Disaster Relief: Hurricanes Katrina, Rita & Wilma

Today 3 volunteers from the Family International —Leilani, Maria, and Charity—volunteered at the George R. Brown Convention Center. We had actually done several Christmas shows at the center this past year, so for us it was really quite amazing to see how different it looked.

Hundreds of cots and mattresses filled the huge rooms for quite a distance, but the convention center was actually quite organized in comparison with the Astrodome.

We signed up at the desk and were immediately asked to go to the computer room on the second floor where someone had just called down a request for 5 volunteers. When we arrived, someone explained to us briefly what was needed. The evacuees were all coming in to the newly set-up computer room to register online with FEMA disaster aid. Maria was a greeter who helped sign people in and showed them where to go.

Two of us walked around and helped those who didn’t understand computers and how to register. Actually, we didn’t understand how to register at first, but after helping the first couple of people, we got it down and got the hang of it. Many people had never used a computer before and were thankful for the help. We helped people check their mail, look at online maps of their city now underwater, register with FEMA, work out getting social security again, search for schools, and all sorts of other things. Through this we met very sweet people and were able to encourage them and gave them Activated magazines to read. It was encouraging to see how strong their faith in the Lord was even through this disaster.

Later in the day we were able to sing for some of the people eating lunch. We had barely pulled our guitar out when a young man of the military asked us if we knew how to sing “Happy Birthday”. We did, so he asked if we could sing for one of his friends at a nearby table. We surprised the man completely as we came up and asked if they would like to hear us sing a song, and then sang him Happy Birthday nice and loud. The soldiers really enjoyed this, so we sang them a short, impromptu “Baila la Bamba”.

We then sang to all the folks sitting at the tables and we also were able to brighten up the day for some of the children by getting them involved in the singing — and we gave each one a poster and an inspirational book for children.

This was only our first day, but we are looking forward to spending more time at the center to cheer people up and share some encouragement with the many people there at the shelter. There’s always a need and it’s so rewarding to fill it!