Bay St. Louis/Waveland area
Bayou La Batre
Mark and I traveled the gulf coast Tuesday to check on the needs of congregations and to see of what assistance we can be to them. It's just unbelievable how much damage and destruction remains even after 4 months. I understand that those who are not right here tend to think things are getting back to normal especially since things are no longer in the news. I'm going to try my best to describe some of the things we saw on our travels across Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana.
We started out going to Pascagoula, Ms. This is just one of many scenes in Pascagoula (picture bottom right) and remember.....these pictures were just taken one week ago and others when we were traveling this Tues. Jan. 3!!
We went through Bayou La Batre....the scene there is much the same as Pascagoula. Many of these people have also lost their livlihood of fishing, their boats are destroyed, their houses are destroyed, they have no income.
We stopped at the Slidell Church of Christ and spoke with a couple of the sojourners working there. It's time once again for me to say how much we LOVE the sojourners!! :) They were putting in electrical boxes for Don and Carrie Schmidt. Don and Carrie were working here with us in Mobile and are now going to be coordinating the efforts in Slidell. They are a wonderful family and we are confident they will do a great job in Slidell. The area around Slidell still has much work ahead of them as well.
From Slidell we journeyed on to Bay St. Louis and the Waveland area. This is where the hurricane made landfall. IT LOOKS LIKE DAY 1 IN THIS AREA!! Families are still living in tents (it gets cold at night......tonight they are forecasting it to get down to 29 degrees!!) There are still many areas without electric. We then stopped at the Long Beach Church of Christ and spoke with Mark Hodges the minister there. They have been doing a wonderful work reaching out to their community. They are currently in need of a lift that will take shingles to the top of roofs if you know of one available, please let us know.
Our last stop of the day was the Division St. Church of Christ in Biloxi. WOW!! All relief agencies have pulled out of Biloxi (which is what we have found in most places another reason for our slogan "FIRST IN - LAST OUT") Anyway we spoke with Paul Warren the minister there. We've been working with the Biloxi church taking supplies there, but now they really have an excellent opportunity to reach out!! Paul spoke with the city officials that morning. Since all other agencies have pulled out and there is still a DESPERATE need, they want his congregation to take over all distribution for the Biloxi area!! This will entail working out of one of the city parks distributing food, cleaning supplies, personal care items, etc. A major undertaking but terrific opportunity! We will be working with Biloxi to accomplish this, we sure need help as well though. The best part of all about Biloxi............So far they have baptized 16 people since the storm!! PRAISE GOD!!
I'm sure by now you're asking yourself, "how can I help?".........WELL......I'm glad you asked :)
1. Pray for this effort and for all those in Bible Studies.
2. Send this blog address and our website address to EVERYONE you know.
www.disasterresponseteam.blogspot.com www.churchesofchristdrt.org
3. Volunteer--between our 3 different sites we can handle about 300 volunteers each day.
4. Help with funding. This is needed to help purchase building material and supplies for those without insurance. As an average each house has been running about $5000. - $8000. in building supplies.
5. Talk to your congregations about this effort. Ask for their support in funding and sending volunteers.
6. Items Needed: Lift for taking shingles to roof tops.
Roofing Supplies (shingles, nails, felt paper)
Drywall Supplies (drywall, joint compound, tape, tools)
Food (already boxed up) call us for details.
Personal care items
Cleaning Supplies.
Semi trailers donated to store supplies/make into dorms/make into a mobile
kitchen
I know this was a long entry....thanks for staying with me!! :) Please continue to keep all of us in your prayers!
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