Hurricane Katrina: Reports from the region

UUs in Melbourne and Rockledge, Fla., join forces to help victims of Katrina
From Cathy Stanton, Social Concerns Chair, Friendship Fellowship at Pineda

A large amount of clothing, baby items, food, and toiletries were collected by the congregations of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Brevard (Melbourne) and Friendship Fellowship at Pineda (UUs, Rockledge) for this important mission.

Ann Fuller (shown below, right) of UUCB initiated the drive to help a church in Galveston, Tex., where she has a contact. Food items will be sent to a collection agency in Florida that is helping hurricane victims. Everything else, including a large amount of baby items donated by a local hospital, was shipped on Tuesday, Sept. 6.

Letter from Ann Fuller (West Melbourne, Fla.) to congregants

This afternoon members of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Brevard (and Kelly!) sorted and boxed the donations. They are stacked in the social hall and into the sanctuary….At this point, I am sorry, but no more donations can be accepted. I was hoping for 4-5 boxes and ended up with well over 50....

Speedy Pak is arranging for pallet shipping to Texas. On Tuesday afternoon during LIFE class, I would welcome volunteers with vans to drive the boxes down to their facility on Malabar Rd. in Palm Bay while other moms watch the children. (We also welcome any spare change to contribute to the cost of shipping. Although it will be pallet shipping, it’s still going to run into some money.)

Jamie is going to try to round up a couple of men at his work who have pickup trucks, but he doesn’t yet know if they are in town or on the road on business trips. Strong, able bodies are appreciated as well. Mine is deteriorating rapidly.

Now this all depends upon getting a delivery address in Texas. The one I had was for a handful of boxes. My contact is not prepared to accept a shipment of this size, but she is getting me a central distribution address. By LIFE class, I should know where this shipment is headed.

Remember that there are two eternal truths about disaster relief:
1. Instructions and intentions will change every 60 minutes, sometimes every six minutes. Be prepared to shift gears at any second.
2. When faced with an insurmountable problem, don’t try to solve it. The answer will come to you.

Thus far, this has held true with us as well. But the important part to remember is that these goods are going directly to hurricane victims in shelters. I am receiving heartwarming stories from Julie at least twice a day. I will be sure to let you know what she says when this is delivered...unless plans change and it goes to benefit hurricane evacuees in other areas. Regardless, it will help someone displaced by hurricane Katrina, and when all is said and done I will provide an accounting of what went where.

Thank you all for your compassion and generosity. I am so blessed to be surrounded by such a giving and caring community.

Love,
Ann (Ann Fuller)

Where are the UUs?
From Frank Vaughan, Dallas, Tex.

I am a member of Horizon Church in a suburb of Dallas, Texas. I am amazed at the local response to this tragedy. But, I am very disappointed at the local UU response. To my knowledge, no UU churches in the Dallas-Fort Worth area have opened their doors to the evacuees.

Our church talked about it, and we donated a fair amount of money, ($7,000); we volunteered at a local food bank; but no one wanted to take in any families in our church. In stark contrast, many other churches in the area have opened their sanctuaries to these people for long-term shelter. Why not the UUs? I fear we like to talk about helping, but that is about all we do. Lots of talk, little real action.

Is it racism or fear of a large contingent of low-income people? I don’t know, but it is very disheartening.

I am volunteering at a local Church of Christ, with the same size congregation as Horizon, and they took in 200+ evacuees, with the whole congregation helping out. I have heard amazing stories from these people, and I am very angry at our government’s negligence in their plight. Many families are separated and they are desperate to find their children.

In retrospect, our UU response looks just like the federal FEMA response: very little real help but a lot of talk. What can we do to change this?

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