If there is ever a time for Minnesota Nice to be matched by Minnesota resourcefulness, this might be it.

The state is going to receive at least 3,000 refugees from Hurricane Katrina, and has been asked to accept up to 5,000. For the short term, they’ll stay in barracks at Camp Ripley, with many state agencies already mobilizing to support them.

But over time, the displaced will likely be sent to communities in Minnesota &045; dozens, if not hundreds at a time. We have no doubt that Minnesotans will openly receive those who have lost their homes, loved ones and, in many cases, hope.

As Gov. Tim Pawlenty said, Minnesotans have always proven capable of rising to the occasion.

Yet, meeting this challenge means we will have to show commitment and have to overcome some obstacles of our own making, namely steep cuts in recent years to social service programs and education.

Budget cuts have spread the states social service agencies thin already, to the point where many are hard-pressed to meet just their own bare-bone tasks. They’ll now be asked to support many more people in need of help can they do so?

The same will likely be true of some of Minnesota’s school districts. Although they got a good funding increase this summer, that’s the first in several years. If they are going to be asked to

accept displaced students, it will have an impact on their stretched budgets, too.

But we’ll make it. We’ll have to increase our giving to agencies such as the Red Cross, Salvation Army or Lutheran Social Services agencies that will carry much of the support load. We’ll have to tell our state leadership it’s OK to spend more state funding for such an important objective.

More than that, we’ll have to be open to the idea of refugees moving to our own hometowns. The small town of Bird Island already has said yes to accepting 80 hurricane victims.

Taking in several thousand refugees is one of the most direct ways the state can help in the aftermath of Katrina. We should do it willingly, with the intent of providing true care and hope to victims, and do it to the best of our abilities. That’s more than Minnesota Nice. That’s Minnesota being the leader it’s often been called to be.

&045; Independent (Marshall)