@BlogKCIn addition to Missouri National Guard convoys and the Children’s Mercy airlift reported yesterday, more local efforts are underway to help the Hurricane Katrina refugees. Mayor Kay Barnes and several city/state agencies have announced an initiative to identify apartments and homes in the community with room to house refugees, for up to a year.
Update: KMBC-TV reports that around 200 refugees have been identified in the KC area, most with local relatives. Missouri is currently slated to receive 2,000 more people, with 500 in KC and the rest in St. Louis.
Also, online school Grantham University is relocating it’s business and employees to Kansas City. Temporary offices are being established at Crown Center and will eventually be located at Zona Rosa.
- A Red Cross relief center is open at the Gregg Community Center near 18th & Vine, 1600 John “Buck” O’Neil Way, 64108 (map), with food and clothing vouchers and other assistance.
- Local housing info – for those looking for housing or those with rooms or apartments available. Another resource is www.katrinahome.com
- Locals are offering to help displaced musicians find local gigs.
- The city’s Water Services department has sent 31,000 bottles of water, and
- Swope Health‘s 5 area clinics are offering free health care to any refugees in the KC region.
- KCTV-5 has a crew is travelling with the Missouri National Guard to New Orleans and is blogging about the trip.
- KCMO.org: City sends truckload of City of Fountains water to hurricane victims
- Biz Journal: area groups join to find housing for hurricane victims
A group in Kansas City is offering assistance to fellow musicians in need. They put a posting up on Craig’s List letting people know they’ll be glad to help out with getting gigs, places to stay, and so on in KC. http://neworleans.craigslist.org/roo/94778999.html
I am a former employee of Grantham University. Grantham told us that this was a temporary move to Kansas City and that jobs would be held for those who could not make the move until they came back. Now we find out that this is a permenant move and that everyone that did not go have been “terminated” in their words. My home received just enough flooding that made it impossible to move and equally impossible to stay until work was done to make the house habitable. I explained that to my managers and the answer I received back was that if I was not willing to relocate, I would not have a job. What happened to moving back to Slidell? There was never any plan to come back. It was all a lie. CEO Tom Macon also publically stated that he donated $100,000 to the Relief Fund and that other higher-ups donated as well. There are less than 200 employees at Grantham and the only “relief” that we received was a check for $250. No severence pay, no benefits, I have not even received my pay for my vacation and sick time I did not use. Multiple e-mails have gone unanswered. To add insult to injury, I was a student there as well. Due to the nature in which I was terminated, I did not wish to continue on. I contacted 5 schools and NONE of them would accept ANY of the credits from Grantham University. Not one. Two semesters worth of hard work and I cant even find a school that will accept it. The answer that I have received from several of the schools is that Grantham accreditation is not recognized. One of two schools saying this would be one thing, but 5? I also found out that even if I had received my degree there, most companies I contacted (including the State of LA.) would not recognize their degree and would not hire their graduates. It’s a shame that they treat their employeed that way. I guess that I am lucky that Tom and the rest showed their true colors before I dropped everything and left my home to rot just to make them richer.
I have to put in my two cents here. Grantham is, for the most part, a worthless school. Worthless in the sense that their credits will not be accepted by any reputable universities. I contact school after school and NONE of them would accept Grantham credits. What does that tell you. Their “Admissions Advisors” are not advisors at all. I have been in contact with former employees who have told me that they are nothing more than salesmen. They are told that they need to “enroll” a certain amount of students each month or they will not have a job. They are taught the art of sales, not the art of advising. They only want to get you in the door and once you pay your tuition, you will not hear from them again. My “advisor” openly lied to me and told me that any school would accept their credits. I found out differently. I also found out that the degree will not be accepted by a great majority of employers. Reason: all of their tests, including the final exams, are OPEN BOOK!!!! You dont even need to learn anything with this school, just look in your text book. Former Employees have told me that cheating is wide spread, yet the school does nothing about it. You need to do your homework before enrolling at Grantham. You may be in for a bad surprise. I sure was.
Most online schools have open book tests. Even major universities. I took an online class through the University of Arizona and all my tests were open book. Open book has nothing to do with the schools acceptability or the amount you learn. You learn what you put into any program or class.
Grantham is crap, pure and simple. Other schools will not accept their credits. That has already been proven.
It’s true what everyone is saying. They do suck and no one accepts their credits.
Yeah, Grantham does suck donkey balls. As does everyone that works there.
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