CCC Response to Katrina and its Aftermath

Updates: 9/26/05       

  After services on September 11, 2001, a group met to discuss how to organize CCC’s response to the Katrina disaster.  Many good ideas were discussed, including finding a sister church, teaming with Habitat for Humanity, having a youth/YGELI mission trip, and assisting Dillard University.  The following was agreed to by consensus:

• CCC should remain aware of both short- and long-term needs of the region, especially in terms of rebuilding. This includes encouraging support of special giving campaigns such as Neighbors in Need and One Great Hour of Sharing.
• A primary concern is UCC’s Back Bay Mission in Biloxi, MS.  CCC has a long-standing relationship with the mission which has been on the forefront of civil rights for decades and works to help the most marginalized members of society. A former CCC member, Edie Rasell, is on the Board of Directors of Back Bay Mission, so a direct contact exists there.
• CCC should encourage members to adopt the “Hope Shall Bloom” Covenant of Compassion (http://www.ucc.org/disaster/covenant.htm
• CCC should work within the existing UCC structure to determine how best to connect with those that need our help most.

The group asked Jim Todhunter to bring these requests to the Executive Council (EC) retreat (September 16-17).  The EC agreed with these recommendations and requested that the Board for Social Witness (BSW) lead the effort to keep the church informed of where the needs are and how we can respond.  At its meeting on September 19, the BSW agreed to take on this responsibility.

Staying Informed about CCC Response to Katrina 
and its Aftermath

(1) The CCC website (www.christ-ucc.org) will maintain a section with links and information about what is happening at the church and within the UCC.

(2) A listserve has been established for those who want to communicate via e-mail about the many responses taking place.  The listserve is for members and friends of Christ Congregational United Church of Christ who are interested in receiving and exchanging information on what the congregation and others are doing in response to the effects of Hurricane Katrina.  This will include both short- and long-term issues and activities.  Please go to the group home page to learn about the information we’ve collected so far on what is happening in the region.  Please contact Holly Brooks (holb41@yahoo.com) to join the listserve.

Group home page: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CCC_UCC_Katrina_Response

Group email address: CCC_UCC_Katrina_Response@yahoogroups.com

Links

• The “Hope Shall Bloom” Covenant of Compassion: www.ucc.org/disaster/covenant.htm
• John Thomas’ “Prayer for Katrina”: www.ucc.org/disaster/u083005b.htm
• Donation information for the Hope Shall Bloom UCC Hurricane Recovery Fund: www.ucc.org/disaster/hopeshallbloom.htm
• September 5 information from Back Bay Mission: www.ucc.org/disaster/u090605a.htm
• Information about Back Bay Mission: www.backbaymission.com/about.html
• September 6 information from Dillard University: http://www.ucc.org/disaster/u090605b.htm
• Red Cross donations: www.redcross.org or 1-800-HELP NOW.

Local Sources of Information

• The Montgomery County Volunteer Office number is 240-777-2600 if you want to volunteer to help evacuees if/when they come to Montgomery County.
• The number for the DC Mayor’s Emergency Office is 202-722-1000 for similar information in DC.

Central Atlantic Conference Information from Gordon Forbes

“I have just come back from the Board of Director's meeting of the Central Atlantic Conference.  We voted to partner with the Connecticut Conference in a joint effort to assist Back Bay Mission in Biloxi, and Central Congregational Church in New Orleans.  Perhaps [CCC] should join this effort rather than duplicate it.  We are already partners with Connecticut in supporting a mission in Colombia, South America, so structure and methods are already in place to turn our attention to Back Bay Mission and CCC in New Orleans.”

September 19 Update from Back Bay Mission

On our listserve group home page, there is a letter from Rev. Shari Prestemon, Executive Director, Back Bay Mission, that provides additional information about Back Bay’s situation and discusses issues of staffing, facility issues, work groups, in-kind donations, and financial donations.  Go to the “files” section to access the letter.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CCC_UCC_Katrina_Response

News from Linda and Gwen

Linda Hodson is an ordained minister with the Reformed Church of American. Her partner, Gwen Garrison, works for the American Association of Medical Colleges. Linda and Gwen regularly attend CCC.

Hi all,

I thought I would send a quick update on what, where, and how Linda is doing
in Louisiana. We have had about four very short conversations because of
various activities and assignments she's been involved in.

She made it to Lafayette Louisiana on Saturday and stayed in a shelter with
1000 other relief workers and evacuees. Sunday she went to Baton Rouge to
receive her Red Cross badges and credentials, participate in training and
receive her assignment. Initially she thought she would be involved in
corpse recovery blessing the bodies as they were retrieved or notifying next
of kin. Both are tough and grim tasks and given to the chaplains. As it
turns out those efforts have really wound down so she was assigned to the
Cajun Dome back in Lafayette to organize and coordinate spiritual care for
evacuees. I think this means organizing faith services for several
denominations and faith traditions, spiritual counseling support, and
offering spiritual care for the evacuees. She is glad to report that she
is working with another chaplain on this assignment and has been relocated
to a nearby church where she has access to a shower and quieter space for
personal down time. Currently she is working about 14 hour days.

The latest news as of this evening is with the advance of Hurricane Rita
they were all in evacuation mode to move everybody north probably into
Arkansas. Thus, illustrating that the situation is very fluid.

Not to take away from Linda's efforts and journey but I thought I would
include my own update. Many of you know that I work for the Association of
American Medical Colleges (AAMC) on all the medical student data. In the
aftermath of Katrina three medical schools were damaged or dislocated. Two
of them have been able to restart but Tulane Medical School has had to
relocate completely to Houston TX. Because the student records were lost at
Tulane due to flooding and at this point electronic data is also thought to
be lost, my office is the only other place to have student rosters. So
after assisting from DC I will report to Houston with my staff to assist in
the restart of Tulane Medical School on the campus of Baylor College of
Medicine who has provided space for 600 students and about a 1/3 of the
faculty. The administrators and other support staff are still trying to
figure out their lives with most of them having lost their homes to Katrina.
So the senior staff is working without core support from their own staff and
relying on Baylor for assistance. Of course, my situation now is further
complicated by Hurricane Rita and how close it comes to Houston.
Incidentally, there are four major medical schools and hospital centers in
the Houston area serving about 6000 medical students and residents as well
as several thousand doctors and medical researchers.

So the days ahead will be very interesting. I will send updates for Linda
and myself as time permits.

All the best,
Gwen

*****************************

Subject: RE: Update on Relief Efforts in Louisiana
From: Hodson/Garrison
Date: Sat, 24 Sep 2005 18:26:35 -0400
To: Jim Todhunter 

Hi Jim,

Just another update from Linda. She was evacuated along with the original
Katrina evacuees from Lafayette, LA to Shreveport, LA. There are gusty
winds and lots of rain as Rita was downgraded to a tropical storm.

Her primary responsibilities are to care for the evacuees by reassuring them
that they are safe. She said it has been especially difficult for the
elderly among the evacuees. She is holding up pretty well for the time
being.

I won't know until next week when the medical schools in Houston will begin
again and need some assistance with their student records. 

Please feel free to post any of these tidbits as I am sure Linda would
especially appreciate the prayers and support.

Thanks,
Gwen

Updates

Avenues for Volunteer Service, Part 1 September 23 Message from CAC

Avenues for Volunteer Service, Part 2 Church World Service Immigration and Refugee Program September 23 Message from CAC

Back Bay Mission, Update #4 September 19, 2005