Mennonite Central Committee

Reaching out to evacuees in Houston

October 5, 2005

As Houston Mennonite Church works to meet the short-term needs of members of Anabaptist congregations who evacuated from New Orleans, the church is also striving to determine how to best reach people who are not eligible for aid from other organizations.

Houston Mennonite pastor José Elizalde said as the church meets needs of evacuees and encounters those preparing to return to Louisiana, "we are becoming aware of those who are not able to find any help or little help."

Elizalde and Tim Barr, a member of the church who was hired with MCC funds to facilitate the church's response to Hurricane Katrina, said the congregation is exploring outreaches to undocumented immigrants who are not eligible for some forms of aid. Barr met this week with a committee that is organizing efforts to work with Honduran immigrants affected by the hurricane.

"As we've been talking with local leaders, we're trying to find the people who would be falling through the cracks," Barr said.

Elizalde said there was no question of whether the congregation would become involved in reaching out to evacuees pouring into Houston. "It was how much of our resources we could give," he said.

In the week after the storm, the congregation donating a good percentage of its savings toward a feeding program for evacuees and also collected hygiene items for an effort through Houston Interfaith Ministries.

Elizalde's wife, Deena Elizalde, and church member Luis E. Rodriguez, who heads a pastoral counseling program in Harris County, put in 12-hour days at the Astrodome working with evacuees. Other church members volunteered there and at the George R. Brown Convention Center. Families also hosted volunteers from outside Texas.

And soon the church, which averages an attendance of 60-something people each Sunday, was reaching out to members of three New Orleans-area Anabaptist congregations who had fled to Houston. After the storm, Houston Mennonite has been active in working with Amor Viviente and Comunidad Cristiana Internacional and partnering in an outreach to Garifuna Evangelical Church of New Orleans through Houston-based Christian Church Garifuna Mercy of God.

As October began, the church continued seeking ways to meet immediate and long-term needs of those who fled Hurricane Katrina and were starting over in Houston.