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United Methodists begin response to Hurricane Katrina

Aug. 29, 2005

NOTE: A related report, UMNS story #473, is available at
http://umns.umc.org.

A UMNS Report
By Ciona Rouse*

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.

Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast twice Monday morning as a Category
4 storm with winds as high as 140 miles per hour, landing in Louisiana.

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. Eighty percent of the
population fled in advance of the storm, according to news reports.

Louisiana's United Methodist conference center, known as the Wesley
Center, was housing nearly 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.

"Many of them came to us not knowing whether they would have a home to
go back to," Bushnell said.

The storm carried winds of up to 140 miles per hour when it hit
Louisiana, striking the coast not once but twice on the morning of Aug.
29. At least half a million people along the coast were left without
power, according to news reports. The Superdome, which was sheltering
thousands of residents, was struck and its roof damaged.

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. Wideman was en route to an area Presbyterian camp that was
lending mattresses to Trinity for the evacuees.

Church members turned out in force with food, bottled water, air
mattresses and donations.

Katrina continued its push northward through Mississippi.

The hurricane struck Florida's southeastern coast Aug. 25 as a Category
1 storm, killing nine people. 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 Annual (regional) Conference.

Katrina was the sixth hurricane to hit the conference in the past year,
following Charley, Frances, Ivan, Jeanne and Dennis. People in the area
were experiencing "high anxiety and depression" and wondering when the
storm damage was 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. Many of the
areas hit by Katrina were still recovering from Hurricane Frances.

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 Shade and Freshwater retreat provides time away from the disaster
area for clergy and their families with counseling upon request, said
Swanson.

The Alabama-West Florida Conference also had plans under way for
responding to Hurricane Katrina. The conference center in Andalusia,
Ala., and the disaster response center in Mobile were closed Aug. 29
because of the weather.

"We've, unfortunately, gotten used to a lot of hurricanes lately," said
Meredyth Earnest, conference communicator.

The conference was preparing to send disaster response teams into
Mississippi and Louisiana to address the damage expected in those
states. United Methodist leaders in those conferences were staying in
touch and sharing information about possible needs.

The Alabama-West Florida disaster response center was established last
year, when Hurricane Ivan struck.

"I think we're as prepared as we can be," Earnest said. "Everyone has a
system in place for communication."

The Mississippi Conference was preparing to respond to local damage as
well as needs in neighboring conferences. "Most of what we have to do
right now is hurry up and wait," said the Rev. Jeff Pruett, disaster
response coordinator.

"I'm very pleased with the way our churches respond to mission service
to help in other areas," he said.

The conference's response plan includes hiring a full-time staff person
to coordinate relief efforts, dispatching disaster relief trailers to
areas of need, collecting 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, Pruett said.

The United Methodist Committee on Relief, which provides emergency
relief to 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.

*Rouse is a freelance writer in Nashville, Tenn. Betty Backstrom,
Louisiana Conference communicator, contributed to this report.

News media contact: Tim Tanton, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or
newsdesk@umcom.org.

********************

United Methodist News Service
Photos and stories also available at:
http://umns.umc.org

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