Disaster Relief: Hurricanes Katrina, Rita & Wilma

From Jon and Sam:

We’ve been visiting the shelter at Kelly air force base every day to spend time with the evacuees, talk with them and offer comfort and prayer. We’ve heard many stories from the evacuees of how they have lost everything. They said that when the levees broke water rushed into their homes like a wave; about as fast as 4-5 feet per minute. One man, David, told us of how he and 30 other people were trapped in a church because of the floods. He told of how he swam the length of a football field to a boat in-order to rescue his friends. He went on to tell how he rescued others nearby that were also trapped in their homes. He said that day was like a movie or a “bad dream”, and he thanks the Lord that he lived to see today.

Weve also been asking folks how their stay at the shelter has been, what they are planning on doing from here on out, and whether they would stay in San Antonio or go back to New Orleans. Most of the people we spoke with said they would stay in San Antonio for at least a year or so. We have also been offering to pray for each individual and their situation that the Lord would help them through this difficult time and supply all their needs.

It’s been lots of fun to spend time helping to entertain the children at the shelter by playing jump-rope, basketball, and passing out the beautiful posters of heaven. Even the information officer that was with us had fun. She said it felt good to be able to spend some time with the people themselves, instead of doing the more technical work she’s involved in most of the time.

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From Jon, San Antonio

We went to an old Wal-mart which had been set up as an evacuation center for people from Houston fleeing Hurricane Rita. We worked for a few hours setting up a food court for 2000+ evacuees to eat lunch. It consisted of unloading and sorting boxes of food, drinks and household supplies, setting up tables and then organizing plates of drinks/snacks, and helping serve the food during the food line.

The place had just opened that day and was pretty disorganized, so the San Antonio Fire Department, who were in charge and trying to get things organized were very appreciative of us being there to help. Dr. Chris accompanied us as well and was able to greatly assist the medical station. She told us afterward of many lives saved and patients that were grateful of her being there and even the other nurses were thankful for her support and encouragement. (This particular shelter was housing about 250 mentally/physically handicapped people.)

We also met a young college student from San Antonio who was volunteering alongside us for the day. We explained that we are fulltime missionaries with the Family International and told him a bit about lives of service to the Lord. We told him our main goal was to minister to people spiritually and that any physical assistance we could offer was secondary to that.

Later in the day we went to the Kelly shelter and were able to continue ministering to the evacuees there. We witnessed to people, listened to them tell us their stories of how their experience at the evacuee site has been so far as well as how Katrina has effected them. We talked to them about how the Lord as been using this disaster to work in many people’s lives, drawing them closer to Him and reminding them of His promise that “All things work together for good to them that love God”.(Romans 8:28)
People were, for the most part, easy to talk to and willing to tell us about their experiences.

From Suzy, San Antonio

Nick, Joanna and Chris joined Karen, Rose and John to minister to evacuees at the Kelly Center in San Antonio.

We went as teams to the zones that were made up of large rooms where the evacuees are housed. Nick and I visited the evacuees at their cots, spending time with them on an individual basis. Most people responded when we offered to pray for them, and they talked then even more. We prayed with everyone we talked with, listened to them and then gave them a copy of the Activated Magazine, “Why Suffering”. While Nick was talking with one man, a little boy had been following me around so I spent time with him as he was just wandering around unattended. Then a little girl came and sat on my knee holding on to me, and she just wanted to be held. Eventually, after a while she started to talk a little, she just needed some TLC.

The next day Nick called into the center, explaining that we had a missionary doctor, Dr. Chris, who was up on a visa trip from Mexico. When they heard how many volunteers we had and that we had doctor as well, they stressed that more help was needed at a shelter they were just opening at an old Wal-Mart building.

Upon arriving, we found out that these were among the 3 million people evacuating the Texas gulf coast, trying to escape Hurricane Rita. They too had to be taken care of. As we were leaving at the end of our day there, I found out that they were 2,9OO people come into the shelter. The shelter was very new and there was so much to organize, so the young people on our team, Andrew, Chris, Liz and John helped set up the newly formed dining room and food line from a totally empty storage room, while Joanna helped set up the registration place.

Dr. Chris came in and she had quite a few people to take care of, as when we arrived there was no doctor, in fact there wasn’t even a first aid kit, just an empty medical room. Eventually there were some medical students that came in to a help, a home guard doctor later on, and finally medical supplies. Many people came sick, and tired, as the highways were so full for some the drive from Houston took 18 hours.

We had an opportunity to minister to and pray with almost every single person at the Kelly Center. We met one woman who asked for prayer as her young daughter was missing. She has not been able to locate her 5 year old daughter since the first day. Our hearts really felt for her, while words sometimes fail, we know that her faith and prayers will help her through this time. This woman and her other daughter received Jesus along with another 6 children today. Many people today expressed frustration, as they want to leave the shelters but the housing takes time.

Pandita, San Antonio

I have learned a lesson on how all things work together for good. We had been disheartened when we had to move out of our house before being able to find a new one and had ended up staying at a pay-by-the-week motel. It was sufficient, but not really “home”. Then Katrina struck and we got really busy with the relief efforts, visiting the shelters. One goal of our work in the shelters was not to just have a one time impact on people by to continue with them, even as they moved out of the shelters and into other housing. We knew it would take time for them to heal and they needed to know they could count on us. Imagine my surprise when I went by to pay my weekly rent and the motel manager told me he had been looking everywhere for me and really wanted to talk with me. He said, Ï see by your badge that you are working with the Red Cross as a chaplain in the shelters and I really need your help. I am just swamped with evacuees moving in here and asking me all kinds of questions. Can I
send them to you?” The next morning he referred me to Wanda and her family of 18 who had recently moved in.
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From Joy, San Antonio

Abby and I went to the Windsor Park shelter on Friday. Every time I go I am amazed at the army cots stretching across these huge spaces. I couldn’t help but wonder how people could handle living altogether with hundreds of strangers. Meeting Linda gave us insight into why so many are still in the shelters while others have moved on to begin their lives again.

We saw Linda sitting on her bed with her leg up. When we looked across the room, she called us over to sit down with her. She
explained that she had been bitten by spiders and her leg had swollen so much she had to keep it elevated. She said she had been sick most of the time since her evacuation. Her resistance was so low that she needed strong antibiotics or she would have had to have her foot amputated. (more…)

From Pandita and Ira, San Antonio

We went back to the Windsor Park Shelter on Sunday to announce the winners of the coloring contest and meet some of the parents. We had a box of presents, children’s posters, and Pudding the Clown (Ira) entertained the children. The chaplain in charge was very thankful for the encouragement we were able to share with the families. We had been praying with different people there, including a 16 year old girl who wanted to get involved in helping us. Ira also went around to the medical and service volunteers giving balloon bracelets. That caused a wave of inspiration and good humor with all the workers.

On our way out we were stopped by the chaplain because he knows we want to minister to the children but the environment is not conducive to a peaceful atmosphere. He gave us the phone number of a bishop and said this man is trying to set apart a place for us to have Sunday School with the children and classes with the teens and adults.. That would be a real answer to prayer because it would be a place where we can separate ourselves from the noise and confusion that exists in most of the rooms. There was a rumor that this shelter would be closing soon, but at this meeting the chaplain said they have a commitment of a year for the shelterto be open and we will be able to continue to be an encouragement to those there.

From Haven:

Liz and I went to the Windsor shelter today and we helped with the childcare. They have a very nice set-up for the 0-6 year olds. The women who are staffing the center are very concerned about keeping everything clean and organized and they’re doing a great job. They were able to get their little daycare set up nicely in the just the past few days, thanks to a lot of dedicated volunteers and many kind donations. We are now helping out by doing musical performances for the children. We also spent some time in the other childcare area playing with the 5-8 year olds. The department that cares for the children also told us that we could bring in our guitars and sing with the kids. We’re very thankful for a way to be able to share some happiness with these kids. Most of them seem to be enjoying themselves in the play area that the shelter has set up for them, and the kids are quite happy and energetic and responded well to the attention we’ve given them.

For the past few days a group of teens from The Family International have been volunteering their time after school to help sort and pack food at the Food Bank for the Katrina hurricane victims. They have done a great job working together as a team and their efforts have been appreciated by the Food Bank staff.

From Dan & Arthur

We have been receiving phone calls asking for food assistance from Katrina evacuees here in San Antonio who are not being housed in shelters. We have put together many boxes of non-perishable food items and have delivered them to the evacuees in different parts of the city. We’ve taken time to talk with these people, pray with them and leave them some faith-building Christian literature such as the Activated Magazine which the evacuees have said they very much appreciate. We have also been able to share encouragement and hope with them and the knowledge that the Lord loves them and will always be there for them.

After visiting some families and providing them with needed food items, Arthur (18) and I went to the Kelly USA shelter where we spent time visiting with some of the evacuees there, asking them about their needs and lending a listening ear as they unburdened their hearts and looked for comfort. We talked with one man who had lived in New Orleans all his life but said that he had never before experienced such kindness and hospitality as he had found in San Antonio and he plans to make this his new home. He showed us a Bible he had under his pillow that someone had given him and he said that was what had kept him holding on through such an upheaval in his life and he was so thankful he had Jesus. He asked for prayer for his health and for his family to adapt to their new home and schools and asked us to visit him again.

Arthur was also able to offer his services for a few hours working in the distribution center, helping sort donated items and unloading trucks full of donated clothing that were coming into the center.

From Dan

On Saturday we went to KellyUSA and spent our time there listening to people as well as exploring more ways to get involved. The base itself is very well staffed, but we noticed a lot of folks sitting around on their beds. We talked to a few of them letting them tell us their stories. What we saw was that the physical needs were being met but there is a great need for that spiritual relief in talking to someone.

One man who we talked to said, “Well you guys are from the Red Cross so you have to listen to me.” We told him that we were there because we wanted to listen to him, to which he smiled.

Later in the afternoon we headed over to the Coliseum where they are giving some financial aid to the victims. Our job there was to talk to the individuals and help them in filling out their forms. This brought us in close contact with a lot of people and showed us that the need isn’t even just within the shelters but also with others who may be staying with friends or relatives.

One lady I was helping told me her heart-breaking story, I told her that I could pray for her to which she told me that God was no longer in the picture. These kind of situations show how desperate the need is for the prayers of others as if God is in the picture we know that he can handle all the problems.