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CWS Hurricane Rita Appeal

September 28, 2005

Although Hurricane Rita, the Category 3 storm that slammed into the Texas/Louisiana Gulf Coast on September 24 largely spared major metropolitan areas, thousands of fishers, ranchers, and others in small towns and rural areas are trying to cope with lost property and livelihoods. Ten people reportedly perished as a result of the storm.

Governor Rick Perry estimated total damage in Texas at $8 billion, predominantly in and around the refinery towns of Beaumont, Port Arthur, and Orange in the southeastern portion of the state.

In Louisiana, low-lying fishing villages, shrimping ports, and agricultural areas along the Gulf Coast from Terrebonne Parish to Calcasieu Parish on the Texas border were still flooded as a result of seawater that pushed as far as 20 miles inland. Rita virtually destroyed two villages - Cameron (population 1,900) and Creole (population 1,500). In Terrebonne Parish, officials estimated nearly 10,000 homes destroyed or heavily damaged.

VULNERABLE POPULATIONS

With rice fields, sugarcane crops, and pastures destroyed, 4000-plus cattle feared dead, oyster beds devastated, and fishing boats sunk, Rita survivors who are self-employed in agriculture and fishing are facing economic hardship beyond their housing losses.

CWS RESPONSE:

Material resource shipments:

CWS has shipped 15,340 of its lightweight blankets and 10,035 "Gift of the Heart" Health Kits valued $190,050 to distribution points in East Texas and southwest Louisiana.

Deployment of Disaster Response and Recovery Liaisons:

DRRL Joann Hale, in coordination with FEMA and other Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (VOAD) agencies, will work with the faith community in affected areas of east Texas to provide on-site community organizing for long-term recovery.

DRRL Lura Cayton, who has been working in the Baton Rouge area in response to Hurricane Katrina, will expand work in Louisiana to respond to community needs related to both hurricanes. Cayton is working with the Louisiana Interchurch Conference on state-level disaster response planning and long-term recovery organizing.

Additional Church World Service DRRL deployments will be made as assessments indicate areas of greatest need for CWS organizing services.

In areas affected by Rita, DRRLs will work with local religious leadership to:

Assess the overall situation
Support material resource shipments that CWS will address via its "Gift of the Heart" Kits and Tools of Hope Blanket programs
Identify spiritual/emotional care needs in communities
Organize community-based long-term recovery programs oriented to addressing unmet needs of vulnerable people who lack sufficient personal resources and do not receive adequate assistance from government and other disaster response agencies

Spiritual and Emotional Care Support:

Church World Service, in concert with local partners, is assessing the most appropriate timing and need for spiritual/emotional care resources for affected areas of Texas and Louisiana. Available resources for support of clergy and lay caregivers are the Interfaith Trauma Response Training (ITRT) seminars and/or the professionals on the Spiritual and Emotional Care Resource team (SECR).

APPEAL

CWS is issuing this initial appeal for $ 100,000 (#6281 - Hurricane Rita Response) to provide shipments of Tools of Hope blankets and Gifts of the Heart kits as requested ($25,000), support the long-term recovery organizing work of DRRLs ($35,000), provide support for caregivers through the ITRT or SECR deployments ($15,000), and provide seed grants to long-term recovery organizations as they are established ($25,000).

Contributions to support these efforts may be sent to your denomination or directly to:

Church World Service
Hurricane Rita Response -- #6281
P.O. Box 968
Elkhart, IN 46515

Contributions may also be made by credit card by calling: (800) 297-1516, ext. 222, or online.

Media Contact:
Lesley Crosson, CWS/New York, 212-870-2676;
Jan Dragin, 781-925-1526;

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