Katrina Relief

Hurricane Katrina Relief

With Hurricane rescue, recovery, and relief efforts underway, we are trying to help out as we can. Our pastor participated with the Virginia Baptist Disaster Relief kitchen in Slidell, LA. The team went down on September 10th, returning on the 21st. Virginia Baptists began feeding rescue workers, emergency personnel, and others displaced by the hurricane out of Picayune on Wednesday, August 31st. With the feeding unit set up in Slidell, meals can be delivered in a 50-mile radius by the American Red Cross. We do not have many details on the current efforts, but relief is underway.

Another Appomattox team left Virginia on September 19th. Virginia Baptists are still looking for volunteers to join this effort. Virginia Baptist began feeding those affected by the storm, including evacuees, rescue workers, and emergency personnel out of Picayune, MS and Slidell, LA on Wednesday, August 29th.

Our pastor and his wife went to Gulfport, MS for another week's relief work this month. They worked on mud-out and clean-up in the Gulfport area, as well as helping with roofing at a church in Pearlington, MS.

We held a special prayer service for victims of the Hurricane on Wednesday, August 31st. Please continue to pray for those suffering the after-effects of the disaster, as well as those working to offer aid.

Virginia Baptists were set up in Picayune at First Baptist Church with a relief kitchen, portable showers, water purification units, and crisis care chaplains on hand. In Slidell, LA, we have a kitchen set up at Grace Memorial Baptist Church. The kitchen set up in Picayune was moved to serve meals in DeRidder, LA in the aftermath of Hurricane Rita. It served there until October 7th, at which time it was sent home to Fredricksburg, VA.More information on Virginia Baptist Relief efforts is available at the VBMB website. These efforts will continue for some time as the destruction has been enormous.

The kitchen in Slidell was moved to Florida to help in the aftermath of Wilman, as the meal count in Slidell decreased. Virginia Baptists intend to maintain a presence in Slidell at Grace Memorial through the end of the year and beyond.

For a few pictures from Slidell and Picayune, click Here.

Virginia Baptists are working as well to help relocate families from the Gulf Coast to appropriate places in Virginia. Click here for more information on the One Church, One Family program. Some families have arrived during the first week of October.

Click here for stories on relief efforts in Slidell, LA.