An army of volunteers helping Louisiana recover and rebuild

An army of volunteer agencies and faith based groups from throughout Louisiana and much of the nation has been assembled to take help directly to persons suffering the dual attacks of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

To date, more than thirty million meals have been served to those stricken by the storms, thousands have been sheltered and assisted in making temporary repairs to damaged homes, cleaning away choking debris, and generally comforted by numerous faith-based groups and some larger, more familiar agencies like the American Red Cross, Salvation Army and others, according to a FEMA news release.

[More of the story]:

Groups and agencies taking part in the volunteer effort include:

- The Southern Baptist Convention, which in coordination with the Salvation Army has provided more than 300,000 meals a day. There are 50,000 Southern Baptist volunteers in Louisiana who have been instrumental in serving hot meals, cutting down trees and clearing debris. They’ve also done nearly 10,000 loads of laundry, and provided more than 30,000 showers.

- Second Harvest Food Banks of Louisiana, has distributed 25 million pounds of food, which translates into 20,251,765 meals throughout the state.

- Catholic Charities USA has designated $100,000 a week to provide direct support to five Emergency Assistance Centers in the hardest hit communities in Louisiana. Services include help with rent, food, utilities, prescription drugs, furniture and crisis counseling.

- The American Red Cross has operated nearly 1,100 shelters across 27 states and the District of Columbia and served 11,377,557 meals and 14,503,102 snacks since Hurricane Katrina made landfall.

Other active agencies and groups include Adventists Community Services; UMCOR, which is the disaster response arm of United Methodists; and the Louisiana Association of Nonprofit Organizations, LANO, which is a statewide membership network of nonprofits, foundations and individuals.

Among others are Catholic Charities, the Society of St. Vincent DePaul, Episcopal Disaster Response, and Scientology Volunteer Ministers and the Terrebonne Readiness and Assistance Coalition.

True. In the days following Katrina, when we came home with nothing but one ice chest full of food, no stores open, refrigerators gone bad, and no electricity for weeks, we sure appreciated the meals being served here on the northshore. Noticed most of the groups serving meals were folks from Texas - Red Cross volunteers from TX and church groups from TX. I have no idea where they stayed when they were here - probably lived in tents or in motor homes. God bless 'em

This is the big story.

Not the handful of whiners.

You are so right about that! The stories of good people, acting responsibly ... of selfless people helping others ... are few and far between. These things are happening all over the place ... they are the things that are right about America.

The MSM do not find the good stories to be newsworthy.

Dry Creek Camp Gets Help From Katrina Evacuees

October 22, 2005
Reported By: Lee Peck

Many churches in the New Orleans area sought refuge here at Dry Creek Baptist Camp during Hurricane Katrina. "I knew I had about 150 people with me and it's kind of hard. So we called some of the baptist camps and we found some room here," says Hober Baptist Church Pastor David Rodriguez.

Rodriguez says his congregation from Gretna was welcomed with open arms by the Dry Creek staff. "We spent a month here and we didn't want to leave. These people welcomed us with great hearts," says Rodriguez. Hober Baptist Church member Laura Phillips says, "They brought us in like part of the family, made us feel welcome, made our children feel welcome. They even enrolled our children in school."

Dry Creek staff member Lee Crider says, "They are very special to us. They have a very sweet spirit and are very hard workers. They always wanted to help us out here at the camp while they were staying here."

After more than month at the camp, the group was able to leave until Rita formed and started to head towards Louisiana. Rodriguez thought it best for his congregation to stay. "We decided to ride it out here because we didn't know how safe it would be to drive home during those days."

More than 100 trees fell and electricity was knocked out at Dry Creek Baptist, making it hard for Dry Creek to continue to accommodate it's new friends. "We were the largest group staying there, so we thought it would be easier on the camp for us to leave so they would have less people to take care of," says Rodriguez.

Before leaving Pastor Rodriguez and several church members promised to return to help clean-up what Rita left behind. Saturday they made good on that promise. "We arrived late Friday night and woke up early this morning to help pick up a lot of tree limbs, cut up a bunch of trees that could be of danger," says Rodriguez. "We're also picking up trash and debris and we're loving it because we're not used to this in the city."

While Katrina and Rita destroyed so much, they did forge new friendships that will last forever. "They told us they were going to bring their youth group back this summer," says Crider. "So we're expecting them to come back several times. And they have an open invitation whenever they want to come."

"We can't wait to come back," says Rodriguez. "There's already talk about having a Hurricane Katrina/Rita reunion next year."

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