Covenant News

Covenant Leaders: The Damage from Katrina Still Overwhelming

CHICAGO, IL (September 30, 2005) - A team of Covenant leaders and pastors who traveled through the storm-ravaged South this week say they were overwhelmed by the magnitude of the devastation but believe that their fact-finding trip will help the denomination meet needs in the immediate and foreseeable future.

Covenant World Relief (CWR) already has distributed more than $200,000 to help meet immediate needs of those whose lives were shaken by hurricanes Katrina and Rita. More than $40,000 has gone to Covenant churches, says Jim Sundholm, director of CWR, who made the trip. So far, Covenanters have contributed $676,140 to CWR for Hurricane Katrina Relief. Nearly $57,000 has been donated online.

One of the churches receiving aid is Greater Faith Covenant Church in Natchez, Mississippi, which has been helping displaced storm victims by providing shelter and food.

"The people are hurting," says Connie Woods, a member of the Natchez church, who speaks with convicting passion. "We have got to go minister to these people. We've got to show these people love."

Covenant leaders say it is important that the church focus on showing that love over the long term. M. Randolph Thompson, pastor of Community Covenant Church in Calumet Park, Illinois, and president of the African American Ministers Association says he is pleased that the Covenant is thinking about a rebuilding strategy for the long haul.

Thompson added that involving people from various departments and organizations within the Covenant will strengthen the denomination, even as it offers wide-ranging assistance. "Our fact-finding tour is recognition of new partnerships being formed within the Covenant family," he says.

Cleaning homes and clearing debris is a major immediate need. Water rose as high as six feet in homes and left toxic mud on many floors. In some subdivisions, items from the houses are stacked high alongside the roads. Churches that want to travel soon to help with cleanup can contact Sundholm, who will link them with people that need assistance.

Money also continues to be a major need - even more so than food and clothing, which now is in abundant supply.

Members of the trip say news images cannot capture the amount of destruction or the plight of the people, many still cannot find family and friends.

"We have many dispersed people," says Sundholm. "They're trying to find their families. People are trying to find their pastors. Pastors are trying to find their people."

Many people will not be able to return for at least a year, adds Oscar Davis, pastor of Greater Faith Covenant Church.

In addition to traveling to Natchez, the team also traveled to New Orleans and Slidell, Louisiana, as well as Gulfport, Mississippi. They toured a medical clinic and a shelter still housing 500 people, met with pastors of several churches and surveyed storm damage.

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