IMM REL -- CRWRC Prepares Response to Hurricae Isaac

[Beth Degraff <bdegraff@crwrc.org>]

>*IMMEDIATE RELEASE*

Beth DeGraff, Media Contact, cell 616-648-7821 or toll-free 1-800-552-7972

Bill Adams, Director of CRWRC Disaster Response Services, cell 616 -560-2782

Andrew Ryskamp, CRWRC U.S. Director, cell 616-498-0816

>* *

>*CRWRC Prepares Response to Hurricane Isaac*

*AUGUST 29, 2012—*As Hurricane Isaac dumps a foot or more of rain on
Louisiana and Mississippi today, the Christian Reformed World Relief
Committee (CRWRC)is identifying disaster response volunteers to travel to
the Gulf Coast after the Category I storm weakens and moves north in the
next few days.

CRWRC’s Disaster Response Services (DRS) cleanup teams are equipped to
remove downed trees, clean up flooded homes, and provide emotional and
spiritual support to survivors in communities that are most affected by
Hurricane Isaac. CRWRC Disaster Response Services (DRS) managers are also
working with local officials and partners to monitor the storm’s progress.

“It’s good to see that the improved levee system in New Orleans is hol ding
up,” says Bill Adams, Director of Disaster Response Services for CRWRC,
“and that the improvements across the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina
are serving the area well during this weather event. We’re especially
thinking of the families we came to know during Katrina response starting
seven years ago, and praying for them as well as those in the outlying
areas who are still very vulnerable to flooding.”

CRWRC has a 40-year history of responding to disasters in North America,
including a 5-year, $6.5 million response to Hurricane Katrina in
Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana. The agency depends on volunteer labor
and financial donations to support its rapid response efforts, programs for
assessing survivor’s needs, home reconstruction, and community
capacity-building.

To accomplish this work, CRWRC works with local and national partners to
target disaster survivors in underserved areas who are low-income, elderly,
disabled, uninsured, or otherwise unable to recover from the destruction of
storms like Isaac.

“In places like Slidell, Louisiana, CRWRC rebuilt Katrina-damaged homes  on
hurricane-resistant, 10-foot platforms to provide protection from
subsequent storms,” Adams says. “We have no doubt that these homes will
make it through the storm intact. Some unincorporated areas and small towns
along the coast like Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, are protected by
embankments but situated on low-lying land that is susceptible to flooding
from both the storm surge and the heavy rain.”

CRWRC is seeking financial donations to respond to Hurricane Isaac and
other severe storms during the 2012 Hurricane Season. *Your U.S. audience
can support this work with their financial donations by giving online at **
www.crwrc.org* <http://www.crwrc.org/>*/donate, or by calling
1-800-552-7972 to make a credit card donation*. Checks can be made out to
“CRWRC.” Please designate your gift, “*Hurricanes 2012,*”in the mem o line
and mail to: CRWRC, 2850 Kalamazoo Ave., SE, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 49560.
 In Canada, donate online at www.crwrc.org/donate or call 1-800-730-3490.
Checks made out to CRWRC and designated "*Hurricanes 2012*" can be mailed
to CRWRC, 3475 Mainway STN LCD 1, Burlington, ON, L7R 3Y8.

*Members of the press wishing to interview *CRWRC-DRS director Bill Adams,
call 616-560-2782. Or call CRWRC Director Andrew Ryskamp at 616-498-0816.

*For more information*about this or other CRWRC programs, call Beth
DeGraff, media contact, at 616-648-7821 or 1-800-552-7972.

*CRWRC is a non-profit agency that ministers in development, relief, and *

*justice education with people in need around the world, since 1962.*

>*Give with confidence.*

*Media Note:* In September 2012, CRWRC is changing its name to *World Renew
**.* Please make a note of it, and see www.crwrc.org/name if you would like
more information.

>--
>Beth DeGraff
>CRWRC Media and Justice Contact
>2850 Kalamazoo Avenue SE
>Grand Rapids, MI 49560-0600
>1-800-55-CRWRC
>www.crwrc.org

"Poverty represents a double violation of justice -- the poor are unjustly
downtrodden, and our failure to alleviate their condition is, in turn,
unjust." NW