A day in the life of an evacuee family

09:41 PM CDT on Thursday, September 8, 2005

By JANET ST. JAMES/ WFAA-TV

WFAA-TV

One-year-old Danesha Miller rests at the Will Rogers Coliseum.

Three mattresses shoved together on the floor serve as the bedroom, den and kitchen for the Millers and their four children at the Will Rogers Coliseum in Fort Worth.

One-year-old Danesha Miller is exhausted from diarrhea.

"I think she's sick due to the water," said Shinda Miller.

But despite their small, close living quarters, she said they are better off than last week.

"It's better than the bridge," agreed husband Don Miller.

After spending three days on the Interstate 10 overpass and another at the Superdome, the Millers said where they are now feels like heaven. They are not alone either. Ever since the storm they have remained close to ten of their Louisiana neighbors.

"We our family now," said Marvin Mosely.

They have lived with one another, along with hundreds of others at the coliseum. And while they were poor in New Orleans, they are destitute in Fort Worth. Each day is a blur of noisy announcements and meal lines.

However, they are trying to make the best of the conditions and have been appreciative of what had been given to them.

"We don't have nothing except what these people give us," said one of the mothers amongst the group.

They have also been working on getting financial aid. As 3-year-old Donovan places a pretend call to his missing grandmother, his mother spends another frustrating hour at the phone bank.

"So, I'm trying to find out about some housing," she said over the phone lines set up at the coliseum.

Without computer skills, Miller has found herself in daily phone battles of pass the buck. And her husband isn't much help. Instead, he refuses to leave the radio because he is hoping to hear some type of news about his mother, grandmother, sister and two brothers who lived alongside the major levee that broke.

"So, I don't know if they got out or not," he said.

After days of filthy grime, bathing in the Will Rogers Colliseum performers shower is a luxury.

Instead of going to school, Calvin, 15, and Terry, 16, are going out to find jobs.

"He got to do what he got to do," Mosely said.

Mosely said he is never sure what time it is anymore, or even the day of the week.

"I surely don't," he said. "I don't remember the name of this place right here. But they are showing us some good love right here."

For that, and another day of life together, the family said they are eternally grateful.

E-mail jstjames@wfaa.com