wfn.org | [PCUSANEWS] PDA sends $25,000 to South Carolina

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Note #7500 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

PDA sends $25,000 to South Carolina
02435
October 31, 2002

PDA sends $25,000 to South Carolina

Money will help victims of storm-spawned tornado rebuild

by Evan Silverstein

LOUISVILLE - Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) has sent $25,000 from the
One Great Hour of Sharing offering to New Harmony Presbytery in South
Carolina, where a community was damaged by a tornado on Oct. 11.

When Tropical Storm Kyle careened along coastal South Carolina, at least one
tornado spawned by the storm ripped through several blocks of the city of
Georgetown, damaging more than 75 homes, 25 seriously. PDA said 16 were
uninsured.

"The community has rallied and ... (is) working with the Red Cross and United
Way," said the Rev. Samuel M. Cooper, executive presbyter and stated clerk
for New Harmony Presbytery, which takes in 79 congregations and nearly 14,000
people in 12 counties. "The worst aspect of this disaster is that FEMA
(Federal Emergency Management Agency) will not provide assistance, because
its threshold of total damage was not met." 

Georgetown Presbyterian Church, whose pastor is the Rev. Ben Sloan, has
served as a shelter for some survivors during a power outage, said Stan
Hankins, PDA's associate for U.S. disaster response, who said the church
itself "lost part of the roof and sustained some water damage, but is well
insured."

Alonzo Washington, a PDA disaster-response team member from Charleston, SC,
went to the area to help organize relief efforts.

"In situations when federal assistance is not available," Hankins said, "it
is all the more important for the church to step forward to help those in
need." 

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