In partnership with the Dioceses of Mississippi and Louisiana, Episcopal Relief and Development (ERD) continues working with Gulf Coast communities devastated by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. ERD’s partnerships with the Office of Disaster Response in the Diocese of Louisiana and Lutheran Episcopal Disaster Response, a program of Lutheran Episcopal Services in the Diocese of Mississippi, are serving affected people and communities. Currently in Phase II of a multi-year, long-term rehabilitation, ERD’s partnerships are providing immediate assistance such as food, clothes, water, as well as supporting cleanup work and health care services in Louisiana and Mississippi.

Louisiana

In the Diocese of Louisiana, new services are providing additional assistance to people directly affected by the hurricanes as well as recovery workers.

Christ Cathedral in New Orleans has become a resource center, supplying food, household goods, water, baby supplies, and other necessities to 200 families daily. Trinity Church in New Orleans has received prepared meals from Mobile Loaves and Fishes, an organization from Austin, Texas, to serve families. The mobile unit will bring food into populated areas of the city.

Through ERD’s partnership with the diocese, local churches in New Orleans are also serving the needs of recovery workers. St. George’s Church in New Orleans has opened a café for recovery workers. At Holy Comforter Church, located on the banks of Lake Pontchartrain, a team is being set up to provide crisis counseling and respite for recovery workers. “We expect this ministry to grow as the population returns and the neighborhood is rebuilt,” said Abagail Nelson, ERD’s Vice President of Programs. “People from the 8th and 9th Wards are being displaced from hotels and into FEMA trailers but have no form of transportation,” said Nelson. “Churches continue to fill in this gap as mobile units will be an important ministry in the trailer parks,” she said. 

In Baton Rouge, the diocese’s Office of Disaster Response will use a recreational vehicle donated by St. Luke’s Church as the mobile command center for crisis intervention work.  The mobile unit distributes water, cleaning supplies, and snacks as well as offers pastoral care throughout the community.

In Slidell, Christ Church is providing sleeping bags, clothing, household goods, and laundry supplies to families in need.

Mississippi

ERD’s partnership with the Diocese of Mississippi and Lutheran Episcopal Disaster Response (LEDR), under the direction of Lutheran Episcopal Services in Mississippi, is supplying critical assistance throughout the state.

This past weekend, “Camp Coast Care,” one of LEDR’s main relief and supply operations located at Coast Episcopal School in Long Beach, served 1,928 people in the distribution center and another 140 in the clinic.  Increasing numbers of people are passing through “Camp Coast Care” on a daily basis as some of the large shelters have recently closed.  Some of the supplies being distributed include canned foods, juices, blankets, clothes, cleaning supplies, and gift cards to local stores.  As the relief phase ends and early rehabilitation work begins, ERD remains in affected communities as many relief agencies begin leaving.

LEDR currently has six other staging areas in Mississippi; three are based at Episcopal churches. St. John’s Church in Ocean Springs is organizing work crews for minor repairs and cleanup. St. John’s Church in Pascagoula is housing and tasking work crews. St. Thomas Church in Diamondhead is distributing clothes and using mobile units to offer health services. Three Lutheran churches in Ocean Springs, Biloxi, and Long Beach are being utilized to shelter evacuees and distribute needed supplies.

Please visit the Hurricane Response Center at http://www.er-d.org/ for updated information on ERD’s relief and long-term rehabilitation program in the Gulf Coast region.