They have faith they can feed thousands - Religious groups launch effort in Houston

A massive interfaith effort is under way to feed Hurricane Katrina evacuees at large-scale shelters in Houston, including the George R. Brown Convention Center.

The plan is not final. But organizers expect religious groups to raise an initial $4.4 million for 30 days of food and to supply 720 volunteers a day to provide and serve three hot meals to many thousands seeking shelter in Houston.

"I do not view this as a faith community issue," said the Rev. Kirbyjon Caldwell, pastor of Windsor Village United Methodist Church, which will participate in the effort and other relief projects. "This is a human decency issue."

The religious effort, dubbed Operation Compassion, is being discussed with city and state officials and Interfaith Ministries for Greater Houston. Second Baptist Church is the central administrator of the effort.

The initial plan was to provide meals at Reliant Astrodome, where Aramark is now serving food. But after the shelter was filled to capacity, city officials asked faith groups to serve at the other large shelters the city is arranging, said Lou Keels, communications manager for Interfaith Ministries.

"We hope to feed people for at least the first 30 days, but probably 60 to 90 days," she said.

Efforts slipped into high gear Thursday morning, when hundreds of leaders from the spectrum of the city's religious landscape gathered at Second Baptist. At the meeting, senior pastor Ed Young, "talked about the great crisis we are in and the need to mobilize as many of our people as possible," church spokesman Gary Moore said.

Second Baptist plans to provide funding and volunteers for the first round of the effort that it hopes will begin Tuesday at the convention center. Lakewood Church, the Catholic Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston and the Episcopal Diocese of Texas are among the Christian groups cooperating with the effort. Houston's Muslim and Jewish communities also are participating.

"I think people are genuinely touched by the immensity of the disaster, and I think people will respond," said Rabbi Shaul Osadchey of Congregation Or Ami.

Volunteers must be trained and are asked to organize through the religious group they are affiliated with, Keels said. Donations of food and money should also go through those groups, she said.

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OPERATION COMPASSION A two-hour training session is required for volunteers. • When: 9 a.m. today, 2 p.m. Sunday, 1 p.m. Monday

• Other sessions: 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at Second Baptist's West Campus, 19499 Katy Freeway; 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at its North Campus, 22770 U.S. 59 North in Kingwood.

• Registration: Volunteers are asked to register with their local religious organizations, which will coordinate with Second Baptist. Individuals without congregations can come to training without registering.

• More information: www.second.org/global/operation_compassion.aspx or 713-365-3479.

Sept. 3, 2005, 6:37AM

300 airmen going home for hurricane emergencies
Associated Press

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The U.S. Air Force will send 300 airmen home from Iraq and Afghanistan to help their families cope with emergencies on a hurricane-devastated airbase in Biloxi, Miss., a spokesman said Saturday.

The airmen, all based at Keesler Air Force Base, would begin flying home over the next two weeks, said Air Force Capt. David Small, spokesman for U.S. Central Command Air Forces in Qatar.

The group includes airmen who were scheduled to rotate home in September and others whose deployments would be cut short.

"Those who weren't scheduled to go home, we're going to send them home anyway to take care of their families and the hurricane damage," Small said.

Keesler, just off the beach in the Gulf Coast city of Biloxi, suffered a direct hit from Hurricane Katrina. The storm wiped out much of its housing and other infrastructure. Small said most personnel and families on the base had been moved to temporary shelters.

"Everything was under water," he said.

Small said he had heard no reports of storm-related deaths on the base. Keesler houses both active duty airmen and Air Force Reservists.

The decision to send Keesler-based airmen home was made by top Air Force officials with the support of Brig. Gen. Allen G. Peck, the deputy commander of coalition air forces in the Iraq and Afghanistan theaters. Peck is based at al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar.

Small said the 300 airmen will be leaving many bases in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as surrounding countries in Central Asia and Arab states of the Persian Gulf. Some will be flying home on commercial airlines, he said.

Small said the Air Force would ensure the early departure would not damage the Air Force's war-fighting capabilities, which include ground attack sorties, cargo and fuel deliveries, air-to-air refueling and troop transport.

"We're making sure the unit commanders here can still conduct their missions without the folks from Keesler," Small said. "There are about 18,000 airmen in the theater, so we can pick up the slack."

A statement on Keesler's Web site described damage to the base as "severe enough that we are unable to leave our shelters until Thursday at the earliest." Base residents were waiting for recovery teams to clear debris and repair damage before Keesler would be reopened.

Air Force personnel serve shorter, more frequent deployments in the war theaters than do U.S. Army and Marine forces. Air Force deployments average about four months — but can extend to a year, Small said. By contrast, Army deployments last from 10 months to a year, and Marines are sent for about seven months.

Keesler houses the U.S. Department of Defense's weather school, the Air Force's second-largest medical facility, and handles training in high-tech command-and-control and computer networking.

U.S. military officials have said there are no plans for a large-scale shifting of U.S. troops from Afghanistan or Iraq to assist recovery efforts.

The commander of a Louisiana National Guard brigade based in Baghdad had asked that his 3,700 soldiers be sent home a few weeks early to deal with the crisis.

Lt. Gen. John Vines, commander of Multi-National Corps-Iraq, said Friday that U.S. troops in Iraq whose family members were injured or killed by the hurricane may be allowed to go home. Those who have no confirmed casualties among family members will have to stay in Iraq, he said.

Vines said that to allow soldiers from Mississippi and Louisiana to return home early would put their fellow soldiers in Iraq at greater risk.

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/front/3338169

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