Wednesday - September 07, 2005

Stylish Refugees?

Stylish Seized Clothing Headed To Refugees
HOUSTON (REUTERS - Sept. 6)

Three truckloads of fashion clothing seized by government agents for violating import quotas arrived at Houston’s Astrodome on Wednesday so Hurricane Katrina refugees there can put it to use. U.S. Customs and Border Protection delivered about 100,000 items of summer clothing, with an estimated value of $2.3 million, and said much more is on the way to evacuees elsewhere.

“We normally would either sell this merchandise or destroy it,” said Robert Trotter, the agency’s director of field operations. “Or we would donate it on a smaller scale.” Some of the items are fakes, but Trotter said most are legitimate. The hurricane relief operation, aimed at the more than 1 million Gulf Coast residents displaced by Katrina last week, will involve a total of $168 million worth of clothing.

The items delivered on Tuesday, much of it with designer labels like Fubu and Code Blue, were handed to the Red Cross and local church officials who were to distribute it. “They will be able to tell us specifically what they want and a personal shopper will go back and get it for them,” said Mike Firenza of St. Luke’s Methodist Church. “It will be one of the finest-dressed shelters that there’s ever been.”

The Astrodome, a 40-year-old sports stadium that had fallen into disuse recently, housed about 16,000 refugees on Tuesday. Three other major shelters in Houston housed a total of 10,000.

Katrina Victims to Get $2K Debit Cards
WASHINGTON (AP - Sept. 7)

The federal government plans to begin doling out debit cards worth $2,000 each to adult victims of Hurricane Katrina, The Associated Press has learned. Homeland Security Department Secretary Michael Chertoff descibed the plan in a conference call with state officials Wednesday morning. The unprecedented cash card program initially will benefit stranded people who have been moved to major rescue centers such as the Houston Astrodome.

“They are going to start issuing debit cards, $2,000 per adult, today (Wednesday) at the Astrodome,” said Kathy Walt, a spokeswoman for Texas Gov. Rick Perry. The cards could be used to buy food, transportation, gas and other essentials, according to a state official who was on the call and requested anonymity because the program has not been publicly announced. In Boston, Gov. Mitt Romney said the cards will be offered “to people in shelters as well as people who are not in shelters but who have evacuated the area and need help.” He said the hope is the cards will encourage people to leave shelters voluntarily.

It’s unclear how much the debit card program will cost the government, but it’s likely to run into the hundreds of millions of dollars since hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced.

Posted by The Skipper     on 09/07/2005 at 12:06 PM   
Filed Under: • Outrageous •  
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