HOUSTON — Charmaine Bryant waited three hours in line Friday for what she called "my lifeline" to pull her and her two teenage daughters out of the despair of being shelter-dwelling evacuees from Hurricane Katrina.
After agreeing not to spend the money on alcohol, tobacco or weapons, Bryant, 36, received a debit card worth $2,000 from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
"This is going to help us start living a real life," Bryant said, holding the plastic card in the air. "This is for real clothes, food, maybe a place to live, all the things that we lost."
Like thousands of families, the Bryants have been living in the Astrodome for a week after fleeing New Orleans. On Friday, Houston officials said they hoped to close the Astrodome shelter and three other sites by Sept. 17.
Bryant is ready to move, and the debit card is a "big, big step" toward a new life in Houston, she said.
But late Friday, FEMA officials in Washington said that distribution of the cards at the Astrodome and at shelters in Dallas and San Antonio had proved too cumbersome, and that the program would not be expanded to other locations.
Evacuees everywhere are still eligible for $2,000 in immediate aid, officials said, but those not in the Texas shelters will first have to open checking accounts, where they will receive the money by direct deposit. Evacuees can register for the aid by phone or at the FEMA website.
People being sheltered in the Astrodome, Dallas and San Antonio will continue to receive debit cards.
In past disasters, FEMA preferred to use direct deposit. But the Katrina disaster has left some people so bereft, that it was seen as impractical.
The Texas shelters were used as a test for the debit card because they are the largest centers for Katrina victims. For FEMA, much criticized for its other efforts to help evacuees, the card was an immediate hit.
A rumor Thursday that the cards would be distributed at the Reliant Center, adjacent to the Astrodome, brought thousands of evacuees, many from shelters but others from Houston hotels, motels and homes where they have taken refuge.
The rumor proved to be false, and thousands were sent away unhappy and discouraged.
By Friday, the debit card program was for real, and lines starting forming about 6 a.m. outside the Reliant Arena, another facility in the Reliant Park complex.
