From the Worldwide Faith News archives www.wfn.org
UMNS# 04416-Churches offer shelter, aid to evacuees fleeing
From
"NewsDesk" <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>
Date
Wed, 15 Sep 2004 18:38:31 -0500
Churches offer shelter, aid to evacuees fleeing Hurricane Ivan
Sep. 15, 2004 News media contact: Linda Bloom * (646) 3693759* New
York {04416}
NOTE: Photos and other related resources available at
http://www.umc.org/interior.asp?ptid=2&mid=5669.
By Betty Backstrom*
BATON ROUGE, La. (UMNS) - As a steady stream of heavy traffic moved west and
north along Louisiana's interstate highways and major arteries, United
Methodist churches and institutions throughout Louisiana offered shelter to
evacuees from Hurricane Ivan.
The Louisiana Conference Center, located in the middle of the state in
Woodworth, received several hundred people Sept. 14-15 escaping the wrath of
the category 4 storm.
"Our West Lodge is full, and the East Lodge is filling up. Once those spaces
are gone, our plan is to open up meeting rooms to serve as a general
shelter," said Annette McCreery, comptroller for the conference center. The
center is the headquarters of the denomination's Louisiana Annual (regional)
Conference.
"People have arrived from New Orleans, Covington, Slidell and Mandeville,"
she said. "The drives have been hard and long for most. One phone message
left on our machine at 1 this morning indicated the travelers had just spent
10 hours driving from New Orleans to Baton Rouge, a drive that usually only
takes an hour or an hour and a half."
First United Methodist Church in Alexandria serves as an official Red Cross
shelter in times of emergency. The Rev. Thomas Dunbar, senior pastor, said
the church is rated as a shelter for 150 people and that a "full house" is
expected.
The church's fellowship center, a gymnasium and all large meeting rooms will
house evacuees. Showers and a full kitchen will help provide necessary
comforts to those being sheltered.
"We hosted a Red Cross training earlier this year, where church members were
officially prepared to volunteer during hurricane season. There are around 30
of us that are certified," Dunbar said.
One woman at First Church has opened her charge account at a local grocery
with the instructions that the volunteers are to use it for anything and
everything needed to provide meals.
"This church has a history of compassionate outreach to those in need,"
Dunbar said. "We provided this service three years ago during Hurricane
Lilli, and will continue to help those looking for shelter in future
emergencies."
Kenneth L. Schwab, president of Centenary College in Shreveport, announced
that students from Dillard University in New Orleans were being evacuated to
the campus in north Louisiana. Both schools are United Methodists
institutions of higher learning.
A Sept. 14 statement from Schwab's office said, "Due to the threat of
Hurricane Ivan, Dillard will shut down at noon today. Many of its
international students and others will board three leased buses and travel to
our campus, where they will be housed until it is safe to return."
The bumper-to-bumper traffic on Interstate 10 stretched hundreds of miles
from New Orleans to Lake Charles, La. Special needs evacuees traveling
westward found aid from United Methodists in Lake Charles.
The Rev. David DeWitt, a United Methodist chaplain for Memorial Hospital,
said local churches had stepped up to house the families of patients that
were being evacuated to Memorial from low-lying hospitals in the New Orleans
area.
"First United Methodist in Lake Charles has opened its fellowship hall and is
housing many of these families," he said. "Mattresses have been transported
to the church from one of our conference campgrounds, and other area churches
have provided bedding and linens for the shelter. Having a place to stay
close to their sick family member was critical, since the closest hotel room
available was almost to San Antonio, Texas," DeWitt said.
Fairview United Methodist Church, another Lake Charles congregation, offered
parking areas and hookups for the recreational vehicles that many of the
families had used during the long evacuation.
Throughout the Louisiana Annual Conference, United Methodist congregations
are checking on their members who are most in need.
Sandra Brasseaux, secretary for Asbury United Methodist Church in Lafayette,
said the congregation's Nurture Team had been contacting close to 50 elderly
and homebound members to check on their situation.
"We have around 15 team members who place the calls," Brasseaux said. "They
try to find out whether or not these folks need food, someone to go over to
pull in garbage cans, or just someone to reassure them that things will be
all right. We ask the team members to report back to the church office so
that we can be sure everyone's needs have been met."
Tom Hazelwood, director of emergency services for the United Methodist
Committee on Relief, said his agency is ready to respond in any area along
the Gulf Coast that suffers damage from Hurricane Ivan. "The whole area is
going to have flooding without a doubt," he added.
Hazelwood told United Methodist News Service that his focus, for now, is on
the area from Mobile, Ala., through the panhandle of Florida, which was
expected to bear the brunt of the hurricane.
"We're sitting and watching, and we'll be prepared to respond," he said. "We
know that we're in it for the long haul."
Relief efforts are continuing in Florida for victims of Hurricanes Charley
and Frances, although Hazelwood said some of the work has been put on hold
while Ivan is being tracked. Ivan already has caused deaths and major damage
in Grenada, Jamaica, the Cayman Islands and Cuba.
The United Methodist Committee on Relief is calling for volunteers, financial
contributions and donations of flood buckets to assist in its hurricane
relief work.
Volunteers wanting to assist Florida residents can call a toll-free hotline,
(800) 282-8011, Ext. 149. Details on assembling five-gallon flood buckets can
be found at http://gbgm-umc.org/umcor, the agency's Web site. Click on the
"UMCOR Kits" link.
Donations for hurricane relief can be made to UMCOR Advance No. 982410,
"Hurricanes 2004," and dropped into church collection plates or mailed
directly to UMCOR at 475 Riverside Dr., Room 330, New York, NY 10115. People
donating by credit card can call (800) 554-8583.
*Backstrom is director of communications for the United Methodist Church's
Louisiana Annual Conference. Linda Bloom, news writer with United Methodist
News Service, contributed to this report.
News media contact: Linda Bloom, New York, (646) 369-3759 or
newsdesk@umcom.org.
********************
United Methodist News Service
Photos and stories also available at:
http://umns.umc.org
You may leave the list at any time by going to
http://umns.umc.org/unsubscribe.html
Browse month . . .
Browse month (sort by Source) . . .
Advanced Search & Browse . . .
WFN Home