wfn.org | Word received from congregations in Rita's path

[COBNews@aol.com]

Date: Sept. 29, 2005
Contact: Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford
V:  847/742-5100 F: 847/742-6103
E-MAIL: _CoBNews@AOL.Com_ (mailto:CoBNews@AOL.Com) 
 

CHURCH OF THE BRETHREN NEWSLINE
Sept. 29, 2005
 
Word is received from Church of the Brethren congregations in Rita's  path
 
Sept. 29, 2005 (Elgin, IL) --  Word has been received from two of the  three 
Church of the Brethren congregations that were in the path of Hurricane 
Rita, 
and whose members lived in areas of Louisiana and Texas under mandatory  
evacuation orders. 
 
The Roanoke (La.) Church of the Brethren considers itself "amazingly  
blessed" to have been in an area with little destruction from the storm,
pastor	
James Balmer told Roy Winter, director of Emergency Response for the Church
of  
the Brethren General Board. Similarly, the Falfurrias (Texas) Church of the  
Brethren sent word to district minister Joan Lowry that they are all fine.  
Hurricane Rita went north of the Falfurrias area.
 
No district or denominational staff have yet heard from members of Lake  
Charles (La.) Community Church of the Brethren. The town of Lake Charles is 
still 
closed, Winter said, and no access is allowed. "We don't know anything,  
which is frustrating," he said. As far as anyone knows, he said, all of the  
Church of the Brethren members in Lake Charles evacuated before the hurricane
 hit.
 
Pastor Balmer and his family were able to return to Roanoke, which is 25  
miles east of Lake Charles, on Sunday evening. The small town of about 300  
people suffered only minor damage, with many large trees down but none having
 hit 
homes. But the disaster is enormous if one travels just five miles in any  
direction from Roanoke, the Balmers reported to an Emergency Response
volunteer. 
 
"Roanoke is certainly amidst the destruction, but amazingly most of it	
missed the homes," said Winter. "Powerlines, etc., are all down and maybe out
 for 
weeks." The Church of the Brethren Emergency Response/Service Ministries is  
working on sending generators to help the Roanoke and Lake Charles  
congregations. "While generators are difficult to come by, the Western Plains
 District, 
specifically Wichita First Church of the Brethren and McPherson Church	of
the 
Brethren in Kansas, have been able to locate generators that will be  shipped

to Louisiana later this week," reported Winter. Emergency Response also  is 
beginning planning for a partnership with the Roanoke church to look at  
meeting needs in the area.
 
The Church of the Brethren is a Christian denomination committed to  
continuing the work of Jesus peacefully and simply, and to living out its
faith  in 
community. The denomination is based in the Anabaptist and Pietist faith  
traditions and is one of the three Historic Peace Churches. It celebrates its
 300th 
anniversary in 2008. It counts about 130,000 members across the United	
States and Puerto Rico, and has missions and sister churches in Brazil, the  
Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Nigeria.
 
# # #
 
For more information contact:
 
Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford
Director of News Services
Church of the  Brethren General Board
1451 Dundee Ave.
Elgin, IL 60120
847-742-5100  ext. 260
_cbrumbaugh-cayford_gb@brethren.org_ 
(mailto:cbrumbaugh-cayford_gb@brethren.org) 
 
*****************************************************************
The  Church of the Brethren Newsline is produced by Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford,

 director of news services for the Church of the Brethren General Board. 
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