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Still Responding to Katrina, CWS Provides Emergency Aid Shipments for Rita Needs
Evacuating from Galveston, Texas, on Wednesday, September 21, in advance of Hurricane Rita.
Photo: REUTERS/Tim Johnson, courtesy www.alertnet.org
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NEW YORK – As Rita, now a Category 3 hurricane, bears down on the Gulf Coast, humanitarian agency Church World Service is continuing its response to Katrina's survivors and has begun emergency relief shipments -- 10,000 CWS Blankets and 10,000 Health Kits -- to help people displaced by Hurricane Rita.
One of the first agencies called in time of national disaster, Church World Service is working with the region's interfaith community to expedite first shipments to distribution sites across the region containing CWS Blankets and Kits.
With anticipated landfall tonight (Friday) or early tomorrow, Rita's strongest winds are projected to hit the Texas coast between Galveston and Louisiana. Officials are taking precautions now out of concern that new damage from the powerful storm may jeopardize fragile structures left by Hurricane Katrina, including the ruptured levee system of New Orleans.
Following the devastation of Hurricane Katrina three weeks ago, Church World Service has been helping to meet immediate needs of the most vulnerable survivors in Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, and Alabama; organizing community-based long-term recovery assistance; providing training in trauma and spiritual care; and addressing the particular needs of Katrina evacuees who are dispersing across the country.
Last week, CWS increased its national fundraising campaign for the Gulf's hurricane survivors to $9.5 million. The agency, which focuses on long-term disaster recovery programs for people with unmet needs, has thus far provided more than $1 million in material assistance -- including CWS Blankets, "Gift of the Heart" Health Kits, School Kits, and Heart-to-Heart Kids Kits -- to shelters housing Katrina survivors.
Earlier this week, CWS shipped more than 20,000 lightweight blankets donated by the Polymer Group, Inc., North Charleston, South Carolina. The non-woven blankets are designed to protect against sun, water, and wind.
Shortly after Katrina, CWS shipped enough essential medicines and antibiotics to treat some 20,000 people in Louisiana for up to three months. CWS is also providing UNICEF-donated school and recreation supplies for use with young people who have been displaced by the hurricane in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas.
Contributions to support these efforts may be sent to:
Church World Service
Gulf Hurricanes Response-- #6280
P.O. Box 968
Elkhart, IN 46515
Contributions may also be made by credit card by calling: (800) 297-1516, or by making a secure gift online .
For more information, please visit: www.churchworldservice.org
Media Contact:
Lesley Crosson, CWS/New York, 212-870-2676;
Jan Dragin, 781-925-1526;
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