wfn.org | [UMNS-ALL-NEWS] UMNS# 400-Texas United Methodists need help to rebuild after Ike

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

Texas United Methodists need help to rebuild after Ike

>Sep. 25, 2008

NOTE: Photographs and related stories are available at
http://umns.umc.org.

>By Kathy L. Gilbert*

HIGH ISLAND, Texas (UMNS)-Jerry Harrington has lived on the Gulf Coast
of Texas all of his life, but Hurricane Ike finally convinced him to
leave.

"This is the worst I have ever seen, I'm not going to build it back," he
said as he walked around the rubble of his home left behind by the Sept.
13 storm. "I'm all right without my house, but I just can't stand losing
all my mementos."

Harrington is one of about 500 residents of this scenic coastal town who
have returned to find their communities wrecked and their lives changed
forever.

The monster storm damaged more than 100 United Methodist churches and
parsonages in the denomination's Texas Annual (regional) Conference.
About a million people are without electricity and other utilities, and
it may be a month or longer before power is restored.

"Some officials are saying Ike will be the largest natural disaster in
Texas history, and most of it occurred within the bounds of the Texas
Annual Conference," said Bishop Janice Riggle Huie, who oversees more
than 700 United Methodist churches in southeast Texas.

Huie and church leaders have traveled daily to churches and communities
affected by the hurricane, offering prayers and comfort and assessing
what is needed to rebuild. Representatives of the United Methodist
Committee on Relief have also toured the devastation.

The bishop has issued a church-wide call for help, asking that a special
offering be collected on Sept. 28 for hurricane recovery work in Texas,
Louisiana, Haiti and other parts of the United States. The donations are
being managed through The Advance, the denominational giving program for
missions and relief.

In a Sept. 22 letter to her colleagues on the Council of Bishops, Huie
said that while the cost of rebuilding from 2005's Hurricane Rita was $5
million, "Ike's challenge will far exceed Rita. ... I am asking for your
help."

>Sifting through the rubble

Church leaders in Texas have provided pastoral support as they assess
damages to both church property and the communities served by those
congregations.

Visiting the Bolivar Peninsula on Sept. 24 was the Rev. Richard A.
Burnham, superintendent of the church's Southeast District, east of
Houston. Walking through the ruined parsonage of the Rev. Jeff and Sandy
Craft in Crystal Beach, the emotional toll wore on him.

"I see something Sandy would want," Burnham said, picking through the
ruins. He gathered a few pieces of unbroken china, a waterlogged photo
album and a framed pair of baby shoes, wrapping them gently in a
collapsed living room curtain.

"I am just so very, very sad for Jeff and Sandy," Burnham said. "Jeff
has lost everything ... his community and his church."

Next door to the parsonage, Bay Vue United Methodist Church was just as
wrecked. Three inches of mud filled the sanctuary and fellowship hall,
and Burnham was unsure whether the structure can be saved.

"This was a very community-minded congregation," he said. "They have a
history of tithing 10 percent to the community from the tithes they
receive."

Bay Vue, Sabine Pass and Seabrook were the hardest hit churches in the
conference, according to Huie.

The pastor of the Sabine Pass congregation, which is on the Gulf Coast
near Port Arthur, still managed to get a laugh from Burnham, however,
when she left a message on his cell phone.

"The back of the sanctuary is blown out, all the pews are gone, the
education building has been knocked over. ... That's all the good news I
have for right now," the Rev. Kitty Keys told Burnham.

>Urgent plea

In her letter to the bishops, Huie said the need to help rebuild homes,
churches and parsonages is among her greatest concerns. Others include
families and churches with little or no flood insurance; families who
have run out of money for food, gas and necessities due to evacuation
orders; and providing salaries for the next three or four months to
pastors whose congregations evacuated and whose communities have
dispersed-particularly on the Bolivar Peninsula, Galveston Island and
Sabine Pass.

"We have learned a great deal in the last three years (since Hurricane
Rita)," she wrote. "For example, we have learned that volunteer hours
double every dollar given to recovery. We know that the early response
of the UMC invites other groups to engage with us and stay committed to
long-term recovery. Whatever you give in time and money is multiplied
many times over."

Noting that "news of Ike's impact has already disappeared from the
national media," she urged United Methodists to stay informed through
reports from the conference and from church news and relief
organizations.

To aid in the recovery work, send financial donations to UMCOR Advance
No. 3019695, "Hurricanes 2008." Mail checks to UMCOR, P.O. Box 9068, New
York, NY 10087, and write the Advance number and name on the memo line
of the check.

*Gilbert is a United Methodist News Service writer based in Nashville,
Tenn.

News media contact: Kathy L. Gilbert, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470
or newsdesk@umcom.org.

>********************

United Methodist News Service Photos and stories also available at: http://umns.umc.org

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