angel_lane

Everyone seems to have settled in okay. If you want to know more about what is going on, you can always visit here: www.angel-lane.org The houses are great but we continue to have challenges with a lot of the bad media that we get. Sadly, even though we are a segment of survivors that are working, paying property taxes, and therefore positively contributing to the Houston economy we are still subjected to a lot of bias from some "original" Houstonians. Most of us have opted to not send our children to the public HISD schools and have enrolled our children in charter schools due to the issues that they were having with respect to Houston students. But the children seem to be adjusting better than the adults--lol..guess we always worry a bit too much. Thanks for the the interest--it is nice to know that some people do not view us as a burden on the local community.

From what we know, Oprah's donation was mainly for land and infrastructure development not just in TX but also LA and Mississippi. The other donations were for development of everything from planting trees to sheetrock. Habitat for Humanity is non-profit and they work with donations and volunteerism when building homes. The city of Houston provided some downpayment assistance for those that qualified --not all of us did. So not only did we perform 300 hours of sweat equity, but we also had to pay closing costs (yeah, like normal people). We cannot turn around and sell the homes for a set period of time, i.e. we must live in it. One thing you must understand that we had to do hours while working full time jobs which was not easy for most of us since most had jobs for a short period of time and new employers are not keen to new employees being gone. There are many single parents and it was very very tough for them to do this. Many people came close to dropping out because you are working on something that you don't actually own until the day that you close on it....in other words you could put hours in and end up losing it anyways. The media coverage is gloss. It does not tell the full story of what we have gone through, but understand that there are teachers, nurses, business managers, college educated and technical folks among us. Contrary to popular belief, we have all types of races in our community not just black. I think that most are grateful for the roof over our heads, but many of us were unaware of the social dynamics of the surrounding area in the new neighborhood as we had no say in where the houses were to be built. The neighborhood is older and a little rough--a lot of us did not live in areas like this so it was and still is something to get used to. We've already had one family get their front door kicked in. That's tough and scary to deal with when you are in a new environment and have children to worry about and all you want to do is begin to live a "normal" life again. The problem is that normal has a new definition and you gotta figure out what it means to you. P.S. Not everyone is the community is from LA, we have folks from Texas that lost homes in Hurricane Rita...Just clearing up another falsehood "reported" in the media. Angel Lane Community Info www.home.earthlink.net/~angel.lane If you want to know more about us and what is actually going on...

Angel Lane--the truth! Okay, people keep asking and assuming. Everyone says that Oprah GAVE us homes. ...LOL that's news to me. Let me clear up the fiction. Ms. Winfrey did not GIVE us any homes. WE HAD TO QUALIFY for the homes. We had to fill out extensive paperwork, be employed, provide tax records, and vital statistic records. We had to pay closing costs, yes, I said PAY closing costs and until the mortgage (YES, I SAID MORTGAGE), was closed we had to provide pay stubs every time we got paid. Additionally, we had to actually work on the homes, roofing, planting, hammering, and cleaning up trash. So let's get the fiction straightened out with truth. We worked for it, we paid for it, and we continue to pay a house note every month like so many other hardworking citizens. You can't get something for nothing--it does not work that way. We all had to pay utility deposits just like everyone else does again we are productive people who just got a little help in a catastrophic situation. It is hard work--no complaints just fact. Truthfully, most of us will be very glad when the hype actually goes away and we can return to the anonymity of routine. Though we have been blessed it is extremely hard to embrace "normal" again when the people and places that you are used to seeing every day are no longer around or no longer exist. It is hard to get up in the morning and not feel just a little bit guilty about the fact that there are folks still living in gutted homes with blue-tarped roofs in New Orleans and Mississippi towns that seem to be forgotten by the media. It is tiring to have well-meaning people introduce you to others as someone who is from New Orleans and "just getting" his or her life back together. No kidding, I have actually had educated people introduce me to their friends as an evacuee, never mind the fact that I actually have a first and last name. It is like--gee, look we have our very own evacuee. For a moment there, it seemed as though we were fashionable, i.e. to know an evacuee was a cool thing. At least until people started thinking that we only wanted a free ride. Granted there are some that do subscribe to that mentality, but the rest of us, the vast majority of us--just want a place to sleep at and routine job to go to every day. Dullness is a blessing! We pay property taxes here. This is home. New Orleans is a part of everyone, but my house payment is mailed in Texas not LA.