wfn.org | ABCUSA: Generosity Shown in Hurricane Relief Funding and

["SCHRAMM, Richard" <Rich.Schramm@abc-usa.org>]

Volunteers

American Baptist News Service (Valley Forge, Pa. 10/17/05)--Gifts to One
Great Hour of Sharing (OGHS) following hurricanes Katrina and Rita
topped $1.85 million as of Sept. 30, with more funds on the way from
churches and regions. Ken George, National Ministries' national
coordinator for Intercultural Ministries, Direct Human Services, says
this figure marks a quick, generous response that outpaces any previous
contributions to disaster relief in both size and timing.

Thanks to the extraordinary generosity of American Baptists, George
reports several disbursements, now totaling $163,500.

George's office just released $50,000 in OGHS-designated funds to Church
World Service (CWS), earmarked for relocating hurricane survivors
through CWS's Immigration and Refugee program in collaboration with
partner denominations.

American Baptist Churches of the West (ABCW) received $40,000, in
addition to a previous grant of $20,000, in designated OGHS funds to
assist survivors relocating to California. African American church
members there lost many relatives, but funding enables churches across
ethnicities - Asian, Hispanic and Euro-American - to continue helping
families with food, housing and other material support. Several churches
have taken in families with a one-year commitment to provide rent and
necessities.

In other major efforts, one region sought to multiply its help to
Katrina survivors by adopting an entire town. American Baptist Churches
of Indiana and Kentucky visited the disaster area and adopted Pass
Christian, Miss., located 20 miles west of Biloxi on the Gulf Coast,
with a population of 7,500. Indiana and Kentucky region volunteers
coordinate a distribution center in the town, sorting truckloads of food
and sundries. Since the end of September work teams arrive weekly in
Pass Christian for debris cleanup, building repairs and construction.

Volunteers traveling to Wiggins, Miss., assisted with a month-long
debris cleanup, coordinated through the American Baptist Men's disaster
relief ministry, along with 100 other relief agencies. An impoverished
area with high unemployment, Wiggins was nearly in the eye of the
storm's path. As many as 75 American Baptist men from a dozen regions
cleared downed trees from yards and blocked driveways for people lacking
resources for the work. Within one month, 397 volunteers served 235
clients, working 16,404 total hours. More groups are expected later in
the year and into 2006.

Previously, funding went to CWS for recovery kits, to a church in
Louisiana for its meal program and to ABCW for churches adopting
families. Two grants went through American Baptist Churches of the
South, one to a church in Atlanta, Ga., ministering to survivors and the
other to a church in Mobile, Ala., that was flooded and did not have
insurance coverage for contents. Companis, a social services ministry of
First Baptist Seattle, Wash., received funding to support a volunteer it
sent to the Greater Houston area. The volunteer directs Neighbor to
Neighbor, a new program of Interfaith Ministries that matches hurricane
survivors with churches or individuals offering housing.

American Baptists wishing to support the continuing hurricane relief and
recovery efforts can do so through their church's monthly report of
mission support, designating contributions "OGHS-Hurricane
Katrina/Rita." For online contributions visit www.abc-usa.org and click
on "Give Now."

For more information about regional and local American Baptist relief
and recovery efforts visit "Katrina Response" at
www.nationalministries.org/katrina.

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