How members fared in Hurricane Katrina

How members fared
in Hurricane Katrina

WCG Katrina Relief Fund

WCG members and congregations have donated about $30,000 to the WCG Katrina Relief Fund to help with emergency needs for WCG members who were in Hurricane Katrina’s path.

Donated funds have been sent directly to the area to help those in need.

Bob Persky, district superintendent for the South Central region, the one most affected by the hurricane, is coordinating relief efforts along with pastors Mike Horchak, Anthony Rice, John Novick and Mark Mounts.

“We are providing displaced WCG members a list of housing for them to choose from,” Persky said. “Praise God, we are receiving so many housing offers we can barely keep up with them.

“We will be finding out over the new few weeks how much damage their homes have suffered to what degree they will get help from the Red Cross and FEMA and how much they will need from their brothers and sisters in the WCG.”

WCG Today received the following reports from pastors in the areas hit by Hurricane Katrina.

Mike Horchak, New Orleans

As of Thursday, Sept. 15, we have located 85 New Orleans members and family out of 125. Please pray that the others will make themselves known.

Their stories are amazing, as God masterfully cared for his people. I have seen so much love, kindness and sharing these last three weeks. This is Christianity. This is the way the church should be every day.

Our Slidell church has 12 members, and we have heard from all but two. Our Hammond church has about 35 members, and all are accounted for.

We had a service in Hammond on Sunday, Sept. 11, with 35 present—one from Slidell, seven from New Orleans and 27 from Hammond. We all needed that worship service.

I cried when I worked with Walt Baudoin, Slidell associate pastor, on his house, Monday, Sept. 13. The water level in the house was four feet, with two inches of black, stinking mud.

Emotionally, most can’t take it. Many members will come back to this or worse. I estimate that half of our congregation in New Orleans was flooded out. They need your prayers and financial help.

Thank you so much for your generosity. Offerings may be needed for three to six months or longer. Our members are contacting FEMA and the Red Cross. Some are insured, others are not.

This weekend (Sept. 17 and 18) we are planning a work party of about 25 men from our churches throughout a 500-mile radius.

Anthony Rice
Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Baton Rouge, where I live, was to the west of the eye of the hurricane. Since the damage to our city was comparatively light, we are the closest functioning city to Ground Zero.

We are also the home base for most of the rescue operations.

Thankfully, John Novick, pastor in Jackson, Mississippi, and Mike Horchak, pastor in New Orleans, and I have been able to stay in contact with each other.

John has accounted for all of our members in Jackson and Meridian. The Hattiesburg members were closer to the eye of Katrina, and many are still without power and telephones, so his ability to communicate with them is limited, but he feels that none are displaced because of damage.

None of our members in Baton Rouge or Lafayette were displaced because of Katrina. But we do have a number of families from New Orleans who are staying in the area either with their families, friends, or in motels funded by the Red Cross. We also set up our Lafayette church as a shelter.

We know that out of the five members or families that did not evacuate, all were rescued by boat or helicopter.

I have received e-mails and phone calls from all over the country asking for ways that members can help. The best way to help is to give financial donations to the WCG Katrina Relief Fund.

Mark Mounts, Houston

We have 18 households (45 men, women and children), who left the New Orleans area the Saturday before the storm hit.

Because they left early and found housing on their own, they did not have immediate access to register with the Red Cross and FEMA. So the church will be able to give them financial assistance from the Katrina Fund that has been sent to headquarters.

When they were told this, there was a huge thank you from all of them.

The members shared with me that anyone who is displaced because of the storm is eligible for assistance from the Red Cross and FEMA. Even so, it may take several weeks before our members who left before the storm hit will be receiving their assistance from these two organizations.

Some insurance companies will front the insured with a cash advance. Unfortunately (as with one member here), some will not. So, once again the Katrina Fund is a great blessing because it can take time for the paper work to be processed on these cash advances.

Almost all of the members explained how they did not know how or what to feel. They were numb. Several cannot contact their banks or employers (which don’t exist anymore), and don’t even know if they can receive unemployment. Some have applied for it, but can only hope that it comes through.

Three of our members are still located in a shelter in downtown Houston and have not found housing as of Sept. 14. These people have lost almost all that they had physically. Several explained that they thought the storm would only last the night and therefore only brought limited supplies for a few days, only to find out that their homes are now under 8-10 feet of water. Their loss is unimaginable.

We all know that God promises to never leave us nor forsake us, but the feelings of loss are still there, and the emotions of such an experience are raw and deep.

Because of this, we spent most of the time last night (Sept. 14) talking about the grief process and what they would experience—and how that it was normal. Understanding the process does not take the feelings away, but it helps us realize that what we are experiencing is normal, and that we are not somehow turning away from God because of how we are feeling.

Jesse Soto reported that many members from Community Christian Fellowship (CCF) in Houston answered the call to help in a variety of ways.

Some organized fund drives at their jobs to help the victims of Katrina. Many, along with members from other churches, donated food, clothing, and other necessities. Pastor Mark Mounts donated his time and expertise as a Christian counselor at the Houston Astrodome, where many evacuees were being sheltered.

The CCF advisory council unanimously agreed to a monetary donation to the Hurricane Relief Fund.

David Jackson and family
of New Orleans

First and foremost, all honor and glory are due to the Most High. My family and I were visiting my brother in Atlanta when the evacuations began in New Orleans.

My wife, myself and two sons only had two changes of clothes.

After the hurricane waters destroyed our apartment and our possessions, all we had were the clothes on our backs. The Atlanta and Charlotte, North Carolina, churches sprang into action. Debra Young brought and cooked food for my family for the week, while members of the church gave us clothes, food, school supplies and financial donations.

During a church service, Pastor Charles Young, District Superintendent Allan Barr, and our elders and deacons laid hands on our family for a blessing from this storm.

When we returned to our car, my wife received a text message from my boss at 11:59 a.m. saying that they would relocate my family and me to Houston. The anointing hands of God were on us through our church pastors at the exact time that we received the text message.

Because of the kindness and generosity of the Atlanta church, I was able to leave the next morning, arrive in Houston at midnight and get to work fully outfitted at 7 the next morning. Many of the clothes were my size and already dry-cleaned. The financial donations were so generous that we were able to give money to my mother, brother and church members to help them get set up in apartments in the Houston area.

Church members also packed schoolbags filled with supplies and uniforms so that my son, Antonio, was able to begin school as soon as we got in town.

What a glorious God we serve!

We will never forget what the Atlanta and Charlotte churches did for our family in our most urgent time of need. They were extensions of our Savior here on earth.

Leonard Tillotson
Natchez and Baton Rouge

All of our members in the Natchez/Baton Rouge church area seem to have weathered the storm with minor difficulty. My wife, Mattie, and I lost electrical power for only a few minutes on Monday, Aug. 29.

The New Orleans, Hammond and Slidell members were much harder hit.

By the grace and provision of God, we are okay. Things are different, as well they should be under the circumstances, but life has not changed that much for us here in Baton Rouge.

Jesus still has a lot of work for us to do. This is a tragic disturbance and interruption, but we’re still here.

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