ATLANTA (ABP) — As relief efforts continue in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship is using a focused approach to link specific needs with churches that want to help.
“We're deliberate in coming alongside other responders to fill niches that they might not be able to fill,” said David Harding, the Fellowship's Orlando-based international coordinator for emergency response. “We're not a full-fledged relief operation, but we do want to provide opportunities for those within the church family who can help in situations like this.”
“We're trying to keep [relief efforts] within the focus of who we are and what we have as a fellowship,” Harding said. “That often determines where and to what extent we can respond.”
Because the Fellowship is a network of churches, the heart of any disaster response is the local church, leaders say. Dozens of Fellowship-affiliated churches have responded with donated supplies, financial support and housing.
Following a destructive hurricane season in Florida last year, College Park Baptist Church in Orlando began to develop its own disaster-response plan, which divides church members into small care groups based on geographic proximity.
“When something like a hurricane happens, you have a systematic plan to go through and check on your church membership,” said church member Tommy Deal, who is CBF of Florida's disaster-response coordinator.
Another church-based response to Hurricane Katrina has been the housing of evacuees. Some churches are serving as American Red Cross shelters, and some church members have opened their homes to victims. The Fellowship is not organizing an official clearinghouse service for home placement, Harding said.
State CBF organizations help manage disaster response in their areas, with national CBF coming alongside as a partner and resource, Harding said. Resources available from the Fellowship include preparedness planning, volunteer management and immediate emergency funding of up to $5,000. The Fellowship has sent $5,000 each to CBF state organizations in Alabama, Mississippi, Texas and Louisiana. As of Sept. 7, online contributions to the Fellowship's relief effort totaled $37,406.
Depending on the magnitude of the disaster, the Fellowship sends an initial response team to the region to evaluate needs and how the Fellowship can best respond with the resources it has. Often times, the most effective strategy is to partner with other relief organizations that specialize in disaster response.
Volunteers are applying through the Fellowship's Volunteer Missions office in Dallas. If the application is approved, the individual or church group is matched with needs as they are reported from the disaster zone. Because the Fellowship does not have the infrastructure to act as a first responder, volunteers are sent not for emergency aid but to meet long-term needs.
“Volunteers come in not as search and rescue but to begin the recovery phase,” Harding said.
With Hurricane Katrina leaving large amounts of destruction, volunteer teams are staggered so that a constant volunteer force remains in the disaster areas, according to Timothy Wood, the Fellowship's volunteer-missions program manager.
“Already we have volunteer groups on the ground doing tremendous work in distributing goods, conducting assessments, putting tarps on roofs, clearing debris, and organizing the response, but we're looking for a steady stream of volunteers,” Harding said. “We can't accept all volunteers at once, so people will need to be patient and follow due process.”
The Fellowship also accepts monetary or gift-in-kind contributions to disaster-relief efforts. Harding said cash donations give more flexibility, since supplies can be purchased closer to the disaster site instead of having to be shipped to the area. “It's going to hopefully bring that area back into economic stability faster than if we brought in goods from the outside,” he said.
Only gift-in-kind donations that meet priority needs are accepted, and donors pay shipping costs. Fellowship personnel have to locate storage ahead of time, and a lack of phone service after Hurricane Katrina slowed the process in some areas, said Laura Cadena, the Fellowship's missions-partnership relationship manager.
— Photos available from Associated Baptist Press. Carla Wynn is a news writer for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.