Posted on 07/25/2009 8:56:00 AM PDT by greyfoxx39
Before the storm, said Louisiana resident James Madison, he had Mormons knock on his door just like everybody else and the object was to try to get rid of them as fast as possible; go away, not interested, don’t want to hear what you have to say. After the storm, “ . . . a little bit different now. They’re part of my family now. Always will be. They got into my heart. They’ll never stand on my doorstep again without being invited into my house.”
They were hearing stories of troops coming in and heard helicopters were flying over, he said, they even heard that the President was flying over. But no one was there on the ground with them except the Mormons in their yellow t-shirts to help them clean up.
Katrina turned the seas and changed the political tide. It has become the symbol of a late great country. As Harold Meyerson asks this week in The Washington Post: Suppose our collective lack of response to Hurricane Katrina wasn't exceptional but, rather, the new normal in America. Suppose we can no longer address the major challenges confronting the nation. Suppose America is now the world's leading can't-do country.
In contrast, the Mormon relief trucks were on the way before the hurricane had even made land fall. Police Chief Larry Hess went over to the Bishop’s warehouse and found a huge building. “ . . . it was all catalogued and categorized and with their warehousing procedures and policies . . . they just knew where everything was, they knew how much of each thing they had, they were able to get not only saws to us but canned goods, outlets to outside communications . . . they had satellite phones . . . it was almost as if a business that specialized in emergency or community disaster response had arrived.”
When pundits and policy makers go on vacation this summer they might find a beach house with a DVD player and plug into the documentary The Mormons which aired last year on PBS. The episodes are also available at the PBS web site. Because now that we have listened to everybody else it might be time to listen to the Mormons.
Their’s is an astonishing journey of grace, faith, heartbreak, perseverance, determination and courage and one fully original, integral and indigenous to America. It may take a couple of quiet walks on the beach in the evening to fully metabolize. But it could well be that our sea has changed with Katrina and our American journey will begin again with the Mormons. Former Bay State Governor Mitt Romney is in a dead heat with President Obama in the first major poll that asked voters who they would support in the 2012 presidential election, the Boston Herald reports.
MOBILE, AL - While some traditional disaster-response agencies have been faulted for acting too slowly in the face of Hurricane Katrina, religious organizations have quickly welcomed, clothed and fed thousands of storm victims.
Their no-red-tape response follows a trend of faith-based organizations playing an increasing role in functions traditionally performed by the government and secular charities.
And it has some Gulf Coast-area church leaders and government officials - emboldened by the large role that houses of worship assumed after the storm -saying they want congregations to do even more.
"We have seen a paradigm shift," said Chip Hale, senior pastor at Spanish Fort (AL) United Methodist Church. "Before. in America, since the 1930s or 40s, we've thought the government was going to do it. Now we realize the church is going to have to do it."
Some members of Congress have proposed making it easier for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to fund faith-based groups. Congress has approved more than $60 billion in Katrina relief, and some estimates of total relief spending have reached $200 billion.
Alabama State Sen. Bradley Byrne said the post-Katrina relief efforts have shown the government that it should give churches a larger role in future disasters.
"This would be a lost opportunity to build for the future if we don't," said Byrne, a Republican.
In the days after the Aug. 29 storm, churches in Gulf Coast states welcomed people who lost their homes, not only providing temporary havens for storm victims to sleep and shower, but also chauffeuring them to safe cities and helping them connect with medical care, job opportunities and long-term housing.
Relief program have included:
Shelters set up by numerous churches. Some are operated by the American Red Cross, while others are run by church members. "We saw the crisis of literally thousands of people being displaced in Mississippi and New Orleans," said Bob Terrell, family life minister at Church of Christ of Spanish Fort, which opened its shelter on Sept. 1 and runs it without Red Cross support.
Collections of goods and money. Many churches and religious organizations have gathered food, clothes and household items for evacuees. The United Methodist Church's Disaster Recovery Ministry has set up five distribution centers in southern Mobile County. The Spanish Fort Methodist church has converted its food pantry into a distribution center, and last week sent 28 trailer-trucks of food into Mississippi.
Setting up help stations near affected areas. Three Alabama churches - Christian Life Church in Orange Beach, Genesis Church in Foley, and Gulfway Assembly of God in Gulf Shores - set up a makeshift camp in a K-Mart parking lot in Waveland, MS, to offer food, water and other supplies to hurricane victims. The center, nicknamed Camp Katrina, has aided thousands.
Transporting evacuees. St. Lawrence Catholic Church in Fairhope, AL, hired several charter buses to transfer hundreds of victims from Mississippi to Alabama and Georgia.
Many churches jumped into action as fast, if not faster, than government agencies or traditional response charities like the Red Cross.
Leigh Anne Ryals, director of the Baldwin County (AL) Emergency Management Agency, said the huge post-Katrina need stretched many organizations thin, including governments and non-profit agencies.
After the storm passed, "the whole sheltering initiative is placed on the shoulders of the Red Cross, and certainly we have seen several shortcomings with personnel constraints, especially with a disaster of this magnitude," Ryals said.
When those agencies proved unable to meet the victims' needs, churches opened their doors, gathered supplies and called on members to cook hot meals and staff and organize shelters.
"To me it was the most awesome thing, to see churches give and to continue to give and support" the evacuees, Ryals said.
The churches' quick response saved lives, Byrne said.
"Churches can't do what the government will do in the weeks and months to come," he said, "but as far as getting basic life necessities to people in the weeks after the storm, I think the church played a decisive role."
Church officials offer several reasons for their quick response. Hale, the Spanish Fort senior pastor, credited a lack of bureaucracy. In his Internet blog, he alluded to Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels, comparing FEMA to Gulliver tied down on the isle of Lilliput, and said the churches were able to move freely like the tiny Lilliputians.
"What happened was the government wasn't ready to respond, yet individual churches were ready to respond," he said later in an interview. Churches also often have the necessary resources for disaster relief, such as large buildings for shelters and a closely knit membership from which to draw volunteers.
Most importantly, according to relief workers affiliated with religious groups, is that the spirit of giving permeates the teachings of all churches.
"The church is not there for itself, but for others," said Clyde Pressley, executive director of the Disaster Recovery Ministry in Mobile.
"We get a sense of joy helping others. We high-five one another after we've done something."
Religious organizations wanting to take a larger role in society have found a friend in the current president.
In 2001, President Bush established a White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives to help such organizations compete for federal funding. In 2002, Bush signed an order guaranteeing equal treatment for religious groups vying for federal grants.
In fiscal 2004, religious organizations received about $2 billion in grants from seven federal agencies, including the U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, and Education.
While that was just about 10 percent of the total grant money, it represented a big increase from the $1.17 billion religious groups received in 2003.
Religious organizations are more geared to be first responders because they are already established in communities and can immediately identify needs, while FEMA and other such organizations have to come into an area and set up, said Terri Hasdorff, director of Alabama Gov. Bob Riley's faith-based initiatives office.
While the government can provide funding, Hasdorff said, local organizations can tailor social services to fit the needs of individual communities.
"I think what you are seeing is more of a partnership and a growing awareness that faith-based and community organizations are needed for that response," he said.
Posted: 25-Sep-05
Ping
There should not be a barf alert on this one.
Mormonism is like being in the boy scouts to the extreme.
They are prepared for almost anything short of an armageddon asteroid, and if anyone survives, it will be them.
Your knowledge of mormonism is very incomplete.
I think the barf alert was for Romney, not the Mormons.
Makes me wanna puke!
So churches and private charities have done a better job of helping the people of Louisianna than the glorious federal government programs. Wow. Never would have geussed on that happening. (sarcasm)
The barf alert is because it portrays Mormons as being holier than anyone else. Of course, Mormons have to believe and promote this viewpoint because they are a religion of works, not grace. That is, you only get your planet to be God over if you accumulate enough good works - so if Mormons aren't outproducing on the good-works quota meter that implies they aren't the chosen ones.
This also goes to why Romney should not be president based on his Mormonism (this always gets me labeled a bigot, so what). Romneycare is a good works kind of program that mimics the Mormon social structure. It also is exactly Obamacare, which is a political and economic abomination.
Thus Romney's Mormonism is directly related to how he would govern, which is not conservative but paternalistic quasi-socialism. Romney is not a classless Mormon, but an upper class Melchizedek priest who was both a Bishop and a Stake President - he is a man on a mission to Godhood and obtaining his own planet.
People need to really think five times before getting the conservative movement wrapped up in this whirlpool of theocratic mumbo-jumbo which hangs from Romney like a thick moss. I've seen lots of this stuff here in Mormon Las Vegas, it can get pretty darn weird.
Actually, you are wrong...the barf alert is for the way the article credits mormons ONLY for being there after Katrina (in their yellow tee shirts) and the further aggrandizement of the mormon history which is not all that stellar.
Have a look at this web site about the tee shirts:
Mormon Helping Hands Guidelines for Public Affairs Directors 2007
I had problems with formatting from the website, but here is the information, and the whole website is worth reading.
How to Identify Opportunities
How to Identify Opportunities
Page 5 Organizers Should Not Commit to Providing Repetitive Services or Financial Resources
Opportunities for Mormon Helping Hands projects come in many forms. Projects that address a recognized
need in the community are generally better received than those that are simply convenient or easy to accomplish.
Take time to think through the potential for good (to others and the Church) before recommending
projects to priesthood leaders. Generally, choose projects that do the most good for needy individuals or for
the community.
Organizers of these projects should always consider building relationships to be an important objective. Projects
completed in cooperation with government and civic leaders generally produce the best results and build
the strongest relationships. Church Humanitarian Services representatives may be a good source for project
ideas and opportunities.
Involvement from third-party sponsors such as large corporations and humanitarian organizations can help
increase the potential for good and the visibility of a project. Also consider that some projects lend themselves
better to photography and videotaping than others.
Examples of Mormon Helping Hands projects from around the world are contained in “Appendix B: Examples
of Successful Mormon Helping Hands Projects.” Other ideas for projects are listed below. Please note that the
Church’s role in most cases is to provide laborers only. As a general rule, goods and materials should be supplied
by the organization being assisted or by project sponsors; however, priesthood leaders have the option of
using Church resources in appropriate
circumstances.
Likewise, it is important to remember not to obligate the Church to
make financial contributions. Instead, these projects are often funded by private donors, local
businesses, government entities, or the organization being assisted. (For example, goods would be provided by the
organization, and labor would be provided by Church members.)
More at link
Now, with this in mind, are you convinced that the aid offered by the mormon church has no strings attached and is just an example of Christians doing good for the sake of their fellow man?
I think they're actually even prepped for asteroids.
Who pays for (the yellow) Mormon Helping Hands T-shirts and vests?
Answer: Local unit budgets or local members should pay for vests and T-shirts for non–disaster relief projects. When the Church’s Humanitarian Emergency Response participates in disaster relief efforts, a supply of vests and T-shirts is often included as part of the relief shipment....
And, wanna bet that the retail cost of these shirts are included in the dollar amount claimed as "Humanitarian Relief" by the mormon church?
“Your knowledge of mormonism is very incomplete.”
Your bigotry against a good people is in full display.
Read post #11, go to the link and "ponder" upon it.
The first defense that mormons post against information directly from LDS sources is to holler "bigotry".
The first thing RomneyBOTs post to any criticism
(ie. TRUTH) discussing the bad behavior of scumbag Romney
is to cry (falsely) “bigotry” and “racism”. What BS.
No one can ever believe a backstabbing RomneyBOT again.
Huckabee has specifically justified his big government programs using his religion, as well.
Frankly, I don’t know or care why people like Romney or Huckabee push big government on us — the fact that they do so is enough to make me vehemently oppose them for public office.
[Huckabee has specifically justified his big government programs using his religion, as well.]
Yes, and tht is a problem. Now multiply this problem by the fact that Romney is directly descended from Parley Pratt, one of the first 12 Mormon disciples, is a Melchizedek priest (not a lower class Aaronic priest), who believes at the core of his religion that he will become a God with his own planet through good works, and you’ve made my point. If Huckabees motivations are disturbing, just multiply them many times. Then add in peepstones, golden plates, secret handshakes and magic underwear and run this man for president as a conservative.
I see a problem here. I’m not walking the plank for the GOP insiders this time around.
Romney succumbed to the original temptation. A vote for Romney is a vote for Satan. A wolf in sheep's clothing. He only pretends to be conservative when it suits an election.
Me either. Especially if Romney is nominated. But he won't be (unless he runs as a Dim). And there is no possible way he'll ever be President of the United States. He's a mormon, and mormons are not Christian. Romney won't waste the money to give it another try. It will just be another horrendous mistake and load$$ of money wasted.
Jindal/Palin 2012.
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