NCC presents NBC special Aug. 29: ' Coming Home 5 years after Katrina

["Philip Jenks" <pjenks@ncccusa.org>]

>NCC presents an NBC special on August 29;
>'Coming home' five years after Katrina struck

See: www.ncccusa.org/news/100818cominghome.html

New Orleans, August 19, 2010 -- For many Americans, August 29 marks 
an anni versary that has scarred both bodies and souls.

That was the day, five years ago, when Hurricane Katrina made a 
direct assa ult on New Orleans, Mississippi and the American gulf 
coast. The worst natu ral disaster in U.S. history left thousands of 
families homeless and displa ced.

Five years later, many of those families are still struggling to 
return hom e.

Coming Home: Hurricane Katrina 5 Years Later, is their story. The 
documenta ry -- alternately heart wrenching and deeply inspiring -- 
is presented by t he National Council of Churches and produced by the 
Presbyterian Church (US A), on many NBC stations beginning August 
29.  (If your local station isn 't carrying this important show, call 
the station management and tell them  how much you'd like to see it.)

"You have to remember one thing when you drive through my city," says 
Wanda , "behind every broken window...behind every boarded up empty 
house...There  is a family trying to come home."

Wanda was one of the thousands of families left homeless or displaced 
follo wing Hurricane Katrina. Five years later, some of these 
families are still  trying to return home. The most destructive 
hurricane in U.S. history inspi red a movement that brought thousands 
of volunteers from all over the world  -- taking leave from their 
jobs, their families -- to work alongside famil ies and communities 
desperately trying to return home.

For a preview, see www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpZel8T13HA

Thousands of persons of faith have been deeply involved in the 
recovery of  the gulf since the hurricane hit five years ago. Each 
August since then, Na tional Council of Churches volunteers from many 
communions have participate d in an Ecumenical Work Week to help in 
the rebuilding. See www.ncccusa.org /justrebuilding/

The new documentary, "Coming Home: Hurricane Katrina 5 Years Later," 
gives  insight into the relationships between volunteers and 
hurricane survivors a nd includes stories of how they have touched 
each other's lives. DVDs are a vailable from 800-524-2612.

Wesley M. "Pat" Pattillo, NCC Associate General Secretary, Justice, 
Advocac y and Communication, represents the NCC on the Interfaith 
Broadcasting Comm ission, which plans many high-quality network 
programs similar to this one  each year.. Shirley Whipple Struchen is 
the NCC's Coordinator of Electronic  Media Programming.

Since its founding in 1950, the National Council of the Churches of 
Christ  in the USA has been the leading force for ecumenical 
cooperation among Chri stians in the United States. The NCC's 36 
member faith groups -- from a wid e spectrum of Protestant, Anglican, 
Orthodox, Evangelical, historic African  American and Living Peace 
churches -- include 45 million persons in more t han 100,000 local 
congregations in communities across the nation.

NCC News contact:  Philip E. Jenks, 212-870-2228 (office), 
646-853-4212 ( cell), pjenks@ncccusa.org