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Hoosier United Methodist News Archives
| Hoosier United Methodists together |
September 2005 |
United Methodists begin response to Hurricane Katrina
By Ciona Rouse
A UMNS Report
United Methodist churches around the Gulf Coast are responding to the needs in their communities in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, after the Category 4 storm made landfall in Louisiana Aug. 29.
United Methodist churches in and around the New Orleans area were shut down over the Aug. 27-28 weekend as residents of the city participated in an unprecedented mandatory evacuation.
Louisiana's United Methodist conference center, known as the Wesley Center, housed 200 guests. Sixty of the evacuees were residents of a New Orleans nursing care facility for mentally challenged people.
"I am so proud of our staff. As always they are working hard to meet the physical and spiritual needs of these people who have been displaced from their homes," said the Rev. Richard Bushnell, director of the Wesley Center. In addition to offering shelter and food, staff members were counseling guests.
Trinity United Methodist Church in Ruston, La., was serving as an overflow shelter for the American Red Cross. Program staff, pastors, church members and community volunteers were feeding and housing more than 150 evacuees in the church gymnasium.
"We expect to have upwards of 250 people before this is over," said Terri Russell, administrative assistant to the Rev. Fred Wideman, church pastor. Church members turned out in force with food, bottled water, air mattresses and donations.
The hurricane struck Florida's southeastern coast Aug. 25 as a Category 1 storm. United Methodists in the state were assessing the damages and addressing the needs of churches and people in the cities affected.
"We need volunteer teams. We need money to carry out relief and to rebuild areas. And we need prayers," said Marilyn Swanson, director of the risk management office for the Florida Conference.
Katrina was the sixth hurricane to hit the conference in the past year. People in the area are experiencing "high anxiety and depression" and wondering when the storm damage is going to stop, Swanson said.
The Florida Conference's storm recovery center was getting the most phone calls from the Miami/Dade area, where reports have been received of damage to churches and parsonages, according to Swanson.
The conference is building care teams and setting up training on how to care for people during disaster. The conference also hosts a retreat for clergy and people working with disaster relief following such a crisis.
The Alabama-West Florida Conference prepares to send disaster response teams into Mississippi and Louisiana to address the damage expected in those states. United Methodist leaders in those conferences are staying in touch and sharing information about possible needs.
"I think we're as prepared as we can be," Earnest said.
The Mississippi Conference prepares to respond to local damage as well as needs in neighboring conferences. The conference's response plan includes hiring relief efforts coordinator, dispatching disaster relief trailers to areas of need, receiving money from local congregations, opening church buildings for shelter and placing volunteer information on its Web site, www.mississippi-umc.org, after initial assessments of the damages are made.
The Mississippi Conference had already assembled flood buckets filled with cleaning supplies to help people recover. Last year, the conference provided about 2,000 buckets to Florida and Alabama following the slew of hurricanes that struck those states.
The United Methodist Committee on Relief, which provides emergency relief for many areas of the world, has systems in place for responding to Hurricane Katrina.
"UMCOR is making the necessary preparations to respond immediately to this powerful hurricane," said Tom Hazelwood, disaster response executive of the United Methodist Committee on Relief.
To learn how to make flood buckets, a project of UMCOR, visit http://gbgm-umc.org/umcor/kits.cfm.
To volunteer or to donate online to UMCOR's relief efforts, visit http://methodistrelief.org.
Besides the Web site, donations to UMCOR's relief efforts can be made through local churches or sent directly to UMCOR, 475 Riverside Drive, Room 330, New York, NY 10015. Designate checks to UMCOR for Advance No. 982523 and "Hurricanes 2005 Global." Credit-card donations may be made by calling 800-554-8583.
Last updated on 25 Apr 2008