Mennonite Central Committee

MCC provides supplies for hurricane survivors

Tim Shenk
September 6, 2005

AKRON, Pa. — Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) is working in partnership with Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS) to respond to Hurricane Katrina and is currently providing food and supplies in Alabama and Texas for people affected by the disaster.

MCC is also investigating possibilities for Mennonite and Brethren in Christ churches to host people who have been evacuated.

On Sept. 5, MCC shipped four truckloads of material aid from Ephrata, Pennsylvania, to Bayou La Batre, Alabama, a Gulf Coast town with about 20,000 people in and around it. The shipment included 19,200 cans of turkey, 10,000 blankets, 5,000 school kits, 5,000 health kits and more than 2,000 relief kits.

MCC shipped this aid at the request of MDS, which assessed the needs of the town on Sept. 3. Kevin King, the executive coordinator of MDS, said that Bayou La Batre was in a state of "organized chaos" as the community dealt with damaged and demolished homes and belongings.

"These people are sleeping on their vinyl floors and trying to dry out the houses that weren't destroyed by the flooding," King said.

Bayou La Batre prides itself as the "seafood capital of Alabama," but the majority of its fishing boats were destroyed by Katrina, King said.

On Sept. 4, MCC shipped supplies in a pickup truck and rental trailer from North Newton, Kansas, to San Antonio, Texas. The shipment included 1,375 health kits, 250 pounds of soap, 62 newborn kits, six bales of blankets and more than 1,000 pounds of clothing.

Edwin Peters, a 74-year-old volunteer from Hesston, Kansas, used his own Dodge pickup to transport the supplies with the help of his son, Gordon. Several members of San Antonio Mennonite Church helped the two men unload the cargo in a storage shed owned by the church.

Hugo Saucedo, a conference youth pastor at San Antonio Mennonite Church, said that he is offering the supplies to shelters in San Antonio and Houston that are serving hurricane evacuees. Saucedo said that the shelters he has contacted are currently receiving many offers of assistance, but the reality is that shelter residents will have many needs in the months and years to come.

"The task is huge, and the people are a little overwhelmed with the response," Saucedo said. "The Red Cross representative said to me, 'Don't give up, because in a month, it'll be out of the headlines.'"

Lynn Roth, the executive director of MCC East Coast, will shift roles for the next four months to coordinate MCC's ongoing response to Hurricane Katrina. MCC is working in partnership with MDS to help affected communities rebuild and recover and is accepting financial donations for this response. Donations may be through any MCC office or online at www.mcc.org/donate with the designation "Hurricane Katrina response."