HOTLINE - week of September 05, 2005

"People are homeless and will have to start new lives, and the faith community has to be a partner with them," says Rev. John L. McCullough, Church World Service Executive Director and CEO.

McCullough is in hurricane ravaged Louisiana through Saturday, Sept. 3, meeting with religious leaders and others and making plans for long-term recovery efforts. McCullough and the other religious leaders say cooperation among different faith groups must be an imperative in the response to Hurricane Katrina, enabling the most effective assistance to survivors.

"This is not just an urban story; it’s a rural story," says McCullough during a meeting that was attended by members and pastors of independent churches in Louisiana, as well as representatives of the Presbyterian Church (USA), United Methodist Committee on Relief, and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).

"In the midst of all the chaos of the last few days," says Donna Derr, CWS Associate for Emergency Response, "I have found uplifting the many messages of prayers and support received from overseas partners as they learn of the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina.

"In particular, I was informed that our CWS staff and partners in Pakistan have collected a little more than $1,000 for the CWS Hurricane Katrina response appeal, and have set a goal of raising $2,000. The Pakistan staff noted, 'So often those of you in the north have come to the aid of those of us in the south. We are glad that today, those of us in the south can offer you support and solidarity in your time of need.'"

CWS has provided an initial 5,000 "Gift of the Heart" Health Kits and 5,000 CWS Blankets for distribution to affected families in the New Orleans area; 135 Health Kits and 100 Blankets to Houston Interfaith Ministries for distribution to 200 displaced people in Victoria, TX; 1,500 Blankets to Terrebonne Readiness and Assistance Coalition, for distribution at local shelters housing thousands of displaced people in southern Louisiana; and 540 Health Kits for distribution to disaster survivors who fled to West Memphis, Arkansas.

CWS is also coordinating shipment of 20 Interchurch Medical Assistance medicine boxes to Louisiana. The boxes contain essential medicines and antibiotics to treat some 20,000 people for up to three months.

CWS anticipates that as many as 20 local emergency response groups may be organized to carry out long-term relief efforts in Louisiana, Mississippi, northwest Alabama, Tennessee, and Kentucky, with CWS assistance.

The best way to help survivors of Hurricane Katrina is cash donations to Church World Service or another responding organization. CWS is urgently seeking additional funds to assist families devastated by Hurricane Katrina.

CWS is not seeking volunteers at this time. Those interested in volunteering should contact their local Red Cross chapter. Several denominations are also registering volunteers online. Potential volunteers may register with Presbyterian Disaster Assistance at www.pcusa.org/pda/teams/register.htm and Adventist Community Services at www.communityservices.org

Those who would like to host an uprooted family in your home or church may register online at www.shareyourhome.org.

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Pakistan/Afghanistan/India Earthquake--A powerful earthquake today (October 8) near the Pakistan-India border has killed more than 3,000 persons, perhaps many more. Especially affected is the contested region of Kashmir. About a third of the total fatalities are reported in Pakistan. The quake has destroyed numerous villages where mud buildings are common, and has caused numerous mudslides.

Church World Service Pakistan/Afghanistan has already begun distribution of relief assistance and is conducting assessments. All CWS staff in the Pakistan capital of Islamabad are all accounted for.

CWS Pakistan/Afghanistan is moving 600 shelter kits and family food packages to Murree today for initial relief distribution efforts. The CWS Pakistan/Afghanistan offices in Karachi, Islamabad, Mansehra, and Murree are organizing relief efforts and strategizing to address the needs on the ground.

Three assessment teams are currently assessing needs and determining what a longer-term CWS response might be. Long-term response may focus around Mansehra and Murree, communities north of Islamabad where CWS has programs, as well as good community connections.

Initial relief plans also call for assisting 950 families by providing emergency food packages (including wheat flour, rice, beans, cooking oil, sugar, tea leaves, salt, and match boxes) in the most affected and remote areas of Northwest Frontier Province, near the border with Afghanistan, and in Azad Kashmir.

Long-term response may include assisting 10,000 affected families with food and non-food items. In addition to emergency relief, the CWS response may include shelter construction materials.

CWS staff in Afghanistan have also begun assessment in affected regions of that country.

Concerned Christian Community (CCC), a long-time Church World Service partner in Liberia, distributed CWS “Gift of the Heart” Health Kits and CWS Blankets to some 2,500 people in Rivercess, 140 miles east of the capital of Monrovia. CCC also distributed similar items to hundreds of others in the community of Klay and in surrounding villages in Bomi County, west of Monrovia.

"The distribution," says CCC Executive Director Mariama Brown, "is part of CCC's community outreach program, which provides assistance to women and children who have left camps for the internally displaced and returned home -- part of repatriation plans of the Liberian government and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

September 8 is International Literacy Day. CWS supports literacy training in many countries in which we work. In Uganda, for example, some 9,000 girls are finding better access to education because of CWS support.

Your prayers and support - and your participation in CROP WALKS and the TOOLS & BLANKETS Program - make possible these and other life sustaining programs. For information on how to get involved, please call your Church World Service/CROP Regional Office toll-free at 1-888-CWS-CROP, that's 1-888-297-2767.

For information about free loan videos, please call 1-800-297-1516, ext. 338, or e-mail us at: videos@churchworldservice.org.

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