Disaster relief work put on hold as Florida waits for hurricane.

The General Board's Emergency Response program has put work in Florida on hold until after Hurricane Frances, which is expected to make landfall in Florida this weekend. Three teams of Disaster Child Care volunteers have been evacuated. Frances has been downgraded from a category 4 to a category 3 storm, but is twice as large as the hurricane that hit central Florida just three weeks ago and "remains a powerful and dangerous storm," reported disaster response coordinator Jane Yount.

Disaster Child Care was just one aspect of the work that Brethren had been doing in Florida following Hurricane Charley. The Brethren Service Center in New Windsor, Md., had sent shipments of relief materials and Emergency Response had begun work on establishing a rebuilding project. The program also issued pleas for contributions of Gift of the Heart Health Kits and Emergency Cleanup Buckets, and began searching for a vehicle to help with the rebuilding project.

"We have been asked by the Florida Interfaith Networking in Disaster to set up a rebuilding project in Charlotte county, Port Charlotte and Punta Gorda," reported Emergency Response director Roy Winter. "Church World Service staff have also suggested we try to address some of the needs in the Orlando area, like Kissimmee, where pockets of damaged homes are not getting much attention."

Three teams of Disaster Child Care volunteers working in Orlando, Wauchula, and Kissimmee have been evacuated to the St. Petersburg area. A team working in Englewood, close to St. Petersburg, will stay in place. Child care centers will be reopened when it is safe to do so. The evacuated volunteers are being hosted in the homes of Phil Lersch and Emergency Response volunteers Glenn and Helen Kinsel. "The ER staff will be tracking the path of the storm and will move the volunteers again, if necessary," reported Helen Stonesifer of Disaster Child Care. "Hurricane Charley has had a tremendous emotional effect on everyone in Florida, especially the children,"she said. "At this time, it looks as though this will be a longterm project. Your continued support and prayers for all the victims and volunteers in Florida are greatly appreciated."

Distributions of relief materials from the Brethren Service Center to the Orlando area included shipments of health kits, cleanup kits, baby kits, school kits, and bales of blankets. On Sept. 1 Church World Service issued an "urgent request" for more health kits and clean up buckets because of continuing needs related to Hurricane Charley, and possible needs related to Frances. For more information about how to fill, pack, and ship kits and buckets, see www.churchworldservice.org.

Emergency Response added its own request for a truck or 12-passenger van to use for the rebuilding project in Florida. "A gift or longterm loan of a vehicle would be greatly appreciated," said Winter. "We need a very reliable, later model truck or van with less than 75,000 miles. We would also consider purchasing the right vehicle." Contact Winter at 800-451-4407 ext. 7 or e-mail rwinter_gb@brethren.org.

Source: Newsline 09/03/2004
top