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Father-Son Team Hauls Relief Supplies to New Orleans

CHICAGO, IL (September 13, 2005) - Covenanters have begun crossing the country with trucks and in vans to deliver goods and assist with relief efforts in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Others have begun to offer their homes to storm victims.

John Christenson and his son, Bryan, drove a pickup truck with a trailer from California to New Orleans and even received a police escort for part of the trip. A group of 28 people comprised of members from Celebration Covenant Church in Omaha, Nebraska, as well as those they picked up along the way, returned Monday after arriving in Pascagoula, Mississippi last Thursday. The Covenant Church of Easton in Easton, Connecticut, will send an 18-wheel semi-trailer to Biloxi, Mississippi on Wednesday.

Those who have visited the damaged areas say the disaster is even worse than has been reported. "The water is very contaminated with sewage," says Cindy Ferguson, who helped organize the group from Celebration Covenant. "The sewage and stink is really something."

Ferguson and several others from her group were cleaning the house of an elderly couple whose home had been flooded with five feet of water before receding. The couple had returned home to Pascagoula 10 days earlier to find everything ruined.

"There is mud everywhere and the mold is an inch thick," Ferguson says. "It's hard to believe it until you see it." She and others wore waders and masks because of the toxic water and mold. Outside, every house down the street had furniture and items piled eight feet high in the yards, she said. "It's all ruined."

Bryan Christenson choked up when describing the devastation. "You try to put yourself in their place. And you look at their houses and these beautiful tree-lined streets where everything is knocked down." The relief workers drove their pickup truck on people's yards to deliver items because the streets were covered with fallen trees.

Bryan quickly decided to make the trip while watching news reports of the disaster. He called his father and said, "Dad, you're retiring tomorrow, let's go help," John says. So he and the new retiree took the elder's pickup truck and hitched a donated trailer to the back.

"I've always kind of been a spontaneous person," Bryan says. But he also made sure to call the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and Red Cross before he left and was told there would be a place for them to deliver the load. As the two got closer, they learned there would not be a place where they would be directed to unload.

Lacking directions on where to leave the supplies they had bought, the Christensons stopped at a Louisiana State Troopers station, where they dropped off some of their load. The troopers then gave them an escort 70 miles further to a station closer to New Orleans. "I thought, wow, this is definitely crazy," says Bryan. "We did 100 mph pretty much the whole way there."

After arriving at the second station, the volunteers were allowed to stay in a church that was housing as many as 1,000 troopers and police officers who had arrived from across the country. Despite the cramped quarters in the church, "it was very organized," Bryan says.

They initially were told that they would only be allowed to leave the supplies and then return home, which was frustrating, Bryan says. That changed, however, and they were allowed to stay three days. "One of the troopers was very emotional when we told him that we were from California. He couldn't believe we came from that far away. I think he may have had something to do with us staying there."

The two also were each given troopers hats to wear so they wouldn't be stopped, Bryan adds. The access enabled them to deliver water, food and supplies to people. "There definitely was a shortage of water. What little food they did have rotted in the refrigerator. Getting cold water meant a lot to them." The Christensons also set up a 12-by-12-foot shade tent for the rescuers who were waiting to get into boats to search for survivors.

Bryan says the two were fortunate not to have been turned away, but says they would be denied access now. Soldiers are manning multiple checkpoints every way into the city, he explains.

Bryan recalls that the troopers were frustrated with the disorganization of FEMA and other government offices while he was there. He also was surprised when he didn't see anyone from the Salvation Army while he was there. Ferguson says no one from FEMA or the Red Cross had been to Pascagoula, adding, "they've been forgotten." If it were not for people bringing food and supplies to people, there would be none."

Ferguson says she had put the church's name on a list for people who were willing to travel to the devastated areas, and a minister from the Pascagoula Methodist church asked if they would make the trip. Ferguson was asked to bring clothing, food, personal hygiene kits, items for children and cleaning supplies.

"God's just opened a bunch of storehouses," she says. Lowe's gave them a 50 percent discount. Covenant World Relief provided money to buy a generator. Many people from other parts of the country added financial donations.

"There actually is a need for people to come and work," Ferguson says. "Many older people can't do any work." She and others say that anyone going down should have a relationship with an organization or someone before making the trip. They worked with the East Lawn United Methodist Church.

The Covenant Church of Easton in Easton, Connecticut, was receiving help from the community to fill a semi-trailer that will leave to deliver goods to a church in Mississippi. The church advertised on television, in the newspaper and even on a banner affixed to a highway overpass. Members also sent emails to everyone in their address books, says Pastor Craig Carlson. "I'm in a lot of email address books," Carlson quipped, adding that he had received numerous announcements of his church's collection efforts.

Officials of the Evangelical Covenant Church are planning a trip to the Gulf Coast region at the end of September to find independent churches with which local Covenant congregations can partner, orchestrated through the Southeast Conference of the Evangelical Covenant Church in cooperation with Covenant World Relief.

There are several ways in which Covenanters can assist relief efforts:

• Housing - Those interested in offering housing to refugee families may visit this special link, Housing, to complete and submit an information form. That information will be used by Covenant World Relief to match displaced people with available housing, possibly working at times with other relief agencies that are partnering with Covenant World Relief in coordinating responses. Offers of housing are not binding – the actual decision can be made once a need has been identified and the potential housing donor notified.
• Contributions by check - Those interested in donating to the Covenant Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund administered by Covenant World Relief may do so by sending checks made payable to Covenant World Relief and earmarked for hurricane relief to Covenant World Relief, 5101 N. Francisco Avenue, Chicago, IL, 60625.
• Contributions online - Those interested in donating online using a major credit card may do so by visiting Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund. All online gifts will receive a charitable acknowledgement by mail for tax purposes.

Editor's note: For those who never want to miss one of these update reports or other news about Covenant ministries involving local churches, conferences and shared denominational initiatives, we offer a free service called Newswire. To those who sign up, it delivers one email each day containing the headlines and a few lines of copy for each story posted to the online Covenant news report during the previous 24 hours. To register for this free service, please go to Newswire.

To read earlier storm-related stories, please visit the following links:

• Relief Housing Registration Form Now Available
• North Park Reaching Out to Displaced Students
• Monetary Support Still Most Effective Relief Tool
• Words Help Paint Picture of Devastation
• Still a Long Way to Go
• Covenant Relief Dollars Already Hard at Work
• Covenant Churches Respond to Victims' Needs
• Florida Church Offers Help to Hurricane Victims
• Storm Forces Evacuation of Skilled Nursing Residents
• World Relief Responding to Hurricane Victims

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