This afternoon the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship announced their plans for help and relief for those affected by Hurricane Katrina.
Their announcement follows. Click here to go directly to the CBF web site.
Update: CBF/North Carolina announces effots to organize volunteer trip to Gulf Coast. See below
September 2, 2005
Dear CBFNC Family:
CBF continues to mobilize to provide relief to those affected by Hurricane Katrina. The following press release provides the latest information from CBF regarding plans, donations, volunteering, etc. I encourage you to check CBF's website regularly to keep up with the latest developments and to help communicate this effort with your congregation.
There has been a little confusion regarding the fund number for donations. Early communications instructed donors to indicate "Hurricane Relief Fund #17000," but the correct notation is "Hurricane Relief Fund #17004." I believe that donations with the earlier notation will still be applied to Hurricane Katrina relief, but use the new number for future donations.
I am very pleased to announce that Christopher Ingram, Minister of Education at Ridge Road Baptist Church in Raleigh, has agreed to help coordinate volunteer teams from CBF of North Carolina who wish to travel to the stricken area and work in relief efforts through CBF. He has already worked through the process with CBF and will be taking a team to the area September 14-25. After that, we hope a "pipeline" of teams from North Carolina will be able to travel to the Gulf area to help with recovery and rebuilding ministries. Check out the Ridge Road website, www.rrbch.com, to see how they are developing plans for their trip, and for links to CBF and the various forms and applications associated with volunteering. Also, feel free to communicate with Chris if you have questions or need counsel on how to get involved. He can be reached at christopher@rrbch.com or 919-787-4423. We will share more information from Chris next week.
Thanks again for your prayers and ministry to the people who have lost so much, and thanks for your missional partnership through CBFNC.
In ministry together,
Larry Hovis, CBFNC Coordinator
Fellowship responds to hurricane damage as Katrina hits Gulf states
By Sue H. Poss
CBF Communications
ATLANTA – Waiting. That’s what state and national Cooperative Baptist Fellowship personnel were doing throughout the day Monday as Hurricane Katrina came ashore along the Gulf Coast and moved inland through Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.
“We have been in touch with CBF state leadership and are in stand-by mode awaiting first assessments of what has happened in CBF communities in these states,” said David Harding, CBF’s international coordinator for emergency response.
The Fellowship is prepared to handle both financial contributions and volunteer requests to help in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina even though no damage assessments have yet been made, Harding said. The Fellowship has already made $5,000 in emergency assistance available to CBF organizations in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.
Financial gifts can be made online at www.thefellowship.info or mailed to CBF, P.O. Box 101699, Atlanta, GA 33092. Make checks payable to CBF and write “Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund No. 17000” in the memo line.
“By giving disaster funds generally, rather than designated for a particular state or purpose, we have the flexibility to use the money where it is most needed,” Harding said.
Although the Fellowship will accept relevant in-kind resources, financial contributions are the best way to provide materials for rebuilding and clean-up, Harding said.
“We have to be careful in how we manage donated materials,” he said. “Sometimes it is a lot cheaper and easier for us to buy materials as close as possible to the work site rather than pay high transportation costs to bring donated supplies from another state. We are also in a better position to provide exactly what is needed with cash.”
Volunteers who want to help are encouraged to register with the Fellowship now. Timothy Wood, CBF’s Volunteer Missions program manager in Dallas, maintains the volunteer database.
“We are already prescreening volunteers, sending out volunteer forms and insurance information,” Wood said.
Wood said it is anticipated that both skilled and unskilled volunteers will be needed. Needed skilled labor includes chainsaw crews, roofers, plumbers, and electricians. Unskilled people who are in good health, can stand the heat, can lift heavy objects, and have good mobility are also expected to be needed to remove debris from houses and yards.
As needs are determined, qualified volunteers will be matched with appropriate jobs, Wood said.
For more information on volunteering or donating materials, e-mail Wood at twood@thefellowship.info, or call him at (800) 782-2451.
One early report was from Philip Reynolds, pastor of University Baptist Church in Hattiesburg, Miss., who was reached by phone at 3 p.m. EDT, just as the eye wall was passing.
“It’s really been tough,” he said. “I’m at my house and haven’t been able to get to the church. We have trees down everywhere and I will have to get my chainsaw to get out of my driveway. There is quite a bit of damage.”
Reynolds said he talked by phone with some of his church members during the day and so far as he knows, all are safe.
Elsewhere in Mississippi, CBF of Mississippi Coordinator Steve Street said CBF churches in Hattiesburg and Meridian were closest to the storm’s center, and he was waiting for reports.
“CBF friends all over the country have called since Sunday offering their prayers and their help,” Street said. “And we’re going to need help.”
In Louisiana, Coordinator Lynn Hawkins was at his office in Ruston watching weather reports and trying to contact churches. One CBF church close to the storm’s center is St. Charles Avenue in New Orleans. Hawkins said he had had no report from anyone at the church. He said he has also been in contact with officials in East Carroll Parrish in the northeast corner of the state, one of the sites of CBF’s rural poverty initiative. At mid-day there had been little effects from the storm at that site.
Hawkins said he has had an e-mail from First Baptist Church in Shreveport, saying that the church has organized work crews who are standing by to offer immediate help as soon as the danger has passed.
In Alabama, Coordinator Mart Gray was waiting to hear from CBF churches in that state, especially those in the Mobile area where downtown flooding was prevalent.
“I talked with staff members at First Baptist Church in Mobile, and they had not yet been to the church so they don’t know what damage, if any, it sustained,” he said. Gray is also staying in touch with the Sowing Seeds of Hope ministry in Perry County, Ala., another of CBF’s rural poverty initiative sites.
The severest weather was expected there on Tuesday, Gray said, and operations have been temporarily shut-down.
In Baton Rouge, La., Broadmoor Baptist Church offered shelter to residents of a nearby nursing home should evacuation from that facility be necessary.
In the Mississippi Delta, Harvest Fellowship in Greenville, Miss., has opened its dormitory as a shelter.
In Alexandria, La., Emmanuel Baptist Church was prepared to open its doors as a Red Cross shelter.
“We are thankful to be spared the worst here, but are very concerned about the hundreds of thousands of people who are suffering,” said Larry Taylor, pastor of the church for the past 21 years.
CBF is a fellowship of Baptist Christians and churches who share a passion for the Great Commission and a commitment to Baptist principles of faith and practice. The Fellowship’s mission is to serve Christians and churches as they discover and fulfill their God-given mission.