Mission News: Ongoing Katrina Rescue

What do FEMA, the Red Cross and PDA (Presbyterian Disaster Assistance) have in common? A great concern that momentum of contributions, financial and volunteer hours, toward the restoration along the United States Gulf coast will slow to a stop!

Ninety square miles of destruction! 600,000 homes destroyed! A minimum of 10 years and 27 billion dollars necessary to reestablish the area! (It is 12 years since Andrew and people are still without homes in Florida.) No flood plain maps are available until October 6th. Therefore, the banks and insurance companies are reluctant to move forward with loans and reconstruction.

From a Presbyterian viewpoint, the geographic area affected by Katrina involves 3 Synods, 6 Presbyteries and 100 churches. As a response, PDA has created 7 villages for 150-200 residents each to house volunteers who come to live in Mississippi and Louisiana to work. The set-up cost for each village is approximately $400,000.

The priority of response for PDA is first meeting needs of local churches. The agency was organized to minister within 12 hours of the storm. The village plan was devised to keep response coordinated and continuous. The desire is to be there for long-term recovery. The hope is for every volunteer to offer a minimum of one week and thereby develop a community atmosphere.

Good news: FEMA is placing 500 trailers each day. Relocation money is still available for those who wish to move. The number of family units housed in hotels is down from 40,000 to 5,000. 14,000 volunteer response days were scheduled in March. Churches in Central's synod are actively involved, sending numerous teams repeatedly. Central has sent two groups.

Teams with diversity of skills and ages (youth must be 16) are welcome. Tasks would include roofing, electrical wiring, hanging and finishing sheetrock, painting, floor covering. If you would like to organize a group to participate in a PDA program, living in a village, call 1-866-732-6121. Central's mission office has a manual of procedures and packing suggestions. OR, if you wish to stay at one of the 7 churches in the Mississippi Presbytery who are hosting work teams, please schedule by emailing presbyrecovery AT bellsouth.net.

Note: We have a gallery of photos of the Katarina recovery work online in our photo share space.
Learn more about ongoing hurricane Katrina recovery efforts
at Katrina Recovery Updates.