 200 prisoners sent north to a jail -- no ID, no paperwork, no lawyers, no idea what they were even being held for (drunk or murder) --witnesses displaced or dead, law offices destroyed, courthouses gone. The legal system is in a shambles and will be for years. Just one more thing.

It's a catch-22. The 18 year old can get some papers but for the other two it's like herding cats.

They are on there way another way.

Too many non-custodial parents have faked their kids' id's. They actually, for any of these things, want some decent paperwork like school report cards etc. Not easy to do right now.

Please have ID's on your child (proper and official)anytime they travel without you- with very detailed emergency report information and numbers to reach everyone involved. And in these kind of natural disaster cases, write something on your child's skin at the very least.

This is just a thought, it might or might not work.

I moved several times. Whenever I lost my ID cards for BJs, Sam’s Club or Blockbuster I went to my new location and they would issue me a new ID as my name and address was on their national records. Of course, BJs and Sam’s are picture IDs which might be even more helpful.

They won't issue anything for the minors without a guardian's signature or more definitive photo documentation. The 18 year old could have been a guardian under these circumstances but the entire thing just takes too long. And it also puts the 18 year old into a difficult position.

All the other family members are in IL that would be legal.

They've gotten a ride already with some volunteer EMT's that are already returning here. It seems some areas have too many people now falling all over each other.

It's always easier to get adult ID's than it is for kids. And that's under the best circumstances.

Bureacracy is like a lead shackle on your ankle in times that require fast response or decision. Everything that requires extreme action pulls against another function of authority or government. That's why I get beyond words when someone wants "their country to take care of them."

I don't want anything that big in any portion of my life's decision-making myself.

Hello JJ5, I was thinking, could you or someone contact one of your US Senators. People have to supply a copy of their childrens birth certificate to get their children a Social Security No. before they are a year old I believe as this is required on IRS annual tax filings. Could consequently the Social Security office be persuaded to help out if the "right" person(s) put pressure on them?

All that takes too long. If you have the "right" contact at a Soc.Sec. office, you are correct, that will help at lot. But these are not normal times, and the Sen. and Rep. and down to Alderman etc. are way too busy right now with funerals and murders and such-that healthy people are not a first priority. Believe me, you don't know a whole lot that the News does not feature.

And just like in most of life's "business", quite frankly they are too busy with getting their own ducks in a row and answering to their own bosses in all these internal inquiries to get much past their aides or secretarys right now.

You don't want to get me started on big civil service and what I think of the average "worker" in Federal or State offices. There is so much regulation and fancy categorizing that the minutes of actual work done are fleeting. It's almost as if you have to define every aspect of work before you perform it.

Most know where the "forms" are and what their own "level" rating is but God help you ask a question where something actually gets DONE TODAY and the hot potato isn't just transfered to another office or authority. Way, way too much categorization.

The three kids will be here tomorrow. You get more done just by dealing with the people who DO- and not the planners and talkers.

Lord knows what is going to happen when only those are left who have to get their own "rights" straight and make sure everything is OSHA approved before they take the first steps out the door. Common sense seems pretty scarce in the young around here- everything is too overthought and no one wants to make waves with originality.

Thanks for the ideas. Some real long shots have come through this time, but the misplaced are so numerous and from such a large area that lots and lots of places are all dealing with these issues at the same time- so a IDphoto/Fingerprint/birthday/name/originpaper might fly- even if home made and on some notebook paper with a digital camera. The problem is that I want a legal adult relation to be the one to do it. More privacy issues etc.

I know for a fact that if a child ever received a Social Security check from a deceased parent, you can get proof of relationship.

If someone applied for SSI benefits for a child, even if their case was denied, you would have proof of relationship. Records on SSI go back to 1974 when the program started.

The rules about Social Security numbers are so strict because even now in the middle of a disaster there might be a lot of crooks trying to take even more advantage of these poor innocent people.