LifeCaps representatives attended a town meeting with hundreds of residents. One by one the residents were allowed to voice their complaints and ask questions of Galveston and FEMA officials. One lady had been living in her car for the past 40 days, after being promised money for food and a room at a local hotel. Yet, to that point, neither had been provided.
The meeting began at 5:30pm and was scheduled to end at 8:00pm. With over 75 people still waiting to speak, officials announced that they would take only 2 more questions, as it was 7:50pm and they did not want to go beyond 8:00pm. The crowd nearly erupted into a small riot, as many of those present were without food and shelter and, to that point, the meeting had done nothing to gain them these necessities.
Petitioners had filled out mounds of paperwork and wanted results, not more red tape. Observers, such as those from LifeCaps, couldn’t help but wonder why it was so important to close the meeting ’on time,’ and especially with so many people wanting to talk. What could possibly be more important to those officials than these people? One couldn’t help but feel sorry for the residents, many of whom were angry and in tears.
Following the uproar from the crowd, the town council announced it would extend the meeting another 30 minutes. Yet, by this time, most of the angry residents had left the meeting. Many, in fact, were escorted to the door by police.
The following morning, the representatives of LifeCaps visited a parking lot where about 500 people were lined up to receive a voucher for a Wal-Mart card worth $200. Only 250 cards were available for the men, women and small children, all of whom were cold, hungry, and wrapped in blankets. They had stood in line for over 8 hours, waiting all night in the freezing cold.
Police, seated comfortably in their heated cars, called out names one by one over a microphone in a painfully slow process. The LifeCaps workers handed out LifeCaps to the hungry crowd, although it had to be done covertly, as the police forbade giving anyone in the crowd anything they had not previously approved, and because they did not allow any photography or video taken. It was worth it, however, as LifeCaps’ workers heard many expressions of gratitude for providing them with much-needed nourishment.
Those in line who were fortunate enough to receive the voucher for the $200 Wal-Mart card then had to return to the same parking lot at 10:00am to redeem the voucher for the actual card. Essentially, they had to repeat the whole cold, miserable process… all for the sake of a lousy $200. How desperate does one have to be to put up with that?
These people had been lined up like sheep for hours and many were already sick from hunger and the cold. What a mess. It was impossible to look upon these people without crying, and being angered at the process, which seemed to place bureaucracy above the people it was designed to serve.
At this same time, the news was covered with reports of the government paying $700 billion for a bail out, yet here were people so desperate for a mere $200 that they would stay up all night in freezing cold wind and weather, and were grateful for anything they could get. These people are fellow Americans, right here in our own backyard, in real life-or-death need.
Well, the lesson from this experience is simple… GET PREPARED!!!
If nothing else, we all have one thing in common. We all have to eat. Get food storage. Get LifeCaps! Thousands of people evacuated due to Hurricane Ike came back to homes filled with mud, oil and sea water. Even well-stocked, standard food storage would have been completely destroyed. Food pills make sense. LifeCaps makes perfect sense, and could someday be the one thing that saves your life. They are small and require no refrigeration.
In honor of the people of Galveston, for a limited time, LifeCaps is giving a 50% discount to those who use the coupon code IKE on the http://www.lifecaps.net/
