ATLANTA (ABP) — One year after Hurricane Katrina, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship continues work on a number of recovery projects in the Gulf region — even as relief workers responded to damage caused by Tropical Storm Ernesto on the Atlantic Coast.
The Fellowship arranged to deploy relief equipment and response infrastructure on or after Aug. 31. It also accumulated contacts and a contingency plan for chaplains and pastoral counselors to help victims cope with trauma. Two CBF ministries in South Florida — Open House Ministries in Homestead and Touching Miami with Love — will play large parts in relief efforts, a CBF release said.
Meanwhile, CBF continues to offer support to victims from Hurricane Katrina:
— In some New Orleans' neighborhoods, African-American churches occupy nearly every street corner, and many are heavily damaged or nearly destroyed. The Fellowship launched its first major New Orleans volunteer initiative in mid-July in partnership with Baptists Builders International, a disaster-response organization representing the collaboration of several Baptist groups.
This year, Baptist Builders helped nearly 370 families with $300,000 in funds donated by the five convening Baptist groups. Two hundred of those recipients are New Orleans-area pastors, who were given grants of up to $1,500 to jumpstart the rebuilding process.
Other evacuees received assistance with finding employment as well as transportation to medical providers and governmental agencies such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Some people also received legal counsel about their rights concerning personal recovery from Katrina. Baptist Builders also provided funding for counseling and treatment of mental and substance-abuse patients, who were at risk of being denied treatment after Katrina.
More than a month into the initiative, 107 volunteers have worked on three African-American churches in New Orleans: New St. Mark's Missionary Baptist Church, Little Zion Baptist Church, and Restoration Embassy.
— In Lacombe, La., CBF of Louisiana funneled money, time and volunteers into the small, predominantly African-American community about 25 miles from New Orleans on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain. More than 400 volunteers helped work on 56 houses in the community. Many were stripped of mud, mold and debris; others were completely restored.
Although home restoration was the goal of the efforts, the rebuilding process had some surprising results. Most notable was the baptism of Don Savoie, a volunteer from Nova Scotia, Canada, who made a profession of faith in Christ after serving for five weeks with volunteers from Fellowship partner churches.
“You can't live with Christians and people who are dedicated to Christ, day-in and day-out, and not get a sense of something,” Savoie said.
— In Baton Rouge, La., it has been nearly a year of rebuilding families, rebuilding churches and rebuilding lives among Hurricane Katrina evacuees. Baptist Builders have worked there since October 2005.
Baptist Builders helped connect evacuees with hard-to-find housing in Baton Rouge, a city that doubled in size after Katrina forced thousands of New Orleans evacuees into the area. Some of those families received furniture donations and assistance with living expenses.
— And in Bayou La Batre, Ala., CBF has been a big part of the progress in the small coastal community. Fellowship Baptists were among the first volunteers in Bayou La Batre, a city south of Mobile, Ala., where many houses flooded. Partnering with Volunteers of America Southeast, churches initially sent relief supplies. Later volunteers helped repair and strip houses of mud, mold and damaged items.
Although many people have moved back into their homes restored by volunteers, Bayou La Batre still has 145 FEMA trailers occupied by families who are waiting completion of their home repairs, according to Henry Creel of Volunteers of America Southeast. As of mid-August, about 80 work projects were still underway.
“CBF has been such a big part of what we've been doing down here,” Creel said. “We were able to leverage what CBF [volunteers have] done into substantial resources.”
Of course, CBF volunteers are there for the long-haul, Creel added. “There is still far more to be done than we have resources to do.”
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