DALLAS, Sept. 8 -- The Rev. William Finch had just finished his second fruitless trip to the Astrodome on Wednesday night. He was tired, frustrated and worried that he would return to Rockville with an empty bus.
He'd spent the day on the phone and among the endless rows of cots, hoping that his friendly face and white collar would compel a few people to stop and listen.
Come north, he said. There would be a real house, $500 in cash, unlimited use of a cell phone, paid travel back to New Orleans, help enrolling their children in some of the country's best public schools, maybe even a job. All arranged by his parishioners at St. Raphael's Catholic Church, from whom he'd raised $100,000.
It was too far, some said. Or too cold. Others still hoped to return home. Mostly there was silence.
"I think in the future, I'll just collect the money," Finch said as he drove away.
In the end, like many of Hurricane Katrina's victims, Finch had no choice but to rely on strangers for help. In his case, it was a volunteer at Catholic Charities Houston who made a phone call.
This morning, 17 people, all members of an extended family, boarded Finch's bus. Four more members of that family followed in a car. Five other people -- Vietnamese immigrants--were being flown to the D.C. area. They are due to arrive in Rockville early Friday evening after an overnight stay in Knoxville.
It was still far short of the 50 he'd hoped to attract, but it was a mass migration compared with the 10-bus caravan that returned to the District on Wednesday with just one evacuee.
"I didn't think they would show up," Finch said as he watched the Norwood family settle into the bus for the 22-hour trip to Rockville.
Finch began Wednesday at the Houston offices of Catholic Charities, where more than 700 evacuees showed up over the weekend. He'd hoped to find, amid a stack of files with cell and hotel phone numbers, at least 50 people who wanted to relocate to Maryland. Like a real estate salesman working his way through a list of cold calls, he started his search.
"Hi, is this Leticia?"
It wasn't Leticia. He left a message.
