September 29, 2004

Hurricane Updates

Due to severe damages from the various hurricanes, communications and travel have been extremely difficult in the southern United States and the Caribbean. Church leaders are actively involved in damage assessment and providing support for these areas.

The Community of Christ World Hunger Fund has responded to a request for aid from the Florida Mission Center for hurricane relief efforts. A donation of $5,000 will be sent this week to the Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida, an organization founded through the Orlando Community of Christ in the 1980s.

The contribution from the World Hunger Fund will help Second Harvest and its more than 450 member agencies to provide needed services following the impact of recent hurricanes and tropical storms. These agencies serve a six-county area.

The Caribbean Mission Center continues to assess the damages in its area. Donations to the World Hunger Fund are greatly appreciated and additional funding is being considered as more information from these affected areas of the world becomes available.

The following is information from these areas.

The church’s insurance adjustors have been working throughout the states of Alabama, West Virginia, and Florida. They are currently working with twenty congregations and the Bluff Springs Campground. Damage ranges from missing roofs, shingle, and siding damage to flooded basements, leaks, and debris removal. Ceilings have collapsed in the Cantonment, Coldwater, and Berry Dale, Florida, and Huxford, Alabama, congregations. A tree fell through the roof of the fellowship hall at the Milton, Florida, congregation. The building sustained two broken windows, water damage to the interior, and the contents were damaged. All properties will need extensive debris removal.

The repair quote phase of this recovery is just beginning. This will take time and the church continues to actively work with its insurance company.

We have finally been able to reach church members in Jamaica following the passage of Hurricane Ivan. We are aware of at least a couple of churches that have been destroyed. Several leaders and members have had their homes damaged, which includes the loss of roofs. Telephone communications and electricity have not been restored in many places. As of our last report there have been no serious injuries or loss of life among our members.

It has taken more than a week to reach some of our church members in Grand Cayman. Damage from Ivan was severe, with most homes sustaining at least some damage. The mission house was badly damaged and will need to be torn down. However, the main church building weathered the storm with minimal damage, only the loss of a few shingles from the steeple. Likewise, the church van, parked in the shelter of the church, is undamaged.

People on the island continue to go without a reliable water supply, electricity, and phone service. As of our last report we believe none of our church members suffered serious injury.

The Dominican Republic has suffered from heavy rains and flooding. Many people continue to be plagued with power outages and lack of running water.

Haiti has suffered badly from the rains from various storms and most recently from Jeanne. Gonaïves, a city where we have a large concentration of church members, has experienced serious flooding, with many people swept away in the waters. According to reports received through our ministers in Haiti, as many as 3,000 persons are missing, and more than 1,100 bodies have been recovered in this area alone. Travel to the affected parts is very difficult.

We have been in touch with Jean Claude Pierre, our staff minister who lives with his family in the area of the flooding. All church members have been accounted for in Gonaïves, but the church was destroyed.

The grocery stores are completely destroyed. One of our leaders from another part of the country is working to transport bags of rice to those who are currently completely without food and water. The mission center president and financial officer have been in the USA for leadership meetings and returned to Haiti on Saturday, September 25, to begin to participate in the relief efforts.

Please continue to remember our brothers and sisters in the Caribbean and the southern United States in your prayers in this time of great need.

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