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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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