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Eastminster's Support Action
Update:
Monday, August 06, 2007
The
Call
Our
pastors called for Eastminster to pray and give to the direct
support of Hurricane Katrina victims.
The
Response
103 boxes
of clothing
20 boxes
of bedding
3 baby
cribs
13 boxes
of diapers & wipes
1 box of
school supplies
4 boxes of
toiletries
1 box of
diabetic supplies
50 cases
of pain relievers
433
Personal Health Kits
2 boxes of
cleaning products
1 box of
paper products
$14,000
was collected and gratefully given to the Central Florida
Presbytery
Disaster Relief.
The
Stories
Volunteers
made up health kits, folded clothes, and sorted donated
items into moving boxes. All 250 boxes were loaded into a
rental truck on Friday afternoon.
Plan-A
The
original destination was University Presbyterian Church, on the
campus of LSU, in Baton Rouge, LA.
This location was changed literally as we departed early on Saturday
morning. The pastor at University Presbyterian said they could
not take another donated box. "The dynamics of the week
have changed so much that we are now overwhelmed with work.
Our volunteers are to the breaking point and do not have the staff
to even help you unload. I am very sorry.
The Lord must have a different plan."
As we
drove through the panhandle of Florida on our way to Louisiana, we
contacted a Church on the North end of Lake Pontchartrain.
Tammany
Oaks Church of Christ
in Mandeville LA. The voice on the
other end of the line said, "we have been praying for help with very specific items...health
kits, bedding, baby items and cleaning supplies. Do you have
anything like that?"..... "Well," we replied, "as a matter of fact...we will be at
your door in 6 hours." So on to Mandeville, LA.
Mandeville, LA received a major dose of Katrina's
wind but without the flooding. Trees were down every where.
We arrived around 6:00 p.m. on Saturday evening and was greeted with
open arms. "We have gumbo and banana pudding, you guys want
to eat?"
Tammany Oaks Church of Christ has a membership of ~200
people. They had been in their new Church for approximately
four weeks when the Hurricane hit. The Church was untouched
but the members lost over 85% of their homes. So what does a
Church do that has basically lost their congregation to the storm?
Tammany Oaks opened their doors to the community! In a big way.
They turned their new sanctuary into a warehouse for
people in need and transformed bible study rooms into sleeping
quarters for volunteers.
Volunteers came from 25 states and Canada. We
met couples from Melbourne, Rockledge, Indiana, Oklahoma and
California.
We had a
lot of help unloading the truck after dinner. Later we bunked
out on the floor of the sanctuary and departed the next morning.
On the way home we talked about a comment that Becky, the Church
office coordinator had said about the Church building when they
first moved in ....
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"...I was so ashamed of the way this Church looked. It
was so green inside. The walls and the carpet and
everything was this green color. It was cold and made of
concrete, steel, aluminum and florescent lights. I
didn't feel it was a welcoming Church at all. It was not
home to me and I was very disappointed. But you
know... during the past three weeks it has been the most
wonderful place for the Lord to use us. People have
driven their trucks up to the side door where all these
wonderful gifts keep coming in. People in need from our
town, have lined up at our front door and been given as much
as they can carry. Our volunteer men go out all day and
cut trees. At the end of the day we all get together to
pray and
have dinner. God has changed my heart...thank you for
coming and bring your gifts for the people of Louisiana." |
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"And my God will meet all your needs
according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus."
Philippians 4:19 |
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