Debit Card Program Starts, Then Stops

Charmaine Bryant waited three hours in line Friday for what she called “my lifeline” to pull her and her two teenage daughters out of the despair of being shelter-dwelling evacuees from Hurricane Katrina.

After agreeing not to spend the money on alcohol, tobacco or weapons, Bryant, 36, received a debit card worth $2,000 from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

“This is going to help us start living a real life,” Bryant said, holding the plastic card in the air. “This is for real clothes, food, maybe a place to live, all the things that we lost.”

Like thousands of families, the Bryants have been living in the Astrodome for a week after fleeing New Orleans. On Friday, Houston officials said they hoped to close the Astrodome shelter and three other sites by Sept. 17.

Bryant is ready to move, and the debit card is a “big, big step” toward a new life in Houston, she said.

But late Friday, FEMA officials in Washington said that distribution of the cards at the Astrodome and at shelters in Dallas and San Antonio had proved too cumbersome, and that the program would not be expanded to other locations.

Evacuees everywhere are still eligible for $2,000 in immediate aid, officials said, but those not in the Texas shelters will first have to open checking accounts, where they will receive the money by direct deposit. Evacuees can register for the aid by phone or at the FEMA website.

People being sheltered in the Astrodome, Dallas and San Antonio will continue to receive debit cards.

In past disasters, FEMA preferred to use direct deposit. But the Katrina disaster has left some people so bereft, that it was seen as impractical.

The Texas shelters were used as a test for the debit card because they are the largest centers for Katrina victims. For FEMA, much criticized for its other efforts to help evacuees, the card was an immediate hit.

A rumor Thursday that the cards would be distributed at the Reliant Center, adjacent to the Astrodome, brought thousands of evacuees, many from shelters but others from Houston hotels, motels and homes where they have taken refuge.

The rumor proved to be false, and thousands were sent away unhappy and discouraged.

By Friday, the debit card program was for real, and lines starting forming about 6 a.m. outside the Reliant Arena, another facility in the Reliant Park complex.

To make the wait bearable, evacuees were brought inside to enjoy air conditioning and cool water. After surveying the Astrodome’s long, slow-moving lines, FEMA officials decided not to expand the program.

The population at the Astrodome and other Houston shelters is now about 8,600 as evacuees secure accommodation from the local Housing Authority and several charities.

The $2,000 debit card is only the beginning of FEMA support; for families that qualify, the maximum support is $26,500.

“A lot of people can begin to solve their own problems if you give them a chance,” said Ed Conley, FEMA’s representative in Houston, where more than 30,000 people had been sheltered.

Kelley Lewis, 45, couldn’t agree more.

“Give me money and I can take care of myself, my mother and my sick aunt,” Lewis said while waiting in line. “This is one sweet thing they’re doing. Seems like somebody cares about us even a lot more than anybody cared about us in New Orleans.”

Each family at the Astrodome was eligible for a card with a limit of $2,000. Conley said FEMA will audit use of the cards for fraud.

The cards can also be used to get cash, and several ATMs were installed at the Astrodome parking lot overnight.

“This is a blessing, a true blessing, and it’s going to help a lot of poor people,” Percell Ford, 54, said as he waited in line. “Most of these folks are working people. They’re ready to help themselves, but they need a start.”

Although the evacuee population is dropping at the Astrodome, the Greater Houston YMCA opened a mini-recreation yard in the parking lot, with basketball courts and a game and video room inside a tent.

Officials turned down a request by Austin Airwaves, a nonprofit community activist group, to open a radio station inside the Astrodome to provide information about services available to evacuees. The request had been approved by the Federal Communications Commission, but officials running the shelter said the site was already too crowded.

The Astrodome continued to be a must-see Friday for politicians and celebrities.

Eric Braeden, a German-born actor who has starred on the daytime drama “The Young and the Restless” for 25 years, said he was impressed by the shelter effort.

“As they say in German, you people have your [stuff] together,” he said.