Covenant News

Covenant Relief Dollars Already 'Hard at Work'

NEW ORLEANS, LA (September 3, 2005) - Covenant World Relief (CWR) dollars are already "on the ground" and hard at work providing aid to victims of Hurricane Katrina, reports Jim Sundholm, CWR director.

A generator provided by CWR could arrive today in Biloxi, Mississippi, where it will be used to support relief efforts. Fuel to run the generator was sent with the equipment, which is being driven to that area by a volunteer who left Chicago on Friday.

"We had some dollars set aside for general disaster relief," Sundholm said in explaining how CWR is able to respond so quickly in times of tragedies like this. It was that same strategy that allowed Covenant World Relief to respond immediately to the tsunami disaster last December with $50,000 immediately provided from the CWR disaster fund that enabled relief efforts to quickly get under way. More than $1 million was eventually contributed to that Covenant relief effort.

Many of those left homeless by Hurricane Katrina have made their way to local churches in eastern Texas and southern Tennessee, Sundholm says. The challenge is how to provide for the needs of such large groups of people. CWR is partnering with local churches in those areas, with CWR dollars used to cover the cost of food and water for those displaced individuals.

The relationship with one of CWR's newest partners, Voice of Calvary Ministries, came about after a medical clinic operated by the ministry lost power. The ministry, located in Jackson, Mississippi, was founded by Rev. John Perkins. "The ministry's leaders had just walked out of an emergency planning meeting when I called," Sundholm explained. "They were trying to figure out how to cope with the loss of power and other issues." The ministry leaders said they were amazed that Sundholm's call, offering to work with them to provide relief, came just as their meeting had ended. "It's a God thing," Sundholm says. The ministry also is working to make vacant houses in the area available to temporarily house refugees from the damaged areas.

"We are working with a 'rim to the center' strategy," Sundholm explains. There are 16,000 refugees in Jackson whose needs can and must be met quickly. The three-stage approach first focuses on rescue efforts, then moves to providing shelter and other support for people who are displaced, and finally focuses on stabilization for these people, especially in securing longer term temporary housing and support.

Covenant World Relief is exploring what it can do to help orchestrate housing for displaced people, Sundholm says. "We are aware that different people are offering longer term space for displaced families, and we will pay close attention to opportunities to become involved in matching refugees with available housing."

The primary focus at this time remains one of channeling relief dollars to the affected areas and supporting displaced people. Donations to the Covenant's relief effort have begun to flow, including the special online Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund at the Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC) website – www.covchurch.org. After only a few hours of operation, nearly $4,000 had been donated using credit cards. To donate with a major credit card, go to the Covenant home page and select the relief fund link.

"I'm impressed with the generous response of Covenant people to this terrible tragedy in the South," says ECC President Glenn Palmberg. "We are responding in a manner similar to how we respond to other tragedies - with resources and a willingness to do what we can to alleviate poverty and to do it in the name and service of Christ."

While pleased with the response of Covenanters, the president expressed sadness over the manner in which many of the poorest and most helpless victims of this tragedy have been treated.

"This is a tragedy that appears to have most strongly affected many of the most helpless," Palmberg observed. "While there are some who did not heed the warnings, there are many who could not heed the warnings because they had no way out."

The president quoted from a prayer offered during a special prayer service conducted Friday morning at Covenant offices, led by Gary Walter, executive minister of the Department of Church Growth & Evangelism, and attended by staff. The prayer expressed the hope "that the church can rise to the occasion and be the church."

"What that calls us to do is to live out the compassion of Christ in response to the tragic needs that this incredible storm has created," Palmberg said.

Printable version of this page.