wfn.org | Helping the hurting: NYC Presbytery program will aid economic victims of Sept. 11

[PCUSA NEWS <PCUSA.NEWS@ecunet.org>]

Note #7108 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

27-March-2002
02121

Helping the hurting

NYC Presbytery program will aid economic victims of Sept. 11 

by Evan Silverstein

LOUISVILLE - Like other clergy in New York City, the Rev. Samuel Atiemo has endured a difficult six months.

Since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Atiemo, the pastor of the Ghanaian Presbyterian Reformed Church of Brooklyn, has had to keep up with his regular duties while also helping to dispense temporary financial aid to people in his community who lost jobs or income as a result of the tragedy.

"Oh, yes," he says, "the people who are hurting are hurting more."

In January, the Ghanaian church, which is affiliated with both the Presbyterian Church (USA) and the Reformed Church in America (RCA), distributed $27,000 in RCA funds to 40 families so they could pay their rent. 

Atiemo's church will continue helping the economic victims of Sept. 11 - those who lost jobs or wages because of the attacks - as part of the Hub Churches Disaster Relief Program, which the PC(USA)'s Presbytery of New York City plans to get under way by early April.

Under the program, whose benefits will be available to people all faiths, the Ghanaian church will join 12 other PC(USA) congregations as "hub" churches in all of New York City's five boroughs. They will serve as distribution sites for aid to the Sept. 11 casualties, most of whom lost jobs or income, not loved ones. 

Many of these people have "fallen through the cracks" as governmental and charitable agencies have channeled relief to those whose family members were killed.

"The people we will be targeting with our help are not the kind of people who walk up to the next place and pick up a job," says Atiemo, whose congregants are mostly immigrants from Ghana, West Africa. "They are people who have lost their jobs. For many of them they haven't had any kind of severance package that will keep them going."

Funds for the project are from Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) and contributions made to the presbytery after the attacks. The participating churches will also offer information and referrals for counseling and other kinds of help, according to the Rev. Janet Parker, who will supervise the program as coordinator of the New York City presbytery's office of disaster relief.

"We've tried to get a diversity of geographical locations and ethnicities," Parker says, referring to the churches involved in the program, including Spanish-speaking congregations, a Korean church, and multi-ethnic congregations.

Each may also offer prayer, pastoral counseling, job training and immigration assistance, according to Parker.

The hub churches are being asked to think about how they can contribute to the presbytery's disaster-relief ministry, beyond providing space and volunteer workers.

"Some of them have their own initiatives that they've been taking," Parker says. "One has an immigration clinic and (offers) immigration counseling."

People seeking assistance will be referred to a hub church on the basis of geographical, ethnic and linguistic considerations.

The churches may refer people to the Lutheran Counseling Center in New York or to a developing network of pastoral counselors. The presbytery is already helping clients apply for mortgage and rental assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).  

Each participating church will receive an "allowance" from the disaster-relief office to help secure space and set up the program.

The program is being supported with part of $400,000 in contributions PDA provided after the terrorist attacks and with $220,000 in donations the presbytery received from other PC(USA) presbyteries, congregations and individuals. 
The churches participating:

In the Bronx: University Heights Presbyterian Church, Home Presbyterian Church. Brooklyn: Bedford Central Presbyterian Church, Ghanaian Presbyterian Reformed Church of Brooklyn, Zion Presbyterian Church. Manhattan: Emmanuel Presbyterian Church, Fort George Presbyterian Church, West Park Presbyterian Church. Queens: First Presbyterian Church of Forest Hills/Korean Presbyterian Church of Forest Hills, La Promesa Presbyterian Mission, St. Albans Presbyterian Church. Staten Island: Calvary Presbyterian Church.
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