Tuesday - September 20, 2005

Greyhound Sucks!

Catholic Charities: Greyhound Hinders Relief Agencies’ ‘Ministry in Motion’
BATON ROUGE, La (US NEWSWIRE)

Disbelief was the reaction of Connie Andry, director of homeless services for Catholic Charities Archdiocese of New Orleans, when the evacuee family told her that Greyhound Bus Lines in Baton Rouge refused the check issued by Catholic Community Services of Baton Rouge that would pay for their journey to Jacksonville, Fla. The disbelief was compounded when Andry obtained a money order and joined the family at the bus station and only to be told cash was the order of the day.

As part of the relief efforts, Catholic Charities of New Orleans and Catholic Community Services of Baton Rouge have been assisting hurricane-impacted people daily, providing emergency assistance, counseling and transportation to families and temporary housing across the nation. They call their work “Ministry in Motion.”

“To have to pay by cash severely impacts our ability to effectively serve people who are desperate to reach family members in other parts of the country. Checks and money orders have always worked before. I’m concerned that now we will have to accompany each evacuee family to the bus station. We will lose a lot of time that otherwise could be used serving people,” says Andry.

In addition, Catholic Charities and Catholic Community Services looked into opening a corporate account with Greyhound Bus Lines until they learned that not only would they pay full- ticket price, but a as well as a $15.00 surcharge for pre-paid orders. In some cases, this would have doubled the cost of the ticket. Catholic Charities fought to have the surcharge waived in consideration of the crisis.

When the national corporate office in Dallas was contacted, Catholic Charities was told that Greyhound lost $23 million last year and that they couldn’t afford to help out. They needed to make money. Greyhound also turned down a request to offer the discount available through Travelers Aid. The New Orleans office of Travelers Aid was wiped out in the hurricane and unavailable for assistance.

“It’s a shame that Greyhound is prepared to make money off the backs of people who already have lost everything,” says Andry. “We were hoping that the corporation that could mobilize hundreds buses for FEMA, could adapt to help us too.”

Contact: Carol Spruell of Catholic Community Services Baton Rouge, 225-336-8770 ext. 407 or 225-252-8679 (cell); or Beth Millbank of Catholic Charities New Orleans, 225-336-8700 ext. 315 or 225-303-7490 (cell)

Posted by The Skipper     on 09/20/2005 at 11:45 AM   
Filed Under: • Outrageous •  
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