Adventures in Katrina housing

Joining with hundreds of thousands of Americans, we decided to offer our guest room to any hurricane survivors who wanted to come to New York. I've been eagerly checking my email in the hopes that perhaps someone would want to take us up on our offer. Instead, all I've received are two emails from journalists writing about people offering up their homes, one email from a woman who is planning on running a bus down to the Gulf to pick up people for New York and one email from some punk hipster artist in Bushwick who wanted to move in so that he can create his avant-guard art.

The journalists were quite lovely - one came from Germany and wanted to show that Americans aren't just about going to war in Iraq. The woman who is chartering the bus is a dynamo and is really going to make this all happen. The hipster artist, though, really got to me.

For those of you unfamiliar with Brooklyn geography, Bushwick is the next neighborhood over from ours. I assure you that it is 100% above sea level at this time. It may have some high real estate prices these days, but really. I'll leave it there without any more comment.

If anyone reading this knows of a couple or a family from the Gulf who would like to make a fresh start of it in New York, feel free to point them in our direction. The congregation is looking for ways to sponsor a family, and we've got the space to host someone.