September 1, 2005
A UMNS Report
By Ciona Rouse

The Rev. Carol Sherer, a United Methodist clergywoman from New Orleans, found shelter with family friends in Marshall, Texas, after obeying the order to evacuate her city.

The enormity of Hurricane Katrina's impact on New Orleans was still sinking in for Sherer, who served as associate pastor of Rayne Memorial United Methodist Church, near the Garden District.

"It's just devastating! This is the city I've lived in for 25 years," Sherer said.

She was one of thousands of Gulf Coast residents whose lives were turned around when Hurricane Katrina made landfall in Louisiana and Mississippi Aug. 29.

"It's just overwhelming to think about what we're going to do," she said. She expressed concern for the people in her church's homeless ministry, members of her congregation and their partner church Mt. Zion United Methodist Church, and the more than 100 children and workers of the church's day care center.

"What are people going to do who don't have the resources or family to go to?" asked Sherer.

The United Methodist Church was one of the many faith groups, agencies and other organizations that responded immediately to such needs. United Methodist Committee on Relief representatives were working in annual conferences along the Gulf Coast, helping United Methodists in those areas begin to assess the damages and address the needs.

"We're going to need a lot of help from United Methodists across the nation," Sherer said. "We will need them to help us as we try to minister to those families."

United Methodists and others responded strongly to the crisis by giving $570,000 online as of late afternoon Sept. 1 to support UMCOR's hurricane recovery work.

The day before, Bishop Ed Paup, president of UMCOR and leader of the church's Pacific Northwest Annual (regional) Conference, issued an emergency appeal for health kits, bottled water and blankets for survivors along the Gulf Coast.

"The need is desperate throughout the area devastated by the storm, especially among people who have been or are being evacuated from their homes," Paup said.

Health kits were particularly needed, according to Gwen E. Redding, director of UMCOR's Sager Brown Depot in Baldwin, La. "We are getting calls from all over, and we do have kits on hand but not enough to fill all the requests coming from the Gulf and around the world."

The center also needed flood buckets containing cleanup supplies. Information on assembling and shipping the kits is available at http://gbgm-umc.org/umcor/kits.cfm. UMCOR said new blankets were preferred but recently cleaned blankets in good condition were acceptable.

Assessing damages

Church leaders of the Louisiana Annual Conference were busy trying to assess the needs in New Orleans and surrounding areas Sept. 1. Communications within the conference were severely impaired, so leaders were not able to locate many of the local pastors and church members who participated in a mandatory evacuation from the New Orleans area.

Residents continued to evacuate New Orleans, large portions of which were submerged. The National Guard moved in to restore order and help evacuate people.

"I've been working all day at a large shelter in downtown Baton Rouge that's holding around 5,000 people," said the Rev. Irvin Boudreaux, associate pastor of First United Methodist Church in Baton Rouge. "We have mothers who are separated from their babies and evacuees who don't know where their loved ones are located, or even if they are alive."

The Alabama-West Florida Conference's disaster recovery center resumed operation Sept. 1, after being closed since the storm struck due to a lack of power, said Meredyth Earnest, conference communicator. People interested in reaching the center can do so at (866) 340-1956 or disaster@awfumc.org.

A team of conference and UMCOR officials gathered at the center in Mobile, Ala., and went out to survey damaged areas Sept. 1.

Reports indicate that all of those who live in the Sybil Smith Family Village, a part of the Dumas Wesley Community Center in Mobile, survived Hurricane Katrina but that food and services were in short supply in the city, according to the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries.

The village provides transitional housing for some 20 families, all of whom were evacuated as the storm approached. "Our residents are doing well, and helping one another to cope," reported staff member Brenda Carlisle.

"The immediate crisis in Mobile involves the shortage of gas and power," she said. "Because of no power, grocery stores ware unable to stock dairy products and meat. Long lines at gas pumps are leading to short tempers and, unfortunately in some cases, violence.

"Some of our day care employees lost their homes and possessions to flooding and trees falling on their homes. Residents are pooling their meager resources of food and gasoline, and we at Dumas Wesley/Sybil Smith Village are providing financial assistance from small grant money.

"The important thing is: We are alive and blessed! And we give God the praise for that."

Mississippi area church leaders met Aug. 31 with Bishop Hope Morgan Ward and the Rev. Tom Hazelwood, disaster response executive for UMCOR in the United States.

Reports from the Seashore district of the conference said Leggett Memorial United Methodist Church in Biloxi was "gone." Seashore Assembly, the conference's retreat center next to the church, also took severe damage to all buildings except the cafeteria where staff members were serving Red Cross-provided meals to displaced victims of the storm.

Ward said all United Methodists can provide assistance immediately through prayers, gifts and volunteers.

"Go and do," said Ward. "Be creative. Make a commitment with someone you know who has been hurt by this storm."

Opening doors

Congregations in surrounding states coordinated efforts to care for the evacuees of Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi. Evacuees traveled several hundred miles to find shelter.

First United Methodist Church in Dumas, Ark., was one of many United Methodist congregations in the state to provide aid. The church provided housing, meals and other services for 60 people on Aug. 28, one day before the Category 4 hurricane hit Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. In the days following, more than 100 additional evacuees arrived, directed there by Arkansas County Emergency Services.

"Some were in shock when they got here," said the Rev. Henry A. Ratliff, pastor of the Dumas church. "One family just barely got out and could see the surge behind them. They watched the water cover their front yard. And they're telling us about 20- to 25-hour drives from New Orleans to get here and the struggle to get gas along the way."

The United Methodist church at Dumas partnered with St. Peter's Rock Missionary Baptist Church, preparing and serving three meals a day. Cots provided by Desha County Emergency Services were set up in classrooms and spaces throughout the United Methodist church. Games and other entertainment for children were offered in the youth activity center, while the adults mainly stay huddled around the television.

Dozens of refugees traveled into Missouri and finally found shelter Sikeston. The Rev. Geoff Posegate, pastor at First United Methodist Church in Sikeston, said the church hosted 60 to 100 people seeking refuge each night. The church organized efforts to feed refugees and provide whatever additional help was needed after Katrina's last attack on the Gulf Coast.

For Sherer, watching her home city from Marshall, Texas, one thing remains certain: "Even though times look bad, God is still with us. Our faith will help us survive this."

Donations to UMCOR's relief efforts can be made online at http://methodistrelief.org/, through local church collections and by mail to UMCOR, 475 Riverside Drive, Room 330, New York, NY 10015. Designate checks to UMCOR for Advance No. 982523 and "Hurricanes 2005 Global." Credit-card donations may be made by calling (800) 554-8583.

United Methodist News Service
Ciona Rouse is a freelance writer in Nashville, Tenn. United Methodist communicators Betty Backstrom, Elliott Wright and Woody Woodrick contributed to this report.