VALLEY FORGE, PA (ABNS)-As a tangible expression of their solidarity, the Japan Baptist Union (JBU) donated $15,585 for Hurricane Katrina relief efforts of ABCUSA.
In a letter to International Ministries soon after the hurricane hit, Rev. Kazuo Oya of JBU said, "The news of [the] devastating Hurricane Katrina was a shock to us," and added, "Many people in our churches want to do something to help."
"Disasters have a way of breaching cultural boundaries that can otherwise divide people, such as language and customs. JBU's show of support demonstrates - once again - how barriers to unity dissipate in the face of Christian concern for a neighbor, no matter how many miles separate them," said Ken George, National Ministries' national coordinator for Intercultural Ministries, Direct Human Services.
Now, several months later, focus on administration of hurricane recovery remains strong in National Ministries, which continues to partner with churches in Baton Rouge and New Orleans through Baptist Builders and with American Baptist Churches of Indiana and Kentucky in its Pass Christian, Miss., town recovery project. National Ministries' Volunteers In Mission program is regularly helping to organize and send teams for work in Pass Christian and other stricken areas.
Support for the work of recovery continued into 2006. World relief officer, Lisa Rothenberger, reported that as of February, ABCUSA had received more than $3.75 million for relief of survivors of Hurricane Katrina, as well as Hurricanes Rita and Wilma. At the end of November 2005, 90 days following the disaster, the denomination had raised $3.2 million, the largest amount ever raised for a single disaster in that short amount of time, said Rothenberger.
Andrew C. Jayne American Baptist Churches, USA Mission Resource Development http://www.abc-usa.org/