Skip navigation
CWS Newsroom Back to CWS home
Hotline | Newsroom | Resources | Search
Programs | About | How to Help | Donate

Back to most recent news releases • Browse archive: 2005 • 2006 • 2007 • 2008 • Email this story Email

Hurricane Katrina Update

A CWS DRRL makes contact with a family
A CWS DRRL makes contact with a family in Bayou La Batre, AL, near the Mississippi border. Photo: CWS
February 7, 2006

On August 29, Hurricane Katrina, which would become the costliest hurricane in U.S. history, came ashore with a sustained wind speed of 145 mph along Grand Isle, Louisiana. The sheer force of hurricane storm surges, and the subsequent levee system breech in New Orleans, ultimately claimed 1,417 lives and caused damages over $75 billion to the Mississippi-Louisiana Gulf Coast.

More than 1 million people were directly affected by the hurricane, with hundreds of thousands of persons dispersed throughout the U.S. As of January 31, a total of 78,694 federally funded transitional housing units are occupied by Gulf Coast residents according to Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and tens of thousands have taken up residence elsewhere -- as far away from the region as California, Michigan, Washington, and New York. Beginning February 7, families staying in federally funded transitional housing units - mobile homes, travel trailers, shipboard cabins, and those lodged in hotels - will undergo a re-certification process to determine rental assistance eligibility.

LOUISIANA:

  • 1,101 confirmed dead; more still unaccounted for

  • More than 1.4 million registrations for federal assistance

  • More than 280,000 housing units destroyed

  • 40,446 federally funded temporary housing units occupied

  • Severe environmental health risks for survivors and relief workers

MISSISSIPPI

  • 238 confirmed dead

  • More than 75,000 homes and buildings destroyed in six coastal counties

  • Widespread loss of jobs, livelihoods, and income

  • 500,000 Mississippians have applied for disaster assistance from FEMA

  • To date 21,323 households received FEMA's maximum grant ($5,100) for repairs

  • 35,164 federally funded temporary housing units occupied

TEXAS:

Texas sustained no damage from Hurricane Katrina, but it received and is still assisting a large number of evacuees from Louisiana and Mississippi.

CWS Tools of Hope Blankets and "Gift of the Heart" Kit Update

To date, Church World Service has sent more than 70 shipments, valued $1.7 million to more than seven states assisting Hurricane Katrina survivors, including:

  • 27,870 CWS Blankets (valued at $139,350)

  • 83,978 CWS "Gift of the Heart" Health Kits (valued at $1,097,083)

  • 9,720 CWS "Gift of the Heart" School Kits (valued at $130,650)

  • 5,435 CWS Emergency Cleanup Buckets (valued at $231,075)

  • 808 CWS "Gift of the Heart" Kids Kits (valued at $19,392)

  • 675 CWS "Gift of the Heart" Baby Kits (valued $23,625)

  • 22 Interchurch Medical Assistance (IMA) Medicine Boxes (valued $18,553)

  • 48 UNICEF Recreational Kits (valued $9,600).

Recovery work by CWS Disaster Response and Recovery Liaisons (DRRLS)
(Including CWS Seed Grants to Long-term recovery organizations)

Through the work of CWS DRRLs -- Tim Johnson and Cherri Baer (AL, MS Gulf coast), Tom Davis and John Sims (central MS), Lura Cayton and Charlie Moeller (LA), and Heriberto Martinez (TX) -- Church World Service has assisted in developing more than 30 long-term recovery organizations that will provide case management to help families resource their own recovery. These organizations also coordinate volunteer work teams and advocate for public policies related to disaster needs of the most vulnerable. . CWS continues to support long-term recovery efforts: 15 in Mississippi; 12 in Louisiana; 4 in Texas; 1 in Alabama.

To date, CWS has distributed $86,500 in grants to:

  • Volunteer Mobile/Bayou LaBatrie - Alabama

  • TRAC - Louisiana

  • Louisiana Interchurch Conference

  • SW Mississippi Long Term Recovery Committee

  • Rebuild East Mississippi

  • Meridian, MS Ministerial Alliance (Evacuee Relief)

  • Disaster Recovery Services of George County - Mississippi

  • Harrison Long Term Recovery - MS (thru Gulf Coast Interfaith Disaster Task Force)

  • Jackson County Recovery - MS (thru Gulf Coast Interfaith Disaster Task Force)

  • Hancock Long Term Recovery - MS (thru Gulf Coast Interfaith Disaster TaskForce)

  • Gulf Coast MS Interfaith Disaster Task Force

  • Pinebelt Restoration - Mississippi

  • Texas Interfaith Disaster Recovery - TX (Evacuee Relief)

  • Interfaith Ministries of Greater Houston - (Evacuee Relief)

  • Texas Conference of Churches

  • Total Community Action Faith Collaborative - New Orleans

  • Grace Community Services - Louisiana and Texas (Evacuee Relief)

  • Minnesota Council of Churches (Evacuee Relief)

  • United Houma Nation

*Additional grant requests are anticipated, and many organizations have requested amounts larger than the initial CWS $5,000 seed grant amount.

CWS has provided funding and co-coordinated two special events: in Louisiana a statewide conference was held January 30 - 31 at the United Methodist Conference Center near Alexandria, LA, and in Mississippi, a Gulf-Coast county summit was held Wednesday, February 1 at Westminster Presbyterian Church. Representatives from the associated long-term recovery groups attended in each state - 200-plus attended in Mississippi and 100-plus in Louisiana. In addition networking opportunities, the events provided presentation and discussion on long-term recovery, case management, unmet needs, construction/warehousing, spiritual/emotional care, and advocacy.

Displaced families/Relocation Assistance Update:

CWS/Immigration and Refugee Program (CWS/IRP) Hurricane Katrina Relocation Service, through its eight affiliates and the CWS/Miami office, covering a ten-state geographic area (Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, North and South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia), has served more than 5,000 persons displaced by Hurricane Katrina. ERP has allocated the total budgeted in the original appeal ($513,275) to IRP and its affiliates.

On a case-by-case basis, CWS/IRP affiliates are helping displaced families negotiate systems to access disaster relief assistance, find jobs, access health care, obtain affordable housing; enroll children in school, and integrate into their new communities, whether their stay is temporary or permanent.

Affiliates in Texas, the Carolinas, Chicago and Kentucky will continue assisting families through March 2006, and the Atlanta, GA-area affiliate will continue assisting displaced or resettling families through February 2006.

CWS Special Project Grants:

Diakonie Emergency Aid (DEA), a German faith-based humanitarian aid agency and long-time CWS partner overseas has provided a $620,145 grant designated to help educational institutions serving children and youth in Louisiana and Mississippi that were heavily impacted by Hurricane Katrina.

Of 300 schools invited to apply for the program, CWS received 13 applications. To date, CWS has allocated, based on need, $599,095 for computers and accessories, audio-visual equipment (TVs, projectors, video cameras, screens, VCR/DVD), library books, and teaching supplies to the school districts, serving 15,673 students and 1,839 teachers and staff.

Also sent as part of the package, were CWS "Gift of the Heart" School kits and Health kits, as well as the CWS-donated UNICEF Recreation Boxes (providing volleyball net, inflatable balls, jump ropes, Frisbee, etc. for large group activities), valued at $110,170.

Church World Service ERP has also received a grant of $500,000 from the Government of Trinidad and Tobago designated for community hurricane ministries and recovery efforts of African American churches.

Church World Service and the historic African American churches that are constituent communions of CWS are entering into a partnership that includes joint decision-making and use of the funds.

Spiritual and Emotional Care:

In November, CWS Interfaith Trauma Response Training (ITRT) and Spiritual and Emotional Resource Team (SECR) held a seminar and debriefing event in Houston, for more than 50 Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) pastors and their spouses from Louisiana and Texas. More ITRT/SECR workshops will be provided throughout the Gulf Coast region for many months to come.

EMERGENCY APPEAL

This is an information update for CWS appeal (#6280 - Hurricane Katrina Response) originally released September 8, 2005.

This appeal highlights on-going funding needs for Church World Service's response in 2006, to assure continued development of effective, sustainable long-term recovery groups. This appeal supports: Response; Recovery; Relocation; Spiritual and Emotional Care; and CWS "Tools of Hope" in the form of blankets and kits.

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

Church World Service
Hurricane Katrina Response #6280
P.O. Box 968
Elkhart, IN 46515

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

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

Back to most recent news releases • Browse archive: 2005 • 2006 • 2007 • 2008 • Email this story Email

Back to top