VALLEY FORGE, PA (ABNS 12/07/07) - Fountain Baptist Church in Summit, NJ recently reached their goal of raising one million dollars for hurricane Katrina relief - six months before their scheduled two year deadline. The Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University says that is the second largest donation by an individual church ever.
"I salute Fountain Baptist for their awesome accomplishment," said Rev. Dr. A. Roy Medley, general secretary for American Baptist Churches USA (ABCUSA). "Their track record of generosity is well known and we celebrate all that God is doing for and through them."
Rev. J. Michael Sanders, pastor of Fountain Baptist, said that the money went for job training, housing and aid to churches impacted by the storm. "After a while, people often forget certain things and people lose their commitment, their excitement or concern," Sanders said.
"When disaster strikes, the media provides us with an opportunity to see first-hand the impact on the affected community," said Lisa Rothenberger, World Relief Officer for ABCUSA. "Unfortunately, once immediate needs are met and the cameras leave, our collective attention is often drawn to the next disaster. It is all too common that the long-term needs of the affected are slowly forgotten by the world community."
To combat this tendency, Fountain Baptist set its own deadline in May 2006 to raise one million dollars for ongoing hurricane relief within two years. They surpassed even their own expectations and did so in just eighteen months.
Since hurricanes Katrina and Rita made landfall, National Ministries, American Baptist Churches USA has been working to bring hope and healing to the Gulf Coast--from an immediate release of funds to Church World Service Emergency Response Programs to recent home building projects in partnership with Habitat for Humanity and the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. Recovery, however, will take years.
Funds and volunteers are still critical. Victoria Goff, National Ministries' national coordinator of Volunteer Ministries, reports a current need for volunteers both in Mississippi ( Biloxi, Pearlington and Pass Christian) and Louisiana ( Baton Rouge and New Orleans). Also, plans are underway for a 2008 Blitz Build in Baton Rouge to construct five homes from April 28 to May 17.
Put simply, Patrice Edwards, a Fountain Baptist church member, said, " There's still a lot of work that has to be done in that area. It's not like we met a goal and that's it."
Fountain Baptist is dually aligned with the American Baptist Churches and the Lott Carey Foreign Mission Convention.
Andrew C. Jayne American Baptist Churches USA Mission Resource Development http://www.abc-usa.org/