In San Antonio, some Methodist and Presbyterian congregations join Baptist congregations to support the work at the "Medical Special Needs" shelter for huricane evacuees. The shelter is run by Baptist Child & Family Services. Meals for multiple shelters are prepared in the kitchen of Trinity Baptist Church Tri-Points facility with the help of the disaster relief ministry of Texas Baptist Men.
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Editor's Note: The following are edited excerpts from a variety of sources. Most reports are by Harvey H. Howell of San Antonio, who is a member of the Presbyterian Disaster Assistance National Response Team. See more about him at end of article. PNNews.org will continue to update this article as reports come in. —Shane Whisler
"FISH Camp" at Luling sustains minor damage.
Report filed: 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2008
The Luling, La., "FISH Camp" for volunteers sustained minimal damage. That Presbyterian Disaster Assistance Volunteer Village is next to First Union Presbyterian Church. Both still have electricity following Hurricane Gustav, reported the Rev. Lisa Easterling in an email. She is pastor of First Union and is without power at her own home.
Roof torn from Baker (La.) Presbyterian Church
11 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2008
BATON ROUGE 9/3/08 — Hurricane Gustav tore the roof from Baker Presbyterian Church, north of Baton Rouge, exposing the interior to the elements, said South Louisiana's general presbyter, Alan Cutter, in preliminary damage report Tuesday evening.
Cutter hopes that today (Wednesday) the presbytery's recovery staff can return to their New Orleans offices and start accessing the damage throughout the presbytery. In the email sent to neighboring presbytery and synod leaders, he said that the PDA Volunteer Villages in Houma and Luling were undoubtedly damaged, but no one has an eyewitness report at this time. Luling is immediately west of New Orleans and Houma is about 60 miles southwest of New Orleans.
In an earlier report, Cutter praised the recovery staff for the professional manner in which they acted on the disaster plan created in the last two years. That staff along with several Habitat for Humanity workers, a few pastors and 50 members of Korean Presbyterian Church of New Orleans sought shelter at Feliciana Retreat Center north of Baton Rouge near the Mississippi border. The church group was there for a retreat and decided to stay as Gustav approached.
Baker Presbyterian Church, the first congregation with damaged facilities reported, has about 100 members. Their pastor is Charlene Heaton. Baker, La., is 11 miles north of Baton Rouge.
Arkansas Presbytery Disaster Response Team reports on sheltering evacuees
10:30 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2008
As rains spawned by Gustav roll across the state, Presbytery of Arkansas churches are offering assistance to evacuees from Mississippi, Louisiana, and other Gulf states who left their homes in anticipation of the hurricane's arrival.
Saturday night, August 30, First Presbyterian at Little Rock hosted 25 family units representing families of medical evacuees, because one of the official evacuation centers had not yet opened. Other churches are responding as they become aware of needs.
As of the morning of September 2, the Presbytery of Arkansas Disaster Relief Team (DRT) is standing by, waiting to respond to congregations needing hosting assistance or in other ways.
Since within the framework of the Presbyterian Disaster Assistance network denomination-wide all disasters are first considered local, it is hoped churches will look for funding in their communities before seeking funds from the presbytery Disaster Response Team. This is due in part to the fact that, as of this date, the Presbytery of Arkansas Disaster Response Team has not received, nor requested, any funds for this event. If the flooding predicted in the wake of rains associated with Gustav takes place within the bounds of the presbytery, the DRT may seek funds from Presbyterian Disaster Assistance nationally.
One specific, immediate opportunity to serve has come in the request for volunteer assistance at the Evacuee Center in Ft. Smith.
"We are very quickly running out or wearing out our volunteers," pleads Maj. Richard Watts of the Salvation Army in Ft. Smith. "We need help. What I'm looking for are volunteers to come for 1 day and work from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. I really need about 15 volunteers each day from Tuesday thru Sunday. If a person or group can serve longer, that will be wonderful, but I don't want to overwork either those volunteering or those presently serving. No cooking—just serving, cleaning, and loading and unloading."
Contact Maj. Watts: richard_watts@uss.salvationarmy.org, 479-530-2742.
As events develop, Presbytery of Arkansas churches needing assistance or who have volunteers seeking information about where they might serve are asked to please contact Disaster Response Team member Emmett Powers at 501-412-8497 or pbydisasterteam@sbcglobal.net.
Shelters in operation
REPORT FILED 9 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2008, by Harvey Howell
At the State of Texas, Mass Care and Shelter Operation is the number one priority for the Governors Division of Emergency Management. The State of Texas evacuated 280,000 people in SE Texas, 10,000 with special needs. Most of these are sheltered in Point-to-Point Shelters coordinated by State of Texas Emergency Management Council at the State Operation Center (SOC). Nancy Bass with Salvation Army leads.
In San Antonio, the Alamo Area Regional Command (AARC) continues providing 24/7 support to the SOC at the San Antonio EOC. Shelters are open in San Antonio, and the EOC Shelter Boards reflected 867 guests in a combination of 6 General Population and Special Medical Needs (MSN) Shelters last night. 131 pets were also sheltered last night.
In the AARC, Baptist Child & Family Services (BCFS) manages the MSN shelters and works with many local congregations to provide that care, including multiple Baptist, Methodist and Presbyterian involved in the current operation. A very dramatic "eleventh-hour" evacuation occurred Monday between 1 a.m. and 7 a.m., as 163 Critical Special Needs souls were air evacuated from New Orleans to San Antonio just as first tropical storm winds were arriving. Texas Baptist Men support the MSN operation with a large food kitchen located at the Trinity Baptist Church Tri-Points facility. All meals needed for the church shelters are centrally prepared here for efficient distribution.
The SAVOAD supports the AARC and sheltering operation through the Volunteer Operation Center (VOC), the first of its kind center to facilitate rapid screening and training of Spontaneous Volunteers. Co-created by SAVOAD member partners San Antonio Red Cross and Bexar County Citizens Corps (CERT), Julie Martinez, Bexar County Emergency Mgmt Citizens Corps Coordinator, and Alfred Lopez, Red Cross/SAVOAD 3rd Vice-President, co-lead the VOC. The VOC is open again this morning at the Joe Freeman Coliseum, Frontier Room, 3201 E. Houston St., San Antonio.
Public Service Announcements are advising citizens willing to help in the Shelters, to go to the VOC to be processed, screened, and trained as general volunteers. The VOC has processed over 250 volunteers in its first 3 days of this operation, first roll-out for the VOC, and continues to operate from 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM today (Tuesday). The general information phone number there is (210) 224-5365. (Visit local media websites in your area for potential volunteer needs.)
Many SAVOAD members/partners/congregations are working this event; work will continue as the shelter guests begin to leave during the Re-entry Operations.
As President Bush thanked everyone here yesterday, so I also thank you for the outpouring of love to those in need. - Harvey Howell
Neighboring states need volunteers at evacuee shelters
REPORT FILED 8 a.m. Monday, Sept. 1, 2008, by Harvey Howell
Editor's note: The city of Dallas reports that more volunteers are needed to help at the shelter centers. If you can help, check the television or newspaper web sites in your city.
Hurricane Gustav is presently making landfall in Louisiana as a Category 3 hurricane with winds of 115 m.p.h. The eye is nearing the Coast. Hurricane-force winds are blowing over portions of southeastern, La.
Prior to landfall, Louisiana, Texas and Mississippi assisted evacuation of an estimated 1.9 million people, mostly to areas north and directly away from the storm. Multiple neighboring states are receiving evacuees and the "Community-wide" efforts are markedly uplifting, as we remember Katrina 3 years ago.
In Texas, Governor Rick Perry requested and has received a presidential emergency declaration because of the threat of imminent disaster posed by Hurricane Gustav, listing 61 counties including Bexar (San Antonio).
The State of Texas has been well-prepared for this storm, and numerous evacuation and other operations have been progressing for several days. In support of the state, the Alamo Area Regional Command (AARC) continues 24/7 operations in the San Antonio Emergency Operation Center (EOC).
As of this morning, the AARC-EOC boards indicate San Antonio has sheltered 840 evacuee guests overnight, in a combination of 8 General Population and Special Medical Needs Shelters (SMN). Many of these guests were airlifted from East Texas Saturday overnight. An estimated 4,100 evacuees from Louisiana were expected in San Antonio; after landfall, more are expected. Capacity in the open and pending-to-open shelters exceeds 9,400 with additional City of San Antonio general population and BCFS SMN shelter capacity in reserve as needed.
The SAVOAD Volunteer Operation Center (VOC) is open again this morning at the Joe Freeman Coliseum, Frontier Room, 3201 E. Houston St., San Antonio.
Public Service Announcements are advising citizens willing to help in the shelters, to go to the VOC for processing, screening, and training as general volunteers. The VOC has processed over 150 volunteers in its first 2 days of operation, and continues to operate from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. The general information phone number there is (210) 224-5365.
Blessings to each of you. On this Labor Day, know your work is making a difference.
South Louisiana Presbytery: General Presbyter Alan Cutter's Sunday night report.
Editor's note: We are not merely concerned with how Presbyterians and clergy are surviving the disaster. It is simply helpful to provide one perspective in times of disaster. More importantly, synods stay in contact to support presbyteries and presbyteries contact and support pastors who care for their congregation members. And in the big picture, Presbyterians from everywhere commit to long-term support for recovery efforts of any who need help, not just other Presbyterians or other Christians.
BATON ROUGE, 7:09 p.m. Aug. 31, 2008 — Many Presbyterians from the New Orleans area are riding out Hurricane Gustav at South Louisiana Presbytery's Feliciana Retreat Center about 45 miles north of Baton Rouge near the Mississippi border.
"We had been preparing for a storm for a couple years now and plans were in place," General Presbyter Alan Cutter said. "The staff in Baton Rouge (presbytery office) and the (presbytery) recovery staff, the pastors and congregations seem to have put into effect plans that are certainly better than they were at Katrina-Rita."
About 50 members of the Korean Presbyterian Church in New Orleans were on a retreat at the Feliciana facility and decided to stay as Gustav approached, cutter told synod and other presbytery leaders in an email Sunday night. The Korean congregation performed extensive rebuilding to their church facilities as did near by Lakeview Presbyterian after the floods caused by Hurricane Katrina three years ago.
Others at Feliciana Retreat Center, near Norwood, La., include the Presbytery's recovery staff, a couple of pastors and Habitat for Humanity workers many with families and pets in addition to about 20 trucks and trailers, according to Cutter.
"We have information on many of our clergy and know where they have gone to ground," said Cutter, who returned from vacation on Saturday drove up to the retreat center Sunday before returning home to Baton Rouge with his wife Ann.
Cutter said he complimented the presbytery-related staff on the professional manner in which they planned and implemented the evacuation plan. Some staff have passes which will allow them to see the damaged areas after emergency responders have secured them. The priorities after the storm will be to check on families the presbytery have helped with support from Presbyterians nation-wide, and the sites with construction in progress.
"I have spoken to John Robinson of Presbyterian Disaster Assistance," Cutter said. "They are prepared to send us two or three of the National Response Team. Statewide evacuations and pre-planning have paid off; FEMA seems to have learned a lot as well."
As of Sunday night the projected path of Gustav indicated real problems for churches west of New Orleans down in the bayous. The PDA Camp in Luling may be in danger as well.
