Western
Louisiana delivers aid
to "Katrina" and "Rita" victims
Few in the Diocese
of Western Louisiana have escaped the tremendous emotional impact caused
by images of the death and destruction left in the wake of the passage
of Hurricane Katrina which devastated the states of Louisiana and Mississippi
Monday, August 29.
Many have hosted family members and acquaintances who
were fortunate enough to leave the area before catastrophe struck. The
television images riveted our attention on the souls left to the wrath
of the storm Many in Western Louisiana have been moved to action, to provide
assistance and relief to those victimized by Katrina.
Hurricane "Rita"
Areas
most affected by Hurricane "Rita"
A message concerning Hurricane "Rita"
from Bishop MacPherson
Solomon
House in New Iberia is focus of relief efforts
"Katrina"
Relief
Below are examples of the assistance being provided, as the
community of Christ in Western Louisiana strives to aid its brothers and
sisters afflicted by Hurricane Katrina. News of other efforts will be
added as information becomes available.
St. John's
in Minden
Church of the Redeemer in Ruston
St. Mark's Cathedral in Shreveport
Church of the Epiphany in New Iberia
Church of the Good Shepherd in Vidalia
Morgan
Talton [left], is a member of St. John's in Minden. After hearing
an appeal in church for funds to assist the bishops
of Louisiana and
Mississippi, Morgan set up a lemonade stand on Labor
Day. Assisted
by her friend, Rae Ann Scruggs, Morgan earned $29.50,
which was
promptly sent to aid Katrina recovery efforts.
Church
of the Redeemer in Ruston
Members
of the Redeemer, Ruston Jr. EYC pose here with rector, The
Very Rev'd Ned Head. The group was involved in sorting
and delivering
69 huge boxes of relief items to displaced evacuees.
The 69 boxes
were shipped from North Carolina by UPS.
Church of the
Redeemer in Ruston is currently picking up and delivering FEMA lunch and
supper meals to Trinity Methodist Church in Ruston, which feeds over 300
evacuees daily. Redeemer volunteers are also working in Ruston Evacuee
Centers: at Trinity Methodist Church, at a Louisiana Tech College Dorm,
and at the Ruston Civic Center.
Redeemer is also providing materials to fill the needs
of the Methodist Children's Home. The home is caring for 40 children that
have arrived from south Louisiana.
On Wednesday, September 14 Redeemer began Canterbury
Club activities for Louisiana Tech students, focusing especially on new
student evacuees and their needs.
On the financial side, astonishing parish donations
and fund raising
have been dedicated to local spending on the 5,000+ desperately
needy Katrina evacuees that are now resident in the Ruston area.
These funds are being utilized for a variety of desperate needs.
The Red Cross does not assist persons not in a Red Cross
shelter.
Lincoln parish has many families living with relatives, or in hunting
camps etc.
Redeemer rector, Father Ned Head, is getting an increasing number of
calls from out-of-state Episcopal clergy informing him of such
families. This area of ministry is becoming a big item - many outside
the government's reach need help. Many Lincoln Parish families have taken
in family members and friends.
Our general thanksgiving in The Book of Common Prayer presents these words
that seem harsh until the second line is read and taken to heart. "Thank
you Lord for those disappointments and failures -- that lead us to acknowledge
our dependence on God."
Church of the Redeemer, 504 Tech Drive, Ruston, LA 71270,
318-255-3925, e-mail: redeemer@cox-internet.com
Thad
Andress and Father Wayne Carter of St. John's in Minden present
Mr. Dennis Butcher of the Claiborne Parish Office of Emergency
Preparedness with a check for $9,842 to help feed those persons from
the New Orleans area who escaped the ravages of Hurricane Katrina.
Mr. Butcher and his wife Rose, (not pictured) are overseeing the work
at Harris Baptist Encampment in Claiborne Parish.
Mr.
Steve McCormick, a member of St. John's, Minden, and co-manager
of the Walmart Supercenter in Minden, and Mrs. Jenny Reynolds, coordinator
of the Northwest Louisiana Hurricane Relief Center in Minden, discuss
items needed by the Center.
Christ
Church in Bastrop
Like
many other congregations, Christ Church in Bastrop has been
involved in ministering to evacuees. They have sent clothing, bath tissue,
underwear, personal care items, to evacuees in shelters, nursing homes,
and the Bastrop Municipal Center and other places.
Christ Church is partnering with other churches to provide
meals at the Bastrop Municipal Center for evacuees. The church is also
providing financial support to the Louisiana Red Cross and Operation Morehouse
Compassion-for evacuees' needs in our parish area. The people of Christ
Church have risen to the crisis, making donations of food, clothing, volunteer
time, money, meals and personal care items to evacuees in Bastrop and
Morehouse Parish.
Christ Church, 204 South Locust Street, Bastrop, LA 71221, 318-281-5276,
E-mail: christepi@aol.com.
St.
Alban's in Monroe
Immediately following their Sunday
morning service on August 28, 2005, the people of St. Alban's in Monroe,
Louisiana, went into action. "A meeting was held after after our service
to formulate our plan," said Reese Little, St. Alban's senior warden.
"We dispersed like an army on a mission to ready our parish hall and church
for evacuees." Since this was the second time in the past several years
that the people of St. Alban's had opened their hearts and doors to hurricane
evacuees, they knew their mission. "By 2:30 p.m. on Sunday afternoon we
received our first family with open arms into our hearts and church home,"
continued Little. Evacuees continued to arrive almost hourly during the
night and the days to follow. "At one time we had 43 of our brothers and
sisters in Christ at St. Alban's," Little added.
As our new extended family members arrived, each one
had a unique situation and needs to be met, whether it be attending to
and arranging for pets, obtaining medical care and medications, or giving
a hug and reassurance that 'we are here for you and you are among friends.'
The members of St. Alban's spent day and night manning our shelter, missing
days of work from their jobs, and often ignoring the needs of their own
families. Each and every person who walked through the doors of St. Alban's
touched our hearts in some way. No one will ever be able to understand
the special bond and love that was and is still among us as it was truly,
God's work," Reese Little said. Little continues: "Our
new extended families thanked us numerous times for opening our hearts
and doors to them. We told them over and over it was us who needed to
thank them. St. Alban's has been without a rector for almost two years.
We have survived and thrived well due to our wonderful parishioners. However,
this disaster joined our hearts and strengthened us even more as brothers
and sisters in Christ. We shared many moments of laughter, tears, and
prayers over the past two weeks. Together we worshiped as a community
of faith at St. Alban's with our diverse extended family which includes
members of the Jewish, Catholic, and Muslim faith. It was quite an awesome
experience to be a part of that."
St. Alban's has been able to assist all families and
individuals establish homes in Monroe whether they be temporary or permanent.
Each evacuee now has a place to call home thanks to the hard work of many
dedicated individuals at St. Alban's. "Please note my saying," said Reese
Little, "this is an awesome journey St. Alban's has begun, and it will
continue for us together with our new brothers and sisters in Christ."
St. Alban's received assistance from Christ Episcopal
Church in Bastrop, Louisiana, Grace Episcopal in Monroe, as well as from
numerous individuals in our community and other churches that provided
meals, supplies, and generous donations. Katrina spread death and destruction
and in the midst of this the people of St. Alban's opened hearts and arms
to share their many blessings with others in that time of tragedy.
St. Alban's Episcopal Church, 2816 Deborah Drive, Monroe, LA 71201,
E-mail: saintalbans@centurytel.net
St.
Mark's Cathedral in Shreveport
St. Mark's Cathedral is located in Shreveport, which
is situated in the northwest corner of Louisiana, some sixteen miles from
the Texas border. An estimated 30,000+ evacuees are resident in the Shreveport/Bossier
City metropolitan area. St. Mark's Cathedral in Shreveport is working
hard to supplement the efforts of the Diocese of Western Louisiana, Episcopal
Relief and Development, the Red Cross, the Highland Center in Shreveport,
and the Volunteers of America. We have had a large volume of people wanting
to know how they can best respond to relief efforts and how we are responding
as a Cathedral. Below a list of current needs that we are working to meet.
If you feel you can satisfy any of them please call ANDREA PETROSH in
the church office (221-3360) to verify that that specific need remains
to be met BEFORE taking action. If you think you know someone else who
may benefit from this information, please forward this information bearing
in mind that needs change very quickly and coordination through the church
office is key to effectively addressing these problems.
Highland Center
St. Mark's has "adopted" evacuees from the VA Hospital
in New Orleans staying at the Highland Center. These people are not patients,
but staff members who remained behind to care for patients until they
could all be evacuated. 1. Under the leadership of Skip Simonton, St.
Mark's is providing meals three days a week. Volunteers are needed to
transport meals from St. Mark's to the Highland Center. 2. Some of the
evacuees are being absorbed by the local VA Hospital and are ready to
begin the transition into more permanent housing in the Shreveport-Bossier
area. They need FURNITURE, DISHES, FLATWARE, etc. for a move-in on Tuesday,
September 13. They will be setting up housekeeping from scratch. If you
want to pledge to provide SPECIFIC items, please call Andrea (221-3360).
3. We are still looking for a position for an OPERATING ROOM ASSISTANT.
If you have a position available, please contact the church office.
The Hardtner Camp & Conference Center
Camp Hardtner is used as an evacuation shelter
for a number of facilities in South Louisiana any time there is an impending
storm. Most of those residents have returned to their homes but the camp
is housing many displaced people. An e-mail from Bishop MacPherson has
indicated they have needs for the following items: diapers, deodorant,
shaving cream, bath towels and wash cloths. We are collecting all of these
items at St. Mark's for distribution to Camp Hardtner and other shelters.
We are in daily communication with the shelters about their immediate
needs and we will keep you informed as those change.
Drivers needed
We are also in need of volunteers to transport
items to Camp Hardtner. If you choose to volunteer for transportation,
Andrea will call you when a delivery needs to be made. RED CROSS As we
have said, financial contributions are encouraged but there are items
that are needed now as people try to move on to more permanent surroundings.
Luggage and containers
Thanks to the generosity of the people of Shreveport,
the evacuees are beginning to accumulate basic necessities and are in
need of luggage (preferably wheeled), plastic storage containers for their
new belongings, and watches. All items for the Red Cross are now to be
taken to Summer Grove Baptist Church (South Park Mall).
Church
of the Epiphany, New Iberia
After delivering a truckload of relief supplies
to Gulfport, Mississippi, only days after "Katrina" devastated the Louisiana,
Mississippi and Alabama Gulf coasts, Church of the Epiphany in New Iberia
has defined another very important role in recovery efforts growing daily.
 |
| Epiphany rector, the Rev'd Mark McDonald, and his son Cooper look over relief supplies |
Supply
Center
We have been able to help several
relief agencies by supplying them with specific items they could not locate
themselves. Our initial call for supplies to deliver to affected communities
brought a large quantity of goods such as canned goods, dry goods (rice,
pasta etc.) paper products (plates, toilet paper) baby needs (diapers,
non-concentrated formula, baby food) blankets, and hygiene items.
Not only has the flow of goods made possible the Mississippi
donation, it has made Epiphany a supplier to the established relief agencies
that are now operating in the affected areas. Because of the extreme generosity
of Christians supporting Epiphany's call for goods, the church has been
able to supply help agencies with specific items they were unable to obtain
themselves. We're ready to deliver goods ourselves when we're shown a
need, but we will also assist others with the needs they encounter.
Church of the Epiphany, 303 West Main, New Iberia, LA 70563-3642,
E-mail: church@epiphanyiberia.org,
Church of the Good Shepherd
in Vidalia
Our location in Vidalia places Good Shepherd
on the edge of the catastrophe. We only sustained high winds and rain
that damaged trees and limited power loss. Parts of Natchez, Mississippi
across the river are still without power.
 |
| Dr.
Brent Taunton, and the Rev'd Deacon Jim Benbrook, make ready to deliver
gallons of spicy "Jambalaya" to evacuees in the Vidalia area. |
Open to the
Evacuees
At The Episcopal
Church of the Good Shepherd, we opened our doors last Tuesday and Wednesday
evenings( 8/30-31) and fed a total of 80 people, half of which were from
New Orleans and Covington, La. Tuesday evening our power was intermittent
and when power finally went out again at the church, we added a candlelight
atmosphere to our visitors who numbered 45. We ate and prayed together
well into the evening. On Wednesday evening, we ate again, passed out
songbooks and came together in community with our visitors and ended the
evening in praying with Compline. Currently, there are at least thirteen
people being housed by our parishioners. More visitors and family members
from the Gulf Coast are expected as their homes and jobs have disappeared.
More guests expected
We have invited several more and we are expecting the
Rev'd Roger and Elisabeth Allen from Holy Comforter in New Orleans, Their
home was close to City Park in N.O. We have offered them to stay in our
home for an indefinite period of time until they are directed by their
Bishop as to where they are to go. They have not arrived yet. They've
lost everything. When leaving New Orleans they started for Vidalia and
then proceeded in a more northeasterly direction thinking Vidalia would
be hit as well. They went on to Birmingham, Alabama and are staying with
another of our Seminary classmates. We are attempting to feed the hungry,
when we are made aware of their plight. In addition to feeding evacuees
at our church, we have also settled into a "Jambalaya ministry." We prepare
and deliver fifteen gallon pots of "Jambalaya" to evacuees in our area.
We have made such deliveries to a evacuee center in Natchez, to an RV
park full of evacuees here in Vidalia, and to the Red Cross Center in
Vidalia.
Church of the Good Shepherd, 806 Concordia Avenue, Vidalia, LA 71373,
318-336-7405
Organization is key to maximum impact
Bishop MacPherson further suggests that those wishing
to take actions such as those outlined above organize by convocations
so that efforts can be maximized and duplications of effort be minimized.
"Know that I will indeed keep you posted daily, and more if necessary,"
said the bishop. In the interim, may we hold those who have been displaced
is such a major manner in our prayers."