Rita Update from East Texas
From the HopeReach team:
We are so thankful that the Lord answered our prayers and spared much of Texas from Rita’s fury. Nevertheless, a lot of damage was done, and we have once more been very busy at the emergency shelters. At the beginning of the week, we helped process a lot of requests for aid and assistance for evacuees from the Beaumont/Port Arthur region, while the teens helped in the pantry and kitchen.
Then mid week, an urgent request arrived to send help to Jasper, a town not so far from our mission center which was hit quite hard. Lex met with the man overseeing relief work there, and we will send a team to help shortly. Lex said the town looked like a bomb site with hundred of trees and electric poles blown over. They expect it could takes as long as three months for electricity to be restored. Amazingly, hardly any trees fell on houses, and everyone there is saying that it’s a miracle! We believe it is! Then another phone call! This time, a couple in Minnesota wants to donate their camper trailer to victims of Hurricane Katrina and someone needed to go and pick it up. So Lex is driving up there now and hopes to return by Sunday, and then off to Jasper Monday! The camper will be donated to a family made homeless by Katrina.
