Austin American-Statesman from Austin, Texas • 12

A12 Austin American-Statesman Monday, May 26, 1986 Hands Across America I A 1 -N ft 1 '5. Mi. I 9 i 13. i KWUlMWIt- AP Photos Gene Laurent, left, and family hands at the corn and soybean farm At one end of the Hands Across America line in Long Beach, celebrities Raquel Welch, in skirt, Cicely Tyson, Ben Vereen and iss America line skirt, Cicely Tys Thousands join the cross-country Dudley Moore join hands with supporters at the Queen Mary. Austinites driven by past hardship, concern for future of Phoenix, Ariz, belonging to his er.

It took a lot. We all had to quit school early." Others came to Arlington for other reasons. Many said simply that Hands Across America was a good cause, and others wanted to be a part of history. One woman said she doubted the money raised would go where it was really needed, and said she came only because some friends talked her into it. Stanley Delgado of Austin worked the night shift at a grocery store to get off work at 7 a.m.

so that he could be off Sunday and go to Arlington with his wife, Ida. "It's history in the making," he said. Ida Delgado said she had not been committed to the cause until she saw a recent television show on Midwest volunteers members ioin By Jim Phillips American-Statesman Staff ARLINGTON Some people came because they wanted to be part of history, some because they saw hungry people on a television show and some just to be with friends. Raphale Larkin came because she remembered. "When I was a little girl, we were on welfare," said Larkin, 38, of Austin.

"When you stand in the welfare line, you know what it feels like. It was so important to me that I stand in line that I came with the Larkin was one of more than 300 people who rode in chartered buses from Austin to Arlington to sing and Past neglect fuels doubts of homeless about support effort chain in the desert 25 miles west was growing up in Wichita Falls her father was not sending child support payments and her mother was having trouble feeding her children. "I want to remember where I came from, appreciating where I've been able to get to. I don't want to ever forget my past. There were times when we didn't have any lights.

There were times when we didn't have any gas. There were times when we didn't have any food. Or the food didn't last and it would be four or five days before we had a decent meal. "My sister went to work. My brother went to work.

I went to work. My uncle went to the military. And we took care of my moth I I winding red and white colored cord between the desolate spots that had no people. Kannry said more than 200 miles worth of cord was available to make up for the lack of the 200,000 people that would have been needed to span the Panhandle. While a communication network with more than 80 contact points was set up throughout Potter County, some of the people of Washburn weren't quite sure what to do beyond joining hands.

"When we supposed to let go?" asked one woman 10 minutes into the event. "After the songs are over with," answered another. "Well, why didn't anybody bring a radio?" said the woman. I'll parents in Chatham, III. hunger.

"It made you want to go out and do something," she said. Nei- thpr haH haan inun V0H with nthar recent charity activites such as USA For Africa. However, they said the thing that made Hands Across America unique was that it gave everyone an active role. "With USA For Africa you just do- nate or not," Stanley Delgado said. "Here you're able to go and do something." Richard Morgan, a social worker with the Department of Human Services in Austin, agreed.

"This is direct involvement," he said. Morgan brought his 6-year-old son because "I thought it would be important for Chris to go, too, so he'll remember it." bandwagon" to fight hunger. His mission, he pointed out, has been helping the poor since 1972. Based on his experience, Teuerle said Long Beach does not have that great a hunger and homeless problem. Sixty percent of the mission's beds are being used, he said.

The mission's kitchen can feed three times as many people as it does now. The need to help the poor "at least in this community is not that great," he said. Gino Bachiochi has a different point of view, however. Pointing to a blanket resting on a bus bench at the corner of Pacific Avenue and Fourth Street, Bachiochi said. my home.

Or what's left of it." Antonne Kalopolis, who was sit- -ting on the bench Bachiochi calls home, said he has seen Bachiochi nf Pima rtAfnai ri ra ttia 1960s. Others welcomed the benefits from the fund-raiser: "We're all excited about it, and we're hoping we're going to benefit financially," said the Rev. Mark Holsinger, di- 1 rector of the Los Angeles Mission. Three hundred people who use the mission, which feeds about 600 daily, were on the Hands Across America line in aowniown los Aneeles "The guys told me we had 300 of mem on ine line ana iney were asu-ing, 'This is supposed to be for us. What are we going to get out of I said, 'I don't Holsinger said.

Holsinger said he hopes the event will focus America's attention on the nation's hungry and homeless. Already he's seen donations in crease during the past two to three years. "Maybe after this happens it will be a bigger increase," he said. asked to contribute $10 nr mnro with T-shirts and visors offered for larger donations but in the rush to fill gaps across the country, nizers simply urged people to show up and contribute later. At the White House, the line looped from Pennsylvania Avenue around the driveway and was filled primarily with staff members and their families.

The Reagans spent 21 minutes on a platform on the North Portico. Participation by the Reagans had been ruled out as late as Thursday, but, upon the urging of his wife and daughter, Maureen, the President decided to join in. Glancing occasionally at a piece of paper, the President sang all three songs. Also in the line were White House chief of staff Donald Kegan, press secretary James Bra- uj scaicu in a wucciuiiair, an usner in a tuxedo, and a cook in a chef's hat. "I'm the block captain here," said Maureen Reagan, when report-, ers asked the President whether the event had succeeded.

"It was a terrific success. Staff Photo by Carlos Sanchez Participants in the Hands Across America hunger project line U.S. 287 in Washburn, a small farming community east of Amarillo. Handholding breaks ice in Panhandle hold hands with the rest of the country. "Even if it doesn't stop all the hunger in the world, I think it will do a lot of good just for them to know that someone cares," she said.

"There are so many people out there who think that no one cares. They think that no one knows how hard it is. It's going to matter to them. It's going to make a difference on if they will keep trying or if they will give up. "To me, Hands Across America is a kindness.

It says, 'We love you and we care about Hands Across America was designed to raise money and concern for the hungry and homeless in America. The route came closest to Austin when it "A hundred and seventy-five if you throw in the dogs," one resident said. Steve Kannry, the regional director for the project, estimated the rural Panhandle roads had more than 10,000 people holding hands, while another 12,000 gathered in Amarillo itself. Country star Kenny Rogers attracted nearly 3,000 people in the bleak region of the Texas-New Mexico border near Glenrio on Interstate 40, Kannry said. The back of a flatbed truck made for an improvised stage and seven people each from New Mexico and Texas were chosen to join Rogers.

While the gaps that everyone predicted for this sparsely populated region did exist, small clusters of people could be seen almost every The grants went to organizations in Dallas, Texarkana and Wichita Falls, which were all on the route of Hands Across America. A group of skydivers decided to try Hands Above America near the town of Electra, holding hands as they fell before opening their parachutes and joining the earthbound line. But not everyone who enjoyed the event had been planning for it for weeks. Several minutes after the line dissipated in Dallas, two men sitting on a window sill were describing how much they enjoyed the experience. "It just feels great," said Eddie Hudson.

"Something deep down inside just comes out. It's something I think we should do more often, just being together." His friend, Ed-mond Bush said holding hands with the crowd and singing was "a very beautiful experience." They were asked when they decided to join Hand Across America, and Hudson said, "I didn't. I just came downtown this morning" to visit Bush. y- Raphale Larkin: 'It will do a lot of good just for them to know that someone passed through Fort Worth and Dallas. Seven buses full of Austinites rolled out of the City Coliseum parking lot just after 8 a.m.

Sunday to join the line in Arlington. Larkin is a procurement clerk for Motorola in Austin, but when she mile as far out as 25 miles east and west of Amarillo. One West Texan said it was impossible to drive down U.S. Highway 287 without knowing that this event, which sought to raise between $50 million and $100 million for the nation's poor, was going on. The mood in Washburn, as in much of the rest of the area, was festive.

In a town not used to catering to too many strangers, holding hands with them for 15 minutes seemed to melt the ice. Volunteers designated as line marshals were dispersed along each mile marker throughout Potter County and the people took their jobs seriously. Donald and Diane Sherman, of Amarillo worked at a steady pace 15 minutes before the event un- United fai nate, lasted 15 minutes. The hand-holding singers were a mosaic of Americana. On 12th Avenue in New York City, Hells Angels parked their motorcycles and joined the line.

In Princeton, N.J., four generations of the Mylod family interrupted their family reunion and lined up on Stockton Street. In Cecil County, scuba divers and boaters continued the line across the Susquen-hanna River. In Baltimore, Mimmo Cricchio and Mary Ann Brulinski and members of their wedding party including former baseball pitcher and underwear model Jim Palmer stood in line before heading to the church. And so it went mile after mile of people, a human story every step of the way. In Youngstown, Ohio, 101-year-old Sidney Bean, a retired railroad worker, joined the line.

In Glenrio, Texas, singer Kenny Rogers straddled the Texas-New Mexico border on Interstate 40. Navaho and Hopi Indians joined the line in New Mexico, as did did a string qf paper dolls sent by schoolchildren in New York 4 By Francisco Delgado Knlght-Ridder News Service LONG BEACH, Calif. At 11:45 a.m., on Pacific Coast Highway near Wilmington Boulevard in Wilmington, John O'Brien was ignoring pleas to join the thousands queuing up to hold hands. O'Brien said he didn't think much of the millions who were lining up across the country to hold hands for a few minutes, sing a few songs and raise money for the homeless. Homeless, toothless and dressed in tattered clothes, the 36-year-old O'Brien said, "I ain't got no home.

I sleep out on the fields. I haven't eaten in three days." O'Brien declined to say which field he calls home. "You from the FBI?" he asked. When assured that the visitor was not a law enforcement officer, O'Brien said he has been sleeping in the same spot for 1 0 years ever since he got laid off from a sign-manufacturing company. "I'm drunk now," O'Brien said looking at the line of people.

"But I don't buy it. Why are they holding hands? They should be giving people loose change." O'Brien's skepticism of the 15-minute event Sunday was echoed by other homeless people and by those who work with the homeless. "Where are these people the rest of the time?" asked Wayne Teuerle, executive director of the Long Beach Rescue Mission. "I think it's a big hype and it's a big publicity thing." Teuerle's Pacific Avenue mission, which is funded by private donations, feeds the hungry and offers beds for the homeless. He said the celebrities participating in Hands Across America and its organizers were "hopping on the U.S.

Capitol. "It is part of our Judeo-Christian responsibility to reach out and help those who are hungry or less fortunate than ourselves." Hands Across America plans to spend 10 percent of its contributions for direct relief, such as emergency food and shelter, but said the rest of the money would go for innovative projects designed to lift people out of poverty. At Battery Park in Manhattan, the eastern terminus of the line, organizer Kragen estimated that 6 million people would participate. Initially, everyone in the1 line was By Carlos Sanchez American-Statesman Staff WASHBURN This ol' boy from Amarillo walked into Crows Short Stop Grocery and asked, "Whereabouts is that Hands Across America going to be?" It was a scene repeated throughout the morning in Washburn as this West Texas farm community played host to a small link in what was hoped to be a chain stretching across America, 650 miles of which passed through Texas. More than 250 people gathered in Washburn Sunday to do their part for Hands Across America.

That's a sizable amount considering this town just east of Amarillo has a population of about 120. Hands all take a step." Some came as much to see it as to take part, including 84-year-old Melba Barton of Dallas, who insisted that her relatives come downtown with her to be a part of the event. "I think this is wonderful, to see people holding hands and helping people, contributing. And all kinds of people children, babies, different ethnic groups. I like to see patriotism in any sense." Clarence S.

Pittard of Dallas said he decided to drive into downtown because "I'm just an interested person. To me it's a form of mission work. This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. The people, the feeling of camaraderie, of caring, is wonderful." The project, sponsored by USA For Africa, had already brought some money to Texas before it officially happened. USA For Africa, which sponsored the Live Aid concerts, made three $10,000 grants to Texas cities and 27 others around the country as "seed money" for groups helping hungry and homeless people.

AP The President and Mrs. Reagan, joined by daughter Maureen and children of the White House staff, participate at the White House. to fill a gap in the unpopulated region. In Arizona, helicopters flew over 94 miles of desert, providing a symbolic link over a stretch deemed medically unfit for a human assembly. Actresses Bo Derek and Linda Gray joined the line in BIythe, Calif.

Television co-host Ed McMahon stood on Sunset Blvd. in Los Angeles. "Jesus himself was concerned for the poor and fed the hungry of his time," said the Rev. Billy Graham, who joined the linenear the.