Presbytery meeting update

MEMO
TO: PRESBYTERY
FROM: Presbytery Disaster Response Committee.
RE: Hurricane Katrina Disaster Response
DATE: 09/18/05

Motion: The Presbytery of East Tennessee votes to bless and support the efforts of the Presbytery Disaster Response Committee to plan and send mission work trips in the Hurricane Katrina affected areas of Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana under the following guidelines:

WHO
Supervision will be provided by the Presbytery of East TN Presbytery Staff and the Disaster Response Committee of Presbytery. (D.R. Committee is currently composed of Fritz Shilling-Chair, Cindy Benz, Charles Montgomery, Rob Mellgard) and the Presbytery Mission Work Planning Team (Coordinated by Rick Kuhlman)
Participants will be all members of any Presbyterian Church in The Presbytery and those who wish to join with a Presbyterian Church for these work trips.
The UTK and UTC trips will be specifically for students of these 2 campuses, students of other college campuses and leaders as needed.

WHAT
Mission Work Trips to the areas affected by Hurricane Katrina.Our Presbytery work parties will focus on assisting with the rehab and repair of Presbytery properties, local mission sites, local Presbyterian affiliated organizations and the people of the area. All work will be coordinated with the Presbyteries on scene representatives.

WHERE
a. Assembling at various points in the Presbytery we will move together to the affected areas.
b. The trips will go to South Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana (Exact locations still to be determined and coordinated with the on scene Presbytery contacts)

WHEN
October 13-16, UTK fall break weekend, October 21-25 UTC fall break weekend. College age students and campus leaders work trip.
Date to-be-announced possible last week of Oct or first week of Nov. - All Presbytery Mission Work Trip
December 26- January 1, 2006 - All Presbytery Mission Work Trip. (Get your high school youth groups aimed at this trip!)

WHY
To serve God by loving our neighbor as we love ourselves.
Because we can
Because we should
To connect the Presbytery in a joint, hands on, mission effort.
To focus and be good stewards of our Presbytery wide resources.
To set a precedent and organize for these efforts in the future.

HOW
With the support of all the churches of the Presbytery of East Tennessee and their members through the giving of time, talent and treasure. For the giving of treasure see the accompanying page.

$$$Presbytery of East Tennessee Disaster Response
Local Giving Opportunities

P.E.T. Disaster Relief within the bounds of the Presbytery of East Tn.
Fund# (PET84000) This fund is specifically set up to receive and administer funds here in East Tennessee to assist with the Katrina Disaster relief efforts of Presbyterian churches and organizations. The funds will be used to help with the sheltering and assistance needs of displaced persons and the work to house and care for those displaced persons wishing to stay in the East Tennessee area

P.E.T. Disaster Mission Work Trips Fund# (PET84500) This fund is specifically set up to receive and administer funds to assist with the planning and support of work mission trips to the areas of the Gulf Coast hard hit by Katrina. Funds will be used for administration, planning, transportation, food, housing, materials and other support as needed for work parties.Oversight of the two funds above will be provided directly by the Disaster Response Committee, which will regularly report to the Presbytery Budget and Finance Committee, which will regularly report to the Presbytery.Funds remaining in these P.E.T. Katrina Disaster accounts will be held by the Presbytery for the Disaster Response Committee to be used for funding future disaster relief and disaster relief preparedness in the Presbytery of East Tennessee or in support of Presbytery disaster relief response outside the Presbytery.Funds are for Presbytery wide use in responding to disasters. Funds will not be used to support individual churches disaster work trips without the consent of the Budget & Finance Group. Churches are encouraged to join in the Presbytery organized events for disaster response.The attendees at Presbytery went on to offer over $1,200.00 to back up their vote.

NOW WHAT?
The Disaster Response Committee will work to get to all churches a Bulletin insert for use Sunday and an application that can be filed online for those willing to go on a work mission trip or provide special services or materials to help plan and send the trips.Questions can be communicated thorugh e-mail - Katrina@presbyteryeasttn.org

Thanks for the support!Now let's take this to the pews and the people who will make it work!

Mission trip info

Copied from the Knoxville/PET website:

MISSION TRIP INFO
We really are planning 3 Presbytery wide Mission Trips to South AL - South MS.
#1 will be from Saturday to Saturday in Mid-October (Specific date yet to be determined)

#2 will be over the UT fall break weekend starting October 13. This is paticularly for UTC and UTK students who will be on their fall break.

#3 will head off over Christmas break - probably the 26th, returning for the start of school.

Lots of new information-- and requests

As we get more organized, the needs of Katrina victims in the Chattanooga area are clarified. Here's what I got from the VOAD meeting yesterday:

• about 500 people are here, evacuated from the Gulf Coast. About 100 remain in the 2 Chattanooga shelters. We don't expect any more huge influxes of people.
• Shelters will hopefully close by the end of the week, next week at the latest.
• The non-shelter evacuees are what they're calling "self-sheltered," meaning they're staying in hotels, apartments, or with friends or family.
• Everyone needs to be registered with FEMA in order for financial resources to be made available to them and to the community organizations that assist them.
• about 100 evacuated children have enrolled in Hamilton County public schools.

Okay, so what does that mean to the churches? What can we do now, and in the future, to help people in the disaster?

1. Two warehouses are loaded with donations-- one at CHA on Holtzclaw, and one on Appling Street, off Amnicola Hwy. The Appling warehouse needs a volunteer manager for the next 2-4 weeks, full time. If someone with management skills in your church could take this on, please contact United Way/211. Diane Collins would probably be the one to talk to.

2. The warehouses, especially Appling, is still accepting donations of all kinds of household goods. Everything is needed except clothing. They also need volunteers to truck stuff around, to sort donations, to organize stuff, to help clients, to answer phones and to do paperwork. Please call 211 if you can help.

3. Interfaith Hospitality Network is full to overflowing-- they have a waiting list of 17 families, which is unheard of for them. They desperately need churches who host to take an extra week between now and the end of October. If you don't normally host, but would be willing to do so just this once, I'm sure they would love your help and would be able to orient you to the program. Rivermont, Northside and Northminster are regular hosts-- perhaps you could offer to assist one of them with an extra week if you can't do it yourself. I know Northminster would like to do it, but we definitely need help from other churches. If you can help IHN, please call Mary Ellen Galloway at 756-3891.

4.Kids enrolled in school still need supplies and backpacks. Please contact Cynthia Blakemore if you can help here. 867-6200. She can get them distributed.

5. The Chattanooga Area Food Bank very much needs diapers and dry food like pasta, rice, beans , etc. They don't need cereal. The Food Bank is helping about 500 more people than usual these days.

6. VOAD and the Emergency Management people are considering trying to match up families with churches to act as sort of a connection/companion over an extended period of time as people get back on their feet, especially if they're staying in the Chattanooga area. Stay tuned for more info on this, if your church might be willing to be involved in this way. No details have been worked out so far.

Thank you for reading all this information-- I know we're all busy right now doing what we can. Please feel free to contact me (Becky Downs, 894-3773) or Mark (400-9685) if you have more questions, suggestions, thoughts, or comments. Or leave a comment here; I'll get it soon.

VOAD- Chattanooga

Went to the meeting today-- will report on it tomorrow-- LOTS of information. More to come.

Thanks to Jim Davenport

Jim and his friends have volunteered to go, as a work team, to the hurricane-damaged area and help out. We've been able, through the connectional church, to hook him up with an appropriate job site. They'll be going to South Alabama the last week of September. If any others of you are willing to form a team, either within your church or company or group of friends, or with other churches, please let Becky Downs know. I'm happy to try to make connections.

Thanks Jim and friends!

What We Know In Chattanooga

Dear Chattanooga-Cleveland area Presbyterians:

Fritz Schilling contacted us this morning (Wednesday, 9/7)) to try to coordinate the disaster relief efforts among Presbyterians in this part of the world. To that end, we would like to share the following information for you to share with your churches.

As a connectional church, it would be a great witness for us to work together to share God's love and mercy in this great time of need.Please know that the need will not go away soon.

We still hope to put together at least one work team to travel down to the coast for rebuilding at some point in the future; let Presbytery know if anyone from your congregation would be willing to participate in this trip.Understand, too, that the information we have seems to be changing by the hour. We will try to keep you posted of important updates as we receive them.

If you have questions, suggestions, comments, etc. please contact Rev. Mark Downs (423-400-9685 (c)) or Rev. Becky Downs (423-505-1491 (c) or 423-894-3773 (o)), or comment on this blog.

Thank you, on behalf of the Presbytery, for all the ministry you do every day.

In Christ,

Mark & Becky Downs

What to give where:
Your Time: Red Cross - they need people work in the shelters and help in the office. Call the Chattanooga Red Cross at 265-3455. Orientations are being held daily, next one is Thursday at 6:00 at their office on 801 McCallie Avenue near UTC. At the orientation you will learn how you can help and the areas of need. Have a friend volunteer with you and work as a team! They have a special need for nurses and mental health workers. If you go through the Red Cross training, please let Revs. Becky or Mark Downs know so that we can put together teams of Presbyterians to work in the shelters.

Food: Chattanooga Area Food Bank - Take all donations of food to the Chattanooga Area Food Bank at 3402 N Hawthorne St, Chattanooga, 37406 -(423) 622-1800.

Clothes: Community Kitchen - Take clothing to the Community Kitchen at 727 E 11th St, Chattanooga, 37403 - (423) 756-4222.

Household Items: Chattanooga Housing Authority - Take household items (ex.Sheets, blankets towels, dishes) to the Chattanooga Housing Authority warehouse on 801 N. Holtzclaw Ave. - (423) 752-4806.

Money: Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (100% goes to assistance of people, no donations go to administration) through your local church.

Hope-In-A-Box Kits and Health Kits: these specific kits are being used on site in Houston to fill the needs of people in shelters. Please see http://www.pcusa.org/pda/tools/shelterhealthkit.htm for more information on the specifics of the kits. If you bring your kits to Northminster, along with whatever donation you can afford for shipping, we will see that the kits get sent off. We will be shipping on Monday, but can do another shipment later if needed.

Red Cross is still in need of more shelters! Northminster has volunteered, and if it ends up being used there will be a huge need for help there. We cannot staff it ourselves; it would be great to have an all-Presbyterian volunteer crew there. Let us know if your church is being used as a shelter.