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Situation Better, But Still 'A Long Way to Go'
By Stan Friedman
CHICAGO, IL (September 6, 2005) - Mike Digel and Brad Chaykoski, who attend
Hope Community Covenant Church in Houston, Texas, spent Labor Day
driving from one church member's house to another picking up furniture
to give to three families of New Orleans evacuees the congregation has
begun to support. Meanwhile Carolyne Digel and Anna Chaykoski were
summoned by members wanting to donate money and items to the families.
The families totaling about 30 people, including approximately 20
children, have been placed in two rental properties belonging to a
congregation member, says pastor John Fagg. More housing is being sought.
Elsewhere in Houston over the weekend, members of Faith Community
Covenant Church were meeting with evacuees at local hotels and
volunteering at shelters. Several had said they would make their homes
available to people needing housing.
In Silverhill, Alabama, members served breakfast to 100 people and
divided into two service teams to cook meals as necessary in the future.
Congregants also have washed clothes for evacuees and volunteered to
sort donated goods for distribution.
Meanwhile, many Evangelical Covenant churches received offerings to
assist the flood victims and began sending donations. "We've already had
people from Covenant churches sending us money," says Paul Meador,
pastor of Faith Community. That money is desperately needed. Hope
Community members have provided early assistance, including appliances,
free of charge, but ongoing expenses will need to be covered, says Fagg.
"We do not know what federal assistance might be available, but until it
begins, we estimate that the financial requirement to cover the rent,
utility bills, and food for these families will be approximately $5,000
per month."
Extended families that include multiple generations such as those being
ministered to by Hope Community are common. Many of them have as many as
15 people, says Meador of the people he met in the nearby Holiday Inn.
"Very seldom did I meet somebody who was just a couple. They did travel
in significant family groups."
As congregation members began talking to people in the hotel lobby, "You
would meet one person and then they would just start pointing to all the
people in their family," Meador says.
None of the three churches working with evacuees is large, with 80 to
100 in attendance, but they have been eager to give. "The outpouring has
just been awesome," says Digel, himself a Louisiana native who
experienced hurricanes Betsy and Camille. "We made the needs known in
church on Sunday. Immediately we began getting phone calls."
"I knew we couldn't house a thousand," Meador says. "And I knew we
couldn't feed 500, but people wanted to know what we could do." Members
agreed they could "be a presence, a human face to connect with," Meador
says. "We could have caring ears and caring hearts – to try to get to
know them, instead of being an assembly line, asking questions like 'who
are you, where are you from...' " In addition to listening, the church
held several prayer services at the hotel and offered food at a potluck
that was held after church.
Hotel management was glad to have the church's assistance, Meador says.
When the pastor called and asked if there were ways in which the
congregation could help, the woman at the desk said she would call back
after she talked with the manager, but might not be able to get back to
him for several hours. "She called back in five minutes and said, 'How
soon can you be here.' " Church members spent time talking and praying
with the hotel staff, who felt overwhelmed having been thrust into the
role of caretakers, Meador says.
The ministers also have received from those they have sought to bless.
"The people from New Orleans have ministered to me," says Meador.
"They've been taking stock of what's important in life. The only thing
they talk about is their family and their faith. They talk about the
peace that their family is all safe, or that they're trying to make
contact with someone they don't know about."
People only make passing reference to the homes, possessions or jobs
they have lost, Meador says. "They don't talk about the details of what
they've lost – a photograph album, a table that was a family heirloom.
They don't talk about the history of New Orleans that's lost. They
brought me to tears because of the beauty of their hope - the beauty of
their hope in Christ," Meador says.
He adds the ministry has been emotionally draining. "Thursday and Friday
was very toll-taking," Meador says. Those were the days that reality
began to set in for families that there were no jobs or home to which
they will return, he adds. All across Houston, people were facing the
same reality. "There's a lot of Louisiana license plates around here,"
Meador says.
Jesse Adams, pastor of Silverhill Covenant, says the situation has begun
to stabilize in the small community, where evacuees are being sheltered
at a local county fairground and a large Baptist church. Other shelters
are expected to open at more churches. Those shelters will be
reorganized as people's needs are determined, Adams says. "People with
specific health needs may be housed in certain shelters," he explains.
Special shelters also are being planned for evacuees who were brought
from nursing homes, he added.
Improvements in the situation are developing, Adams says. Families are
beginning to locate members at shelters and bring them home, and local
contractors have hired several evacuees for construction work.
Adams is quick to note, however, "There's still a long way to go."
Editor's note: a special Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund has been
created by Covenant World Relief to channel funds to those providing
relief to victims of the storm. To donate by check, make it payable to
Covenant World Relief, earmark it for Katrina relief, and send it to
Covenant World Relief, 5101 N. Francisco Avenue, Chicago, IL, 60625. To
donate online using a major credit card, go to www.covchurch.org and
select the Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund link.
Copyright © 2008 The Evangelical Covenant Church. |
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