Shelter at SU Minidome to close soon

In as soon as two weeks, Southern University’s F.G. Clark Activity Center could shut down its operations as an American Red Cross shelter.
According to Welton D. Bowie, operations manager of the Minidome, the nearly 175 evacuees of Hurricanes Katrina and Wilma who remain in the facility await government housing. Only two months ago, the facility was filled to capacity with over 680 displaced people.
Bowie said the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Habitat for Humanity, the Louisiana Department of Social Services and Volunteers of America set up operations at the Minidome to assist evacuees.
“We’ve made tremendous progress when we had those agencies on site,” Bowie said. “As FEMA response came, they’ve been working diligently to move people out. Some other resources were brought to the people, but they were still stalled.”
The Baton Rouge River Center, another shelter, accommodated nearly 5,000 evacuees, says its Web site. However, the facility shut down its shelter operations on Oct. 15.
Edward Jackson, interim president of the Southern University System, said Southern will stay open as a haven for evacuees as long as there is a need. He said during several visits to Minidome, he heard positive remarks and received appreciation from evacuees.
“We care about them and we’re not rushing out,” Jackson said. “We have to make sure they have a place to stay because they are our people.”
At least a half dozen Southern-New Orleans students and staff members were staying at the shelter, Jackson said.
Other displaced faculty members were placed in the Palisades, Southern’s residential housing complex located on Scenic Highway and Harding Boulevard.
“It’s (the Minidome) a shelter over your head and they provide what you need,” said Will Levert, a 23-year-old Lake Charles native who lost his home to Hurricane Rita. He has been at Southern for two weeks. “It’s the only one I’ve been to with a TV and bands coming.”
Though he found Southern to have an adequate shelter, he did have complaints.
“The showers,” he said. “They only clean them once a day (which is) at night, but they close them during the day. So everyone takes showers in the morning.”
Levert, a former waiter and construction worker, said he planned to go to New Orleans and find a job. He said he has applied for FEMA assistance and a trailer. Levert said when he leaves the Minidome, he planned to head straight to New Orleans because there was nothing left to go back to in Lake Charles.