New Orleans -- Hurricane Katrina

[Jerry D Thomas]

Reports out of New Orleans are still sketchy, but in addition to severe flood and wind damage, the power company claims that it's grid has suffered "catastrophic damage." This means that all of New Orleans will likely be without power for a month or more.

Please pray for the safety of all those threatened by the storm.

I'll post more information about our churches and members, and our relief efforts as those become known.

Jerry D Thomas

Southwestern Union Communication Director

[Gail]

Wow <img src="/ubbtreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" />

[Clio]

Jerry -

Please keep us posted. My family and I have been praying almost non-stop for the areas targeted by Katrina.

I have a feeling the damage from this storm is going to be catastrophic and far-reaching in ways most are not going to be prepared for. Please do keep us informed.

Clio

[Jerry D Thomas]

The devastation is widespread as you've no doubt seen on the news channels. Because of breaches in the levees, the flood water in New Orleans is still rising. I've heard no news of Adventists out of New Orleans yet, but there are reports from Mississippi and Alabama.

Rebecca Grice, Gulf States Communication Director reports that at Bass Memorial Academy, "The music building has lost the roof along with the chapel, the new computer lab and the cafeteria. The gym has lost the roof and one of the walls has collapsed. The boys dorm has lost part of the roof. The church has lost part of the roof and is flooded from the rain. Most of the students at Bass were sent home yesterday. We have heard of no one being hurt for which we are very thankful."

Alexander Lampkin, South Central Conference Community Services Director, is working along with other Southern Union ACS Directors to plan the Seventh-day Adventist Response. Lavida Whitson, ACS Director of Louisiana/Arkansas Conference, said that a Disaster Warehouse would soon open in Louisiana.

Gulf States Conference and South Central Conference have pledged to work together in opening a warehouse in Mississippi within a week, and possible in Alabama a little latter.

More information as it becomes available.

Jerry D Thomas

Southwestern Union

[Clio]

CNN is reporting a 2 block long levee breach at 17th and Canal. 80% of New Orleans is under water, with depths in places of 20 feet. Tulane Hospital being evacuated. More water in City now than during Katrina.

Breach in levee opened up over night.

New Orleans Mayor says 50 inch water main was severed, cutting off supply of drinking water to city.

[Taylor]

Oh my! Thank the Lord for no loss of life, but what is Bass Memorial Academy going to do for the rest of the year? Sounds like it will cost a dreadful amount to get the school back to operational. We need to keep them in our prayers! Thanks for keeping us posted on this.

Taylor

[Clio]

The Academy got off lightly. Spare a prayer for the rest of New Orleans. It's currently under martial law, no one is being allowed in or out of the city according to local news feeds on the internet.

The water is rising extremely rapidly, there's no way to fix the levee till the water levels stabilize. One plan being put forth is to blow a third hole in the levee to drain the lake away from the city, but they are afraid it's too late to do that even.

There are reports of dead bodies floating in the streets according to New Orleans Mayor. The water is full of alligators, poisonous snakes, electrical cables, sewage, garbage, rotting food from fast food restaurants, debris from homes, trees, and mud.

Screams for help are going unanswered because there are not enough relief workers to get to them. That's from a video report on CNN.com.

The fires haven't started yet, but they will. And there's not going to be any way for emergency responders to get to them and put them out.

There are 1000 patients at Tulane Hospital on critical life support such as respirators. They are attempting to get them evacuated, according to the VP of Patient Services for the hospital. The Charity Hospital across the street is doing the same with their 90 patients.

At Tulane Hospital they have been on emergency power for 24 hours, but that will fail if the waters rise another foot. There is currently 6 feet of water in the first floor of Tulane Hospital according to the article.

New Orleans and the entire Mississippi delta is being changed forever before our eyes.

Pray for New Orleans, for Mississippi, and Alabama. This is the first of many such storms. The birth pangs are increasing in frequency and intensity.

Clio

[Clio]

Just seen on FOX NEWS:

Sheppard Smith reporting Martial Law now in effect. NO more civil rights in the state of LA.

Water RISING in New Orleans..Officials don´t know why the water is rising. NO sewage in NO, no potable h20 in NO, no NG in central biz district.

Shep listening to emergency radio reports.......telling ALL to get out of NO as soon as possible if they can.

Talking about bringing in barges to get the water processed.

Connection just lost, now back with Sheppard Smith. They(FOX) will be leaving NO.

Officials do not know how they can sustain life in NO, they do not know why this water is rising.

Will be 91 degrees today in NO

Tens of thousands in NO with no way out.

FOX will leave because there are NO resources for them to continue there much longer, and they do not want to be using up resources the citizens will need.

Without power, the hotels will not be able to continue sustaining the people there for much longer. They have water and food for a few more days only.

Power co cannot get to diesel pumps.

"MUCH worse today in terms of water rising"

?seepage coming in, leak from Ponchitrain? They just do not know where the rising water is coming from"

Sheppard Smith now leaving New Orleans..........

700 people have been rescued from rooftops, etc

SuperDome conditions are TERRIBLE, toilets NOT working

Only way out is Crescent City Connection

People urged NOT to drink water, it is UNSAFE

NO ac in dome, conditions ´filthy´, some trying to leave the dome, national guard NOT allowing anyone out

Several holes and leaks in dome

At least TWO in the SuperDome have died, cause of death unknown

this info courtesy of wdsu live stream..they are reading these statements as they come in. Their phones are out also.

[Morning Glory]

Compared to New Orleans, you are right that Bass got off "light". However, Bass has been struggling financially for several years, and the losses that they have suffered are quite major for this small school. Oh, come Lord Jesus.......

[Clio]

Do our schools no longer carry insurance?

Praise Jesus there was no loss of life there and all the students were able to be sent home... and had homes to go to.

Clio

[Clio]

A man playing dominos with another refugee on an upper level of the Superdome just stood up and jumped to his death.

There is 3 feet of water surrounding the Superdome, one of the highest points in the city.

Water is still rising, and officials are not sure why... there is apparently more than can be accounted for with two 200 foot breaks in the levees.

Lake Pontchartrain continues to rise as all the water deposited upstream continues to make it's way downstream.

There is speculation on FOX that if they can't stop the water influx today, it will simply continue until the water in the lake and the water in the city equalize at the same level.

What happens when the Mississippi river levees fail?

Oh Jesus, please grant mercy. Please grant mercy, and if mercy isn't possible, come quickly!

Clio

[Clio]

FEMA head: Katrina wrought 'catastrophic' damage,

8/30/2005, 12:11 p.m. CT

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Bush decided to cancel the rest of his vacation to concentrate on federal relief efforts for victims of Hurricane Katrina as his top disaster relief official lamented "catastrophic" damage in three Southern states.

With at least one New Orleans hospital threatened by Katrina's floodwaters, Michael Brown, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said that patients were being transferred to the Superdome of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and medical personnel were being sent in to treat them. (Read the next piece on conditions in the Superdome.... wheelchairs lined up against a wall 5 deep!)

Meanwhile, the White House revealed that Bush was returning to Washington Wednesday rather than returning to his Texas ranch. "We have a lot of work to do," the president said of the storm damage in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.

The damage is "very, very sobering," Brown said. "And of course the flooding is just everywhere ... New Orleans, all through Mississippi and Alabama. This storm is really having a catastrophic effect," Brown said on CBS' "The Early Show."

FEMA sent medical teams, rescue squads and groups prepared to supply food and water into the disaster areas and Brown said it would be "quite a while" before those displaced by the hurricane can return to damaged areas, especially in those areas near downtown New Orleans.

"It's the parishes and wards south and east of New Orleans, it's Biloxi, Miss., and the region," Brown said on NBC's "Today" show. "All those low-lying areas are just devastated."

President Bush, meanwhile, was considering tapping U.S. emergency petroleum stockpiles to ease the storm's impact on affected refineries. Administration officials said Bush was expected to authorize a loan of at least some oil from the nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

The storm shut down oil and natural gas operations in the Gulf of Mexico, representing about 8 percent of U.S. refining capacity or about 1 million barrels, further driving up gasoline prices.

Energy Secretary Samuel W. Bodman said, "Over the next few days, we will continue to gain more information on the specific needs and then be able to make a better determination on how we can help."

The reserves would be used to provide refineries a temporary supply of crude oil to replace interrupted shipments from tankers or offshore oil platforms affected by the storm.

The government put into effect a massive emergency assistance program that included rushing baby formula, communications equipment, generators, water and ice into hard-hit areas.

The president made emergency disaster declarations for Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Bush had spoken with the governors of those states "to make sure they were getting what they needed from the federal government."

In other storm-related developments:

_The American Red Cross said it had thousands of volunteers mobilized for the hurricane. It was the "largest single mobilization that we've done for any single natural disaster," spokesman Bradley Hague said. The organization set up operational headquarters in Baton Rouge, La.

_The Environmental Protection Agency dispatched emergency crews to Louisiana and Texas because of concern about oil and chemical spills.

_The Coast Guard closed ports and waterways along the Gulf Coast and positioned craft around the area to conduct post-hurricane search and rescue operations.

_The Agriculture Department said its Food and Nutrition Service would provide meals and other commodities, such as infant formula, distilled water for babies and emergency food stamps.

_The Federal Aviation Administration said airports were closed in New Orleans and Baton Rouge; Biloxi, Miss.; Mobile, Ala.; Pensacola, Fla., and Eglin Air Force Base in Florida.

_The Defense Department dispatched emergency coordinators to Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi to provide communications equipment, search and rescue operations, medical teams and other emergency assistance.

_The Health and Human Services Department sent 38 doctors and nurses to Jackson, Miss., to be used where needed, and 30 pallets of medical supplies to the region, including first aid materials, sterile gloves and oxygen tanks.

Some 6,000 National Guard personnel from Louisiana and Mississippi who would otherwise be available to help deal with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina are in Iraq.

Even so, Pentagon spokesman Lawrence Di Rita said the states have adequate National Guard units to handle the hurricane needs. He said about 6,500 National Guard troops were available in Louisiana, about 7,000 in Mississippi, nearly 10,000 in Alabama and about 8,200 in Florida.

[Clio]

*Note - The two dead mentioned in this story do not include the recent suicide.*

Conditions worsen inside Superdome hurricane center

8/30/2005, 10:14 a.m. CT

By MARY FOSTER

The Associated Press

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Desperate for fresh air, dozens of refugees from Hurricane Katrina slept on the walkway surrounding the Louisiana Superdome as conditions inside worsened and even more people were brought to the huge arena Tuesday.

National Guardsmen let some of the 10,000 people sheltering inside the arena take their bedding out onto the concourse, where it was cooler and the breeze was welcome.

"Oh God, fresh air, it's so wonderful. It's the first time I've wanted to breathe all day," said Robin Smith, 33. "When you think what we could've gone through, it's not too bad in there. But it's certainly not as wonderful as this."

The bathrooms were filthy and barrels overflowed with trash. With the air conditioning off since power went out Monday morning, the bricks were slick with condensation.

Despite the conditions, the Superdome was a welcome refuge for people rescued from the rising water in the city Tuesday. National Guard troops brought refugees in their big 2 1/2-ton trucks, and Louisiana's wildlife enforcement department brought more people by pickup.

Mary Stewart, 80, slid off the back of a National Guard truck with nothing but the clothes on her back, her purse and the shoe on her left foot.

"I was so scared I don't feel I have any entrails any more," said Stewart, who spent a harrowing night in the attic of a beauty salon in the city's flooded Ninth Ward.

Beauty salon employee Kioka Williams, 23, said they had to hack through the ceiling to reach the attic as the water rose.

"Oh my God, it was hell," she said. "We were screaming, hollering, flashing lights. It was complete chaos."

The eight people in the salon were rescued early Tuesday by a police boat.

"I almost died in the night water," Willie Anderson, 49, said as he arrived at the Superdome. He had spent the night in his attic in the inundated Ninth Ward.

A groan rose from a group listing to a newscast when the devastation was detailed and officials in suburban Jefferson Parish said residents wouldn't be allowed to return until Monday. One woman cried.

"We're doing everything we can to keep these people comfortable," Gen. Ralph Lupin, commander of the National Guard troops at the Superdome, said Tuesday morning. "We're doing our best. It's not getting any better but we're trying not to let it get any worse."

"I know people want to leave, but they can't leave," he said. "There's 3 feet of water around the Superdome."

The situation was especially difficult for those in wheelchairs, who were lined up in rows five deep along a wall. One patient's IV bag was attached to a stadium seating sign.

Officials were considering moving the patients to areas with better accommodations.

"This is just too hot, too primitive, too uncomfortable for the patients and too hard to work in for the medical people," said Dr. Kevin Stephens Sr., head of the medical shelter in the Superdome.

Two people had died, according to Doug Thornton, a regional vice president for the company that manages the 77,000-seat Superdome, of the NFL's New Orleans Saints. He provided no details.

Katrina ripped two holes in the curved roof, but Superdome and government emergency officials stressed that they did not expect the huge roof to fail.

"I was OK until that roof fell off," said 82-year-old Anice Sexton. "I was terrified then. Otherwise it hasn't been too bad. People are so nice and the people staying here have really been cooperative. But the washrooms are terrible."

[Morning Glory]

I would think that our schools do have insurance. This I do not know first hand, however, I do know first hand that esp Bass has been struggling financially for a number of years, and something like this could be devastating..... unless, of course they ARE covered by insurance. I pray that they were.

[Clio]

Oh me too... me too.... It's a shame they are struggling so hard. I'm so thankful the students were sent home, and are with their families.

The reports and videos coming out of New Orleans are .... I can't even find the words.

The Corp of Engineers has just confirmed on CNN that the 17th Street Canal Levee has totally failed.

HOUSES are floating.

There is only one way out of New Orleans now. The Crescent City bridge. There is traffic only allowed OUT. NO ONE is being allowed back into the city.

The Mayor has been evacuated to the Superdome, the EOC is no longer viable.

All New Orleans residents MUST boil their drinking water, and avoid all contact with the flood waters. They are considered toxic.

[Jerry D Thomas]

Authorities are now informing residents of New Orleans that they might be able to go in and retrieve some possessions next week (if their home still stands and is above water), but they should plan on not returning to their homes for at least a month.

They hope that the school year may be able to resume on December 1. Maybe.

And the longer water pours in from the broken levees, the worse the situation will become.

No direct news on Adventist churches, but at least three that I know of are in areas that have been reported as flooded.

Jerry D Thomas

Southwestern Union

[Paul Beach]

Dear friends,

It is incredible how swiftly things change - from a thriving metropolis one day to a third-world fate the next. It will be a long time before St. Louis will be operational again. The devastation seems almost nuclear. It illustrates how quickly things can change.

Let us be alert as similar things could happen in other cities. And weather reports are showing another storm possibly brewing in the Atlantic.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Gray

[Gail]

Wow... <img src="/ubbtreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

[Clio]

Link:http://2theadvocate.com/stories/083005/new_evac001.shtml

Evacuation of more than 500 patients from hotels in New Orleans under way

Advocate staff report

State officials are working to move more than 500 patients from four downtown hotels where rising waters are jeopardizing the generator supplying the power to some of them alive.

State Health Officer Dr. Jimmy Guidry said today that evacuations have begun for patients in LSU's University Medical Center, Tulane University Hospital, Veterans Administration Hospital and the state's Charity Hospital.

All are clustered in the downtown area near the Superdome. In some cases, boats will be used to move them from the hospital to the Superdome where helicopters will fly them out.

The Department of Health and Hospitals is working to open a new center for special needs patients and those who may be rescued. At LSU, officials have opened the Pete Maravich Assembly Center to supplement the shelter that includes some special needs patients already open at the LSU Field House. DHH is working to open another special need center at Nichols State University in Thibodeaux.

The hospitals are currently running on minimal power and that is complicating their treatment, Guidry said.

He said patients were better off staying where they were before the hurricane rather than trying to evacuate, but now the rising water from a canal embankment breach is forcing them to move.

'I don't think you had a choice. I don't think you could take the chance' of evacuating them before Katrina came ashore yesterday. 'They had a better chance of staying where they were than getting on the road," Guidry said.

'No matter what we do (now) we are going to put them at risk," he said. He is also worried about patients coming into contact with floodwater, mosquitoes and other contaminants.

Guidry also said health officials also checked on about 100 patient who were rescued from the top of a nursing home, but he didn't know where that home was. They have been stabilized and moved to Lafayette.

Texas and Arkansas officials have offered medical personnel and supplies.

Guidry said there are probably 2,500 patients stranded in the 40-plus hospitals in the New Orleans area that are still open. All are running on generators.

Richard Zuschlag, head of Acadian Ambulance, said his firm has scaled back operations around the state to help move what he said may be 2,000 patients in the New Orleans area. The process could take four to five days, he said.

Most of the hospitals in New Orleans have a four- to five-day emergency operation plan in place for the aftermath of hurricanes, Zuschlag said.

But with rising water in the city, officials are starting to look for ways to empty the city's hospitals of critical patients, Zuschlag said.

'They're starting to sense that we're in for a long ordeal,' Zuschlag said.

Zuschlag said the director of Tulane Medical Center told him this morning that if the water rises another 12 inches, the hospital will lose its electrical generators.

Acadian has 50 ambulances - along with 30 more from Texas and North Louisiana - stationed near the intersection of Interstate 10 and the Causeway in Metairie, which is as close as they can get, Zuschlag said.

Patients are being transported by boat to the ambulances, which are then going to take the patients to the Pete Maravich Assembly Center on the campus of LSU.

At the PMAC, patients will be triaged (a system of determining the most critical needs of patients), then sent to hospitals across the state, Zuschlag said.

Acadian tried to use National Guard trucks, but they were getting bogged down in the high and rising water. Acadian is looking for more boats and is hoping large military transport helicopters will arrive from Ft. Polk in Leesville, Zuschlag said.

The most critical patients are getting evacuated first, Zuschlag said.

Already, 20 infants have been flown to hospitals in New Iberia, Lafayette and Alexandria, Zuschlag said.

Acadian was making plans to airlift two critical-care infants - accompanied by a pediatric specialist - from the top of a parking garage near Tulane Medical Center to Rapides General Hospital in Alexandria. From there, the infants will be sent to a specialty hospital in Little Rock, Ark., Zuschlag said.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency tried to set up a field hospital in the New Orleans Arena, but rain has infiltrated the building and the operation had to be abandoned, Zuschlag said.

Acadian is also sending personnel to the Superdome, which he said has seen an increase in population from 15,000 to nearly 25,000 as refugees came in overnight, Zuschlag said.

Acadian is still running critical calls in the other parishes where it operates, but has shut down routine transfers, so it can send all available personnel to the New Orleans area. The crews are rotating in and out to keep fresh, Zuschlag said.

Spokeswoman Maggie Woodruff said Louis Armstrong International Airport was opened Tuesday morning for emergency operations. The Federal Administration is checking the flight instruments and tower operations. 'Planes are able to land or take off,' she said. She said there was minimal damage to the airport, with some broken windows.

She said the airport just finished its 10,000-foot runway which can handle heavy cargo planes.

[Jerry D Thomas]

ACS DISASTER RESPONSE VOLUNTEERS ARE READY FOR ACTION

In Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, Adventist Community Services (ACS) Disaster Response teams are setting up to provide immediate relief to people devastated by Hurricane Katrina.

As New Orleans rescue teams work to retrieve those who are trapped on rooftops because their homes are flooded, ACS Disaster Response volunteers have mobilized to provide the survivors with needed supplies. After medical evaluation, those who've been rescued receive blankets, new clothing and personal kits, including toiletries from ACS Disaster Response volunteers before they are transported to nearby shelters. The volunteers are distributing supplies that are prepackaged and stored in large truck units that supply nearly 1,700 people, which the workers continually restock.

"We are working with Federal Emergency Management Agency

(FEMA) to set up a multi-agency warehouse nearby the devastated areas in Louisiana," said Lavida Whitson, Adventist Community Services Director for Arkansas-Louisiana Conference. "The multi-agency warehouse will be managed by ACS Disaster Response and used to supply state designated distribution sites. Our warehouse operation is where volunteers sort and package donated goods, pull orders and load trucks for delivery to the affected areas," stated Whitson.

It's been reported that at least fifteen Adventist churches in New Orleans and surrounding areas are under water but no Adventist families have suffered casualties.

In response to the damage caused by the hurricane at Bass Memorial Academy in Lumberton, Mississippi, Florida ACS Disaster Response teams are transporting three generators to provide power to the academy's campus. The volunteers are also providing food to the local community and volunteers from two feeding units that can each produce 20,000 meals a day.

"We are aiming to have all of our equipment delivered by this Friday so we can accommodate volunteers to assist with rebuilding the academy's campus," said David Canther, Adventist Community Services Director of Florida Conference who is working with David Miller, Adventist Community Services Director of Gulf States Conference.

In Alabama, ACS Disaster Response leaders are working with the state Emergency Operating Center (EOC) to conduct assessments of the damages, determine immediate needs and strategize donation distribution methods.

State officials are working to determine the full scale of the damages and thus have not yet identified specific items to donate. However, "monetary contributions allow responding organizations to purchase exactly what is most urgently needed by hurricane survivors - and to pay for the transportation necessary to distribute the supplies," reports Disaster News Network.

"By purchasing items nearer to the disaster site, it helps to build the economies of the local areas," said Joe Watts, National Coordinator of ACS Disaster Response. "The greatest help that anyone can provide is financial contributions," explained Watts.

HOW YOU CAN HELP -

To join ACS Disaster Response in helping the survivors of Hurricane Katrina, please make a donation online by visiting www.communityservices.org, calling 1-877-ACS-2702 or mail to:

NAD ACS Disaster Response

12501 Old Columbia Pike

Silver Spring, MD 20904-6600

USA

[bevin]

Quote:

---

What happens when the Mississippi river levees fail?

Oh Jesus, please grant mercy. Please grant mercy, and if mercy isn't possible, come quickly!

---

Let us put this disaster into God's perspective.

[:"blue"]

A few hundred of the citizens of the wealthiest country on the planet have been killed, and large insurance companies are preparing to finance one of the largest building booms in history, all because the country deliberately built a large city on the coast below sea level in a hurricane-prone area.

No-one is going to starve.

There are not going to be massive plagues killing thousands without health care.

[/]

Now, let us look at some other disasters where the loss of life actually reached LARGE numbers...

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0001439.html

On a global and historic scale, this is NOT a major loss of life, and as a fraction of GNP or national wealth, it is not particularly large either.

How many $B have we spent on Iraq? $250B and counting... and the estimates for this disaster are only $25B

In short, the loss of life is tiny, and the loss of property is not particularly large.

Let's not use this as some 'end of time' catastrophe - it is just not that big.

/Bevin

[Dr. Shane]

</font><blockquote><font class="small">Quote:</font><hr />

all because the country deliberately built a large city on the coast below sea level in a hurricane-prone area.

<hr /></blockquote><font class="post">

I'll give them a break for originally building it there. It is the mouth of the Mississippi River and controls commerce in much of the Midwest. I doubt they were considering huricanes back in 1718 when the city was founded.

HOWEVER since then there have been several huricanes and tropical storms that have flooded the city. WHY DO THEY KEEP REBUILDING? History is known to repeat itself - especial mother nature.

[Jeannieb43]

Thanks, Bevin, for putting this disaster into perspective. When considered in the grand scheme of things, this isn't the worst possible catastrophe in history, by any measure.

The poor people of Pompeii, for example, were buried alive in their homes - without a chance to flee.

But this does cause me to stop and ponder, seeing prophecy being fulfilled before my eyes.

[Paul Beach]

How did they build New Orleans in the first place 200 years ago? It is hard to conceive that they had a levee system then. Was the water level lower or something?

With regard to starving, etc., this is a widespread amount of damage, and the resources are more limited than we realize. The problem is, they can't get to these people by car, helicopter, or even boats, because the boats can't go over the concrete "sand bars" that are in the area. Also, the bridges into the city are absolutely gone. Many, many people are still trapped in their attics with no way out. Don't kid yourself - this is very serious, and without some form of divine intervention, more will probably die.

We often talk about the San Francisco earthquake as a major disaster, and it was, but this was probably much larger. It's possible that New Orleans is a modern Atlantis.

We can expect these disasters to happen in faster succession, every one being the "worst in history" until the end of time. We've entered that period of global superstorms and tsunamis, and all we can do is hope we are right with God.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Gray

[Stan]

** High Priority **

Pastor Don Schneider

President of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in North America

The Seventh-day Adventist Church in North America joins with this

nation in praying with and for the individuals affected by the disaster

caused by Hurricane Katrina. In times like these, we as a nation need to

band together to help those who are in great need.

Adventist Community Services Disaster Response is working along with

Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to set up a multi-agency

warehouse nearby the devastated areas in Louisiana. In the warehouse,

volunteers will sort and package donated goods, pull orders and load

trucks for delivery to the affected areas. Volunteers are also helping

to provide 40,000 meals a day to those affected in Mississippi.

For more than 100 years, the Seventh-day Adventist Church has provided

emergency relief through Adventist Community Service Disaster Response.

Working in more than 200 cities across North America, Adventist

Community Services Disaster Response operates in partnership with the

Federal Emergency Management Agency and is a member of National

Voluntary Organizations Active in Disasters.

To join ACS Disaster Response in helping the survivors of Hurricane

Katrina, please make a donation online by visiting

www.communityservices.org, calling 1-877-ACS-2702 or mail to: NAD ACS

Disaster Response, 12501 Old Columbia Pike, Silver Spring, MD 20904.