The City of Austin is consolidating shelters and moving many people to the Austin Convention Center. About 1,500 evacuees will stay at the center for several weeks. It's not plush quarters, but it offers evacuees a roof over their heads, a cot on which they can sleep and three meals a day.

Inside the convention center, a special area is roped off for children and evacuees have access to free phone and internet service.

Evacuees are wearing bracelets to help authorities keep track of them, and to know who should be allowed into the convention center.

Though many don't know if they even have homes to which they can return, evacuees we spoke with said they're trying to stay positive in a difficult situation.

"I think Austin has been very fair to me in giving me a place to evacuate and put a roof over my head. Absolutely," said Anthony Julian, Galveston evacuee.

Many of the evacuees came from hard-hit Galveston and have lost anything they didn't have with them. Some say they don't intend to go back.

"What I'm thinking -- what I really want to do -- I want to change. Hopefully I just want to go in and survey the damage and see, then I'm probably moving here to Austin, me and my family," said Barbara Mason, evacuee. "We're already ready to start looking for jobs and everything. I don't want to go back. I don't want to move back."

About 150 special needs evacuees who were staying at the Austin Convention Center were moved to the University of Texas Pickle Center.

Several evacuees said they were moved from school to school over the last few days and are relieved they now know they will be at the convention center for a while.

Austin Mayor Will Wynn says it's unclear how long the convention center will remain open, but says it will remain a shelter as long as people need it.

He said he doesn't have a cost estimate yet for how much the city has spent on evacuees, but said it will be far less than the $18 million spent for evacuees of Hurricane Katrina. As with Katrina, he says much of what the city spends should be reimbursed by the federal government.

School shelters

At one point the Red Cross says 23 schools in and around Austin were sheltering evacuees. By Monday night most evacuees had been consolidated to the Austin Convention Center, but six schools were still being used as shelters.

To keep students separated from the evacuees police tape was bound up around open entrances. Security guards also stood watch. Some parents wondered why the schools were still being used for shelters.

“I just thought maybe there were other places they may be able to put them in other than around school children,” said Sheldon Schwindt, Leander ISD parent.

Others were worried for their child’s safety.

“They might interact things like that. That was my main concern,” said Marilyn Holden, Leander ISD parent.

Typically schools are only used as 72-hour emergency shelters. However, when Monday rolled around and evacuees were still at school shelters many districts got more calls from concerned parents.

"There were some who told us I wasn't going to send my child here at all while some of our guests were here," said Dick Ellis, Leander ISD spokesman.

It took some convincing before parents felt comfortable enough to bring their children to class.

"They assured us they would not let the kids back in unless they knew 100 percent the kids would be safe," said Leander ISD parent, Carrie Casco.

Initially, Leander ISD housed 1,100 evacuees in three separate schools. By Monday there were only about 150 evacuees that still needed shelter. The district grouped all of them into one shelter at Rouse High School. Ellis said that campus had the best design to separate evacuees and students. The district notified all 400 students that are enrolled at the school.

“The school called and notified everybody last night,” said Rouse High School student parent, Larry Denton.

“I took him to school this morning and you know, no problems,” said Mabel Maynard, Rouse High School student parent.

All other students in the district got email updates.

Since classes aren't stopping, the Red Cross hopes to close the school shelters by the end of the week. Evacuees hope that's when they can pack up and go home.

"We're working on getting everyone out of those schools," said Marty McKellips, Red Cross.

Officials told KVUE that all of the evacuees sheltered in Leander ISD have been moved to the Austin Convention Center. Round Rock ISD officials say the district will still house some evacuees Tuesday.

If they still can’t go home, school districts in the Austin area may enroll evacuee students. AISD says it is compiling a list of how many may need to be enrolled into their district. It may begin registering evacuee students as soon as this week. Other districts are also surveying the need for enrollment.

Neighbors in need

If you would like to help victims of Hurricane Ike, KVUE News and Randalls grocery stores are teaming up for 'Neighbors in Need.'

The hurricane relief drive began Monday at local Randalls stores. You can scan a card and designate any amount you want to donate toward relief efforts. That amount will be added to your bill.