AP Photo Archive
Charles Christensen uses a forklift at the Bishop’s Central Storehouse in the relief effort for Hurricane Katrina in Salt Lake City.

Members band together to give relief

Kathryn L. Gaglione GAG01001@BYUI.EDU Religion Editor

Despite the disastrous effects of Hurricane Katrina, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from across the United States are banning together to bring relief to victims.

For Jimmy and Tina Coleman, a couple from Gonzales, La., just south of Baton Rouge, the decision to help was obvious.

Jimmy grew up on the West Bank of New Orleans and still had family in the area. When officials began evacuating the city, the Coleman’s opened their home to any family members who were being displaced.

“One night we had as many as 25 people in our house,” Tina said. “Wherever they dropped, that’s where they laid.”

In the week after the storm, the Coleman’s took off work to help their family find better temporary shelter until they can return to their homes.

Tina, a native of Picayune, Miss., does not know where many of her family members are or even if they got out before the hurricane hit.

“There’s a feeling of helplessness in the air. The people just feel so devastated,” Tina said. “It’s just like a bad dream, a really bad dream.”

Meetinghouses from Houston, Texas, to Orlando, Fla. are being used to shelter evacuees and organize service projects. Each stake in that area has been asked to gather 250 people to go to the affected areas to give assistance, Bishop Alan Jackson of the Port Arthur Texas Ward, said.

“[Our] bishop announced … that we need 25 people every Friday up in Beaumont, [Texas,] for the evacuees, like to feed and assist in anyway we can. This will go on until they go home, so for a long time!” Jacee Tidwell, a member of the Port Arthur Texas Ward, said. “He also announced that we will be going up to Mississippi this Friday to help clear out houses and get them ready for repair.”

In Baton Rouge, the stake center is housing 40 people including members and their neighbors who have been displaced from the storm, Susan Kormylo, Relief Society President of the Baton Rouge First Ward, said.

“We put together hygiene kits, and people have brought over clothing and water,” Kormylo said. “It’s just impossible to try to do laundry, so people can change clothes twice a week and then they just throw them away [at many shelters].”

Wards work to make food as well as volunteer through the Red Cross and other organizations to help the evacuees, Kormylo said.

“[We] drove down one of our main streets … and saw six of the New Orleans missionaries helping an older man clean his yard. They had on their white shirt’s and ties of course,” Kormylo said.

All of the New Orleans missionaries were safely evacuated from the city long before the storm hit and are temporarily assigned to areas around Baton Rouge, according to a phone message at the Louisiana Baton Rouge Mission office.

Because of power outages and downed phone lines, information coming out of Louisiana and Mississippi is slow and hard to get, but the Church is working to get more information about what will happen to the missionaries, Mike Otterson, Church Public Relations representative, said.

“No decisions have been made as of yet,” he said. “We are still assessing the situation.”

President Boyd K. Packer of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles and H. David Burton of the Presiding Bishopric flew to the Jefferson County Airport in Beaumont Sunday to assess the situation, Jackson said. They will be going to Baton Rouge and Hattisburg, Miss.

Fourteen trucks of supplies were sent from the Bishop’s Storehouse in Salt Lake City and more are being prepared for distribution throughout the southern states that were affected by the storm, according to Church Public Relations.

“Supplies went to the Slidell, [La.,] Bishop’s Storehouse for distribution,” Kormylo said. “The Storehouse is out of power, so it’s kind of acting as a command center at the moment.”

Many service projects across Utah and Idaho are underway to restock the Storehouse and provide continued relief to victims.

“Send a message to everyone that these people really appreciate everything that y’all are doing for them,” Tina said. “Thank you for your prayers and help.”

Relief Charities
www.worldrelief.org
www.americares.org
www.lds.org
www.networkforgood.org
www.savethechildren.org
www.redcross.org
www.unitedway.org
www.habitat.org
www.fh.org