I have gotten NO sleep in the past 48 hours, so pardon me if I get a little mushy and disjointed. The nicest thing just happened for my brother.
He has been displaced from Loyola New Orleans. He is now going to Loyola Chicago for the fall semester and then heading back to NO in the spring. Everything is totally last minute, and he is going there tomorrow with what he can carry to start the semester. He is scared, and none of my family can be there with him this weekend.
He is getting in very, very late, and the school offices who can help him will be closed, and he would basically be dormless for one night. Since he's 18 with no credit card, we were worried about him being able to check into a hotel room for the night, so I called the Courtyard by O'Hare and asked them about letting him check in and letting me pay for it with my card.
Not only did they say yes and give him a discounted rate, but the reservations person I talked to actually offered to help him get to the college and get settled since her husband graduated from there, and they wanted to help out. She said that people from her church wanted to help and donated money, but they wanted to do more, so they were offering rooms in their houses and help navigating Chicago if any of the displaced residents from the Gulf came up there. A lot of them were offering to house people that the Marriotts down south were sending up north. And if he needed a place to stay for a little bit until he settled into school, she had a place for him at her place, if he wanted to.
The fact that some strange person who I talked to for all of 5 minutes was offering this help made me start crying. I felt so bad, but I just started blubbering.
It's not a big dramatic rescue, but it's actually so nice to experience something like this after watching all the crap on the news.
Thank you for sharing a nice story like that. it is good to know there are kind hearted people out there. It shows we all can help in our own ways, even if we aren't in the area that katrina hit.
It was really nice to hear a sweet story during this time!
I teared right up just reading it. I am so glad for your brother, and so glad that there are nice people out there taking care of others. I am so proud of all the people in Texas for all the help they are giving and all of their selflessness, too. It really restores your faith in humanity.
That's such a great story. I was reading another board where many of the posters work at colleges and they said schools are trying to accomodate students from NO schools in any way possible, some are allowing students to transfer, others are offering to let NO students take fall semester classes for free etc..
Thank you for posting that Escrime. I got teary while I was reading it and it made me so proud to be a resident of Chicago. They don't call this the City of Big Shoulders for nothing. Hey and you never know, your brother may fall in love with Chicago and never want to leave:).
This whole tragedy that is going on in this country right now is truly making me proud of my decision to change careers and study to become a nurse. I don't care what anyone says, there is no greater joy than helping others in their time of need.
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"Whatever you are, be a good one." --Abraham Lincoln
cc wrote: That's such a great story. I was reading another board where many of the posters work at colleges and they said schools are trying to accomodate students from NO schools in any way possible, some are allowing students to transfer, others are offering to let NO students take fall semester classes for free etc..
My school is allowing Maine natives who were attending school in Louisiana and Mississipi to take classes and get credit for free. Apparently they've already gotten around 30 requests from students who were attending Loyola and Tulane.
Escrime, your story gave me goose bumps. That's so great to hear.
i'm teary too, that is just so wonderful to hear. it just really restores your faith in humanity.
anyway, as for schools opening their doors, my law school's doing it too--my old professor just called and told me that usc law is letting tulane law school students transfer and they're waiving fees too.
it's so nice to see everyone helping in any way they can.
This story made me cry, too... it's so great to hear that people are generous and open-hearted at a difficult time like this... I hope your brother will adapt well and have a great semester.
Escrime, the news about your brother warmed my heart.
Loyola Marymount here in Los Angeles also took in some of the Loyola kis from NO, but according to the news they're full now and can't take any more students.