wfn.org | [PCUSANEWS] Hurricane-aid effort is in tents: PDA is erecting work

[PCUSA NEWS <PCUSA.NEWS@ECUNET.ORG>]

Note #8908 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

05488
Sept. 16, 2005

Hurricane-aid effort is in tents

Presbyterian Disaster Assistance is erecting work camps for volunteers	  

by Evan Silverstein

GAUTIER, MS - Richard Poole stood on the grounds of Gautier Presbyterian
Church, pointing out the path taken by the whirlwind that devastated the
little church last month. 

	"The source of our damage is a little creek over there," said the
Gautier elder, a member of the church for more than 30 years. "There's a
little inlet that comes up, and wiped out houses over there. It's off the
river. The river is over that way - and when that storm came in, anything
that had water in it came right up."

	The source of wind and water was monstrous Hurricane Katrina, which
slammed into the Mississippi Gulf Coast on Aug. 29 like a runaway freight,
ripping a trail of destruction through this seaside city of 24,000 people
just east of Pascagoula, MS, near the Alabama border.

	"It was mind-boggling," Poole said of the storm and its aftermath,
which miraculously spared his home but ruined his church.
  
	The storm surge pushed three feet of water into Gautier Presbyterian,
although the church is on a site about 20 feet above sea level, and is a mile
from the Gulf.

	The town's only Presbyterian congregation had had a new carpet
installed and renovated the pews about a month ago. Now both are ruined. The
pulpit had to be removed because of water damage, and the sanctuary walls had
to be ripped out. 

	"I'm sure the piano is going to rot any day now," said the Rev. Chris
Bullock, the church's pastor. "The sound board and the organ, we're not sure
what's going to happen to that. It was just a peaceful, small, beautiful
little church."

	The destruction didn't stop at Gautier, which is pronounced
"go-shay." The storm barreled west, where its full brunt was felt in such
Mississippi towns as Gulfport, Ocean Springs and Biloxi, all of which are
home to Presbyterian churches that sustained damage and congregations that
intend to rebuild.

	Damage is everywhere along the Gulf Coast. The road to Gautier is a
lonely highway with little traffic but lots of rubble. Even the big live oak
trees are broken to pieces.

	Bullock, who comes from a long line of Presbyterian ministers,
estimated that the homes of about 20 percent of his parishioners were totally
destroyed. Yet the congregation never missed a service, packing the
storm-damaged sanctuary every Sunday since the hurricane.

	"We're all strong enough to hold up," said Poole's wife, Barbara. "We
keep going. That's all you can do. You keep going and help each other."
 
	Helping each other is what the church has done in Katrina's
aftermath, by allowing Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) to turn its
soccer field into a temporary tent village that will serve as a staging area
for disaster response and recovery assistance.

	Over the next two weeks, the site will be home to as many as 150
volunteers from across the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) who will be removing
debris, making minor repairs, delivering supplies, rolling tarps over broken
roofs and providing spiritual support.

	On Tuesday, about 45 people turned out for a church service to
dedicate the camp, among them church members, governing-body executives and
Rick Ufford-Chase, moderator of the 216th General Assembly of the PC(USA).

	"I want to thank all of you, especially the members of this church
here in Gautier, this morning, because you all are trend-setters," said
Chase, who had just visited the New Orleans area before arriving in Gautier.

	"You are kicking off what's going to be the most important effort
that we're going to make here in the Gulf Coast region," Ufford-Chase said.
"This is the first sign of many things to come. This place will be a place
that will host Presbyterians and other people from across the country, folks
of good will who care desperately and want to come and try to help."

	The moderator read a letter addressed to the congregation from the
Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick, the stated clerk of the PC(USA), and John
Detterick, executive director of the General Assembly Council.

	"It says, 'Dear friends in Christ, our hearts go out to you,'"
Ufford-Chase told his listeners. "'We can only imagine the trials and
tribulations that so many of you have been through in the last two weeks, and
we join Presbyterians all across the country in reaching out to you in love,
concern and prayer.'"

	The Rev. Terry Newland, executive of the Synod of Living Waters, said
the grit of people like the members of Gautier Presbyterian shows how the
Christian faith not only endures in the wake of horrible disasters, but
becomes stronger.

	"You have inspired countless people just by what you've been doing,"
he said during the dedication service. "You may feel lost, but you've been
incredible. I thank you for your work and the work of others up and down the
coast in pulling together and responding to this disaster."

	Newland said the synod office has been flooded with expressions of
concern and inquiries about helping in the relief effort. 

	"There are hundreds of thousands of people across the country and
Puerto Rico that are calling and writing and want to know how they can come
down and stay with you and be with you," he said.

	Gary Payton, a PC(USA) staff member who is helping coordinate the
relief effort, said it is a collaboration between PDA and many other groups
and agencies, including Action by Churches Together International (ACT), a
Geneva-based international alliance of churches and relief agencies of which
PDA is a member. Norwegian Church Aid, which is also part of the ACT network,
has provided relief specialists.

	First Presbyterian Church of Midland, TX, provided financial support
to get the first of PDA's volunteer camps off the ground.

	"This is but a piece of an extraordinary outpouring of coordination,
cooperation and partnership across all of the PC(USA)," Payton said.
"Individuals, congregations coming together, joining relationships supported
by presbyteries, supported by synods and different government bodies."

	Last weekend, a volunteer work team from National Capital Presbytery
drove stake after stake  into the ground, creating a landscape of 30 orange
and gray igloo-shaped tents.
 
	Another three or four such camps should be set up in coming weeks,
and ultimately as many as 15 are expected to spring up along the Mississippi
Gulf Coast, according to PDA.
 
	Organizers say the camps are simple but efficient. Makeshift showers
are made of giant green baggie-like tarps draped around plastic tubing. Five
port-a-potties provide restroom facilities. 

	"We have all the essentials," the Rev. Kelly Allen, a member of the
PDA team and a Missouri pastor who helped coordinate the camp. "We're letting
all the volunteer teams know what the living arrangement is, and so far
everyone I've talked to has been more than willing. They made the offer to
come to help in the area and they're determined to do it under whatever the
circumstances."

	The second PDA camp for volunteers will be put up on a city-owned
site in D'iberville, MS, north of Biloxi, where as many as 7,000 people lost
their homes to Katrina's powerful punch, which leveled entire neighborhoods.
Large yachts were tossed like toys, carried from marinas into residents'
front yards.

	Payton said a third site has not yet been chosen, but property at
Orange Grove Presbyterian Church in hard-hit Gulfport, MS, is under
consideration.

	Meals at the camps will be the responsibility of the work teams. One
already has plans to drive down in rented RVs complete with kitchens. Others
will eat at area restaurants and fast-food outlets.   

	The storm damaged dozens of Presbyterian churches in Louisiana and
Mississippi. Some congregations are scattered. Pastors are trying to stay in
touch with far-flung members.

	In Mississippi, 10 Presbyterian churches near the coast were damaged,
two seriously enough that it isn't clear whether they can be salvaged.

	About 36 PC(USA) churches were damaged in South Louisiana Presbytery;
that's about half of all its churches. About a half-dozen may still be under
water, and another 12 to 15 may have sustained significant damage.

	At First Presbyterian Church in Ocean Springs, MS, volunteer work
crews organized by Presbyterian churches from Tennessee to North Carolina
have already shown up at the church to help clear debris left by the storm. 

	One of the groups erected a cross at the church that says "Hope Is
Alive!"

	"The outpouring of generosity from volunteers forming work crews to
help has been incredible," said First church's pastor, the Rev. Tim Brown.

	Four of the church's five buildings were damaged, including a
historic chapel, the education wing and the pastor's manse, and the church
steeple also was damaged.

	Brown said most congregants' homes suffered some damage, while about
35 percent were destroyed entirely. He said he and his wife have been renting
a home across the street from First church, which wasn't seriously damaged.

	It's still unknown how many of its buildings can be salvaged.

	Meanwhile, the destruction left by Hurricane Katrina has led to the
PC(USA)'s biggest-ever domestic relief response.

	Organizers said the PC(USA) expects to spend as much as $1 million in
setting up and maintaining the camps, which may remain open for 18 months or
more.

	PDA issued a $10 million appeal shortly after the hurricane. Donors
can earmark money to any of three fund - for victims; PC(USA) pastors and
staff; and for rebuilding damaged and destroyed churches.

	Contributions for Hurricane Katrina relief may be sent through normal
mission-giving channels by designating gifts for one of the following
accounts: U.S. hurricane response, DR000169; pastoral care, DR000161; church
damage, DR000163. Gifts by credit card can be made by calling PresbyTel at
(800) 872-3283, or online at  www.pcusa.org/pda/donate/accounts.htm. Checks
payable to the PC(USA) can be mailed to: Presbyterian Church (USA),
Individual Remittance Processing, P.O. Box 643700, Pittsburgh, PA 15264-3700.

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