wfn.org | CRWRC ready with emergency response as Gustav hits Gulf Coast

[George Conklin <gconklin@igc.org>]

> IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CRWRC-US media contact, Beth DeGraff, cell 616-648-7821

CRWRC ready with emergency response as Gustav hits Gulf Coast

SEPTEMBER 1, 2008 ? "CRWRC has response equipment staged and ready in the most vulnerable areas of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast," says Bill Adams, director for Disaster Response Services for the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee
(www.crwrc.org). "We're prepared and ready to go."

As America waits out Hurricane Gustav today, CRWRC-DRS construction coordinator Arnie Gustafsen is traveling from Hattiesburg, Mississippi, to southeast Louisiana assessing damage and gauging emergency response needs. Gustafsen will travel to the Houma and Lake Charles, Louisiana, LA areas as safety and weather allow.

CRWRC has more than 30 local emergency response partners in the Gulf States being impacted by Gustav. The agency has an active list of over 2,000 volunteers, some of whom are already scheduled to arrive on the Gulf Coast over the next few weeks to continue ongoing reconstruction projects after Hurricane Katrina.

â??CRWRC is one agency that still has a working presence on the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina,â?? Adams says. â??Our volunteers and local partners have rebuilt  about 5,000 homes in Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi in the last three years. Those families and homes are again in jeopardy, in addition to those who are still living with damage from Hurricane Katrina on a daily basis.â??

CRWRCâ??s mission is to reach out those who are most vulnerable to disaster, poverty and injustice in disaster response and community development, seeking out the elderly, disabled, indigent and those beyond assistance from other agencies and organizations. CRWRC ministered to 1.5 million people, many in the worldâ??s least developed countries, with more than US$26 million in relief and development programming in 2007.

CRWRC is also formulating an international response to Hurricane Gustav in Cuba according to Relief Team leader Jacob Kramer. Gustav killed nearly 100 people in the Caribbean before making landfall in the U.S. this morning.

â??It looks like the U.S. may be spared Gustavâ??s worst,â?? Adams said after a conference call with Gustafsen and other members of the team this morning. â??Houma and locations to the west are taking the biggest hit, and New Orleans and east to Mississippi, there is a lot of wind and rain ? but not the terrible destruction we had with Katrina?.Government preparation and response, and evacuations in this case have been outstanding.â??

CRWRC is accepting financial support for Hurricane Gustav response. Donations can be made online by going to the Donations page at www.crwrc.org, and clicking on â??Hurricanes 2008.â?? Gifts designated â??Hurricanes 2008â?? can be mailed to: CRWRC, 2850 Kalamazoo Avenue SE, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 49560-0600, or called in tollfree to 1-800-55-CRWRC.

Members of the Press wishing to interview CRWRC-DRS manager Bill Adams about Hurricane Gustav response can call, cell 616-560-2782, or CRWRC executive director Andrew Ryskamp at  cell 616-498-0816.

For more information about these programs, visit www.crwrc.org or call 1-800-55-CRWRC.

CRWRC is a Christian, non-profit organization of the Christian Reformed Church in North America ministering in development, relief, and justice education with people in need in  30 countries around the world since 1963.

> Beth DeGraff
> US Media and Justice Contact
> 2850 Kalamazoo SE
> Grand Rapids, MI  49560
> degraffb@crcna.org
> ph: 616-241-1691 x4191
> fax: 616-724-0806