ketsdablog

There is urgent need for volunteers at the Adventist Community Services
relief centers and warehouses assisting with the disaster following hurricane Katrina. Five warehouses and nearly a dozen local
relief centers have been established to manage the large numbers of
donated goods arriving from all over the US. Volunteers are needed
whether they have training or not. Please give your name, phone number,
time you can go, how long you can stay, training you have, and your
e-mail address. These warehouses and centers will be operating for many
months. If you are trained or experienced as a fork lift operator, or in
the media and cans serve as a public information officer, there is a
special need for your skills! Contact the coordinator of volunteers,
Pauline Lews at pauline-lewis@juno.com or by phone at (816) 233-6292.

We now have the ability to easily and quickly send email to all members for whom we have valid email addresses. We have established a free account with Google Groups. This enables us to send an email message to all group members with a click of the mouse. Our intention is to notify members when there is new information on the church blog (ketsdablog) so they can go there and read it at their leisure rather than send large amounts of information to individual email accounts.

If you have email but aren't getting our notices, send an email message to Erin Breakie at erin@ketsda.org and we will include you in the group.

If you don't wish to receive any email from the church, tell us and we will remove you from the group (but we sure hope you won't do that because it is so much easier and cheaper for us to communicate with you in this way!).

Last Sabbath's (9/10/05) invitation to the church to contribute to a fund for disaster relief for the victims of hurricane Katrina brought in over $10,000 in cash and pledges, plus offers of lodging in member's homes, resources of Good Neighbor House, and lots of prayers.

Ed Mann, church treasurer, wrote a check for $10,000 to the American Red Cross and the check was gratefully received by the CEO of the Dayton Area Chapter Mr. Tom Fodor who asked that his thanks be conveyed to the church.

Donations are still coming in and it looks as though there will be several thousand more dollars that can be contributed to the relief effort.

The Adventist Community Services Disaster Relief program is now in a position to distribute goods and services to victims and will probably be the recipient of these new dollars.

I know of two fundraisers coming up in the Dayton community:

September 9, 2005
6:00 p.m. (doors open at 4:30)
Hara Arena
Featured Speaker: Pastor Hezekiah Walker
Free & Open to the public
Good will offering will be taken - Proceeds for disaster relief

October 1, 2005
7:00 pm
Shiloh Baptist Church
3801 Fairbanks Ave., Dayton

Beginning Friday, September 9 the Hope Channel will broadcast a Special Report on Hurricane Katrina. The one hour program, with host Gary Gibbs, features interviews of Adventist relief workers who reveal how the storm has affected Seventh-day Adventists. Nearly a dozen Adventist churches were either damaged or destroyed during the storm and its aftermath. Bass Memorial Academy in Mississippi suffered severe damage with the loss of several roofs. Exclusive video of the storm striking the Academy documents the devastation as it happened.

During the program, viewers will have an opportunity to make donations to rebuild Adventist churches and schools in the Gulf States and Arkansas-Louisiana Conferences. While most relief fund raising campaigns direct funds to agencies providing for the welfare of the general public, funds donated during the Hope Channel special will go directly to help Adventist churches and institutions rebuild.

The Special on Hurricane Katrina can be seen on the Hope Channel (North and Central America), Hope’s European and International Channels, or by streaming video at www.hopetv.org. A complete broadcast schedule is below.

Your donation today will help your fellow believers who’ve lived through America’s most costly natural disaster. The phone number in North America for making a gift to Katrina Adventist Aid is 1-866-900-0123.

Donations can also be mailed to:

Hurricane Katrina Relief Aid
C/O Hope Channel
P.O. Box 5303
Thousand Oaks, CA 91359

To make an online donation for general disaster relief, please visit www.adventist.communityservices.org.

Hurricane Katrina Special Report Broadcast Schedule

North America on AMC4 and www.hopetv.org

Friday, September 9 at 8:30 and 11:30 p.m. (Eastern);

Saturday, September 10 at 1:30 p.m., 3:30 p.m., 7:00 p.m., and 9:30 p.m. (Eastern);

Sunday, September 11 at 3:30 p.m., 8:00 p.m., 11:00 p.m. (Eastern);

Monday, September 12 at 9:30 a.m. (Eastern and Pacific);

Tuesday, September 13 at 8:00 p.m. (Eastern and Pacific);

Wednesday, September 14 at 9:30 a.m. (Eastern and Pacific);

Thursday, September 15 at 8:00 p.m. (Eastern and Pacific); and

Friday, September 16 at 7:00 and 10:00 p.m. (Eastern).


Hope Channel Europe on Hotbird 6

Friday, September 9 at 2000 GMT

Saturday, September 10 at 0800 GMT

Saturday, September 10 at 1500 GMT

Hope Channel International on PAS-7 and PAS-2

Friday, September 9 at 2000 GMT

Saturday, September 10 at 0800 GMT

Saturday, September 10 at 1700 GMT

Sunday, September 11 at 1900 GMT

I received this information today from the Greater Dayton Christian Connections. Click on the link to visit their website: GDCC Website

Relief Efforts in Dayton

Sponsor-a-Family Program Information Session
Thursday, September 15 ~ 7:00 - 8:30 p.m.
Marriott Hotel - 1414 S. Patterson Blvd.
Goal: Prepare to receive persons relocated from impacted areas.
Topic: Overview of the opportunities, expectations, and challenges of supporting displaced persons.
Leadership: Catholic Social Service personnel
experienced in relocating international refugees. Sponsors: Greater Dayton Christian Connections, Interdenomination Ministerial Association, Red Cross, Catholic Social Services, United Way
Contact: 227-9485 or gdcc@christianconnections.org
View Full Media Release

Contributing Food & Personal Hygiene Items
Churches are invited to collect priority items (See List Below)
Two delivery systems are available to receive collected items:
A) The Food Bank and B) the Dayton Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund

The Food Bank
Call to schedule delivery of collected items
427 Washington St.
Dayton, OH 45402
937-461-0265

The Dayton Hurricane Katrina Fund:
IMA/Family 2 Family/SCLC
2130/2132 W. Third St.
Dayton, OH 45417
937-263-7110

Mt. Carmel Missionary Baptist Church
5370 Dayton, Liberty Road
Dayton, OH 45418
937-268-6651

A Dayton Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund has been set up at National City Bank and Bank One. This fund will be used to help persons effected by Hurricane Katrina: Displace persons who arrive in Dayton, as well as, those in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Texas. This fund is sponsored by The Interfaith Ministerial Alliance (IMA), the NAACP, the Urban League, and SCLC.
For more information contact
Rev. Chad White
Mt. Carmel Missionary Baptist Church
5370 Dayton-Liberty Rd.
Dayton, OH 45418
(937) 268-6651

The Food Bank needs volunteer drivers to drive locally. They have sent their staff driver with a delivery to the disaster area. Volunteers would also need to be able to load and unload the truck.
The Food Bank
427 Washington St.
Dayton, OH 45402
(937) 461-0265

St. Vincent de Paul needs beds so they can provide them to families who may arrive in the Dayton area or to churches who are willing to host families. This need is met through their thrift store.
St. Vincent de Paul Thrift Store
945 S. Edwin C. Moses Blvd.
Dayton, Oh 45408
(937) 222-5555

Items Needed
Needed Items: 1. Pop-top, ready-to-eat foods HIGH PRIORITY
2. Granonla bars, Power bars HIGH PRIORITY
3. Meal-replacement beverages HIGH PRIORITY
4. Baby needs (diapers, food, bottles) HIGH PRIORITY
5. Hygiene (feminine, tpaste, tbrush, soap) HIGH PRIORITY
6. Paper products HIGH PRIORITY
(toilet paper, napkins, plates, tissues)
7. Canned meats (tuna, chicken, salmon, etc.)
8. Canned fruit
9. Canned vegetables
10. Water
11. 100% fruit juice
12. Sports drinks
13. Other beverages (coffee, tea)
14. Canned soups and chili
15. Cleaning supplies
16. Detergent
17. Pet food
18. Snacks
19. Cookies/sweets
20. Boxed meals (tuna helper, hamburger helper, etc.)

Good Neighbor House can't handle any more clothing. There is no way to transport clothing to the affected area at this time. Please hold off on any clothing donations.

The immediate need is for cash. If you haven't already, donate cash to the relief fund at the church or directly to the American Red Cross.

Please do not bring clothing donations to the church at this time. We have no place for them to go.

Good Neighbor House does need volunteers, food, and cash.

This article was posted on the Mennonite Disaster Relief website and I thought it was illuminating:

What's the best way to help?
by SUSAN KIM
BALTIMORE (August 30, 2005) —

What's the best way to help people affected by Hurricane Katrina? Cash donations are best, agreed responders.

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.

Material donations - especially used clothing - tend to pile up and become a 'second disaster,' said John Walker, spokesperson for Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS).

"One of the major reasons not to donate material goods like clothes is they get stockpiled," he said. "During several recent disasters - during the hurricanes in Florida, for example - stuff would pour in and they would have to throw things out."

In Alabama, where relief supplies were being distributed, local response leaders were refusing clothing donations but encouraging cash donations and gift cards to major local outlets. "Clothing is so intense to deal with in volume," said Mike Dillaber of Volunteer Mobile in Alabama. "We don't have the personnel to process those types of donations."

Needs can change daily, responders said, and it boosts local or state economies to purchase items nearer to the disaster site. The supplies get into the hands of people who need it more quickly, too.

"Sending financial aid is really what's needed most," agreed Beth DeGraff, spokesperson for the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee. "That way we can purchase what is needed. We don't have to truck a bunch of stuff down there."

The problem with packing and sending donations without going through a response group is that, often, those donations have no way of getting to people who need them the most.

Right now, showing up to volunteer at hurricane-stricken places is also ill-advised, said John Walker, spokesperson for Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS). "We really tell you not to just show up," he said. "They are in search-and-rescue and will be for the next several days.

"New Orleans has locked down until Monday, and has just escorted film crews out," he said.

In every disaster situation, the compassion to respond forms immediately, pointed out Walker. "However," he said, "it may be compassionate but it's not helpful to show up without being affiliated with an organization that’s already officially approved."

Responding groups are working closely with the Federal Emergency Management Agency through the National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (NVOAD), said Walker. NVOAD coordinates planning efforts by many voluntary organizations, and member organizations provide more effective and less duplication in service by getting together before disasters strike. Once disasters occur, NVOAD or an affiliated state VOAD helps coordinate communication between members and other voluntary agencies. This cooperative effort, honed through the last decade, is regarded by responders as an effective way for a wide variety of volunteers and organizations to work together in a crisis, he explained.

"So the thing about just showing up is that you can easily get in the way of other agencies," said Walker.

Dillaber, also chairperson of the Mobile County VOAD, said he simply could not use unaffiliated volunteers. "We have no power. Grocery stores aren't open. There is no available fuel."

Both Walker and Dillaber encouraged volunteers to affiliate themselves with a group - and look at needs months from now. "We're going to need people for three years," said Dillaber. "In New Orleans, they'll be needed for five years."

Funds are needed for organizations that help people make a long-term recovery long after the response phase is over. Some faith-based and voluntary agencies will also use cash donations to help meet needs that will go unmet months from now, after emergency relief groups have left the scene.

For people who want to do something hands-on, several faith-based disaster response groups offer online guidelines covering how to assemble kits of relief supplies.

Posted August 31, 2005

Here is some information copied from the NAD website (http://www.nadadventist.org/article/articleview/617/1/7/)

Hurricane Katrina: How to Get Involved with ACS Disaster Response Aid Relief September 1, 2005
CONTACT: Jerrica Thurman, Communication Coordinator, Adventist Community Services
Office: (301) 680-6438; Email: Jerrica.Thurman@nad.adventist.org

Hurricane Katrina: How to Get Involved with ACS Disaster Response Aid Relief

YOU CAN VOLUNTEER – CALL (318) 631-6240

“Flooding in the area has caused a delay for locating nearby sites to erect donation collection centers and multi-agency warehouses,” reported Lavida Whitson who heads the ACS Disaster Response efforts in Louisiana. “But as we partner with FEMA, we are working to set up a multi-agency warehouse in New Iberia, Louisiana,” Whitson concluded.

ACS Disaster Response teams are also working in Jackson, Mississippi to erect a multi-agency warehouse where the donated supplies will be stored, packaged and loaded into trucks for delivery to the devastated local communities along the GulfCoast.

As plans for the multi-agency warehouses are underway, volunteer applications are being accepted at the ACS Disaster Response Volunteer Coordination Center in Louisiana. If you would like to volunteer, please call (318) 631-6240 or complete the attached volunteer registration form and fax to (318) 631-6247.

YOU CAN DONATE
ACS Disaster Response needs items to assemble for personal care kits and non-perishable food to distribute to Hurricane Katrina survivors.

HERE’S A LIST OF ITEMS THAT YOU CAN DONATE:
● towels
● toothpaste
● nail files
● washcloths
● disposable razors
● non-perishable foods
● shampoo
● shaving cream
● band aids
● toothbrush
● soap
● hair combs and brushes
● new socks
● new underwear
● feminine products

Donated items can be delivered or shipped to the following locations. Please be sure to call the locations prior to sending goods.

Bass Memorial Academy
6433 US Hwy 11
Lumberton, MS 39455
(601) 794-8561

-OR-

Walmart
1102 E Admiral-Doyle Drive
New Iberia, LA 70560
(405) 612-4602

Financial contributions are still the greatest need. Please make an online donation by visiting www.communityservices.org or calling 1-877-ACS-2702 or mail to: NAD ACS Disaster Response, 12501 Old Columbia Pike, Silver Spring, MD 20904

We have already received thousands of dollars to send to the relief effort. Keep the dollars coming. There are great needs. We should be able to present the American Red Cross with a check for $10,000 or more in the name of the church.

Forest Hull (KMC director of housekeeping) has collected about 30 boxes of clothing that are all ready to be shipped - as soon as we find a way to ship them. Any ideas? Contact me via email (see the side bar).

A number of folks have offered to take refugees into their homes. Let us (the church office) know if you want your name added to that list.

Refugees are arriving in Dayton. We can all donate clothing, personal and household goods to help them. Bring your donations to the church and we will get them to Good Neighbor House or other distribution point.

I haven't heard from Good Neighbor House yet, but I'm sure they could use more volunteers.

Folks are already signing up for the joint rebuilding project with Habitat For Humanity. Add your name to the list of those wanting to go (perhaps in early 2006).

Pray! We can all be in prayer for the victims, for the rescuers, for the leaders who must make the decisions about how to help. We will have a special prayer time at prayer meeting Wednesday night at 7:00pm.

Marwood,

Thanks for the information. Keep it coming.

Report from Kettering:

Yesterday (Sabbath, Sep 3) we gave our church members a "menu" of ways that we knew we could help. On the menu were:
- Cash donations to a newly created "Katrina" fund in the Kettering church, from which we hope to send a large check to the American Red Cross (we are planning on something like $10,000) in the name of the church (ARC seemed to be in the best position to make the best use of the money - enlighten me if I am wrong)
- Pledges to the "Katrina" fund if people weren't able to give all they want to give right now (the church will front the money for them)
- Increased donations of goods (food, clothing, blankets, etc.) to our own Good Neighbor House to prepare them for increased demand due to refugees
- Opening our homes to refugees if necessary, and how many people each church family could take in
- Commitment to a joint venture with Habitat For Humanity when they start rebuilding down there (long-term)

I haven't seen the totals yet but I know our folks will respond generously.

There were several questions about our own ACS/ADRA - where are they? are they helping? shouldn't we be sending our money to them? I don't have the answers, but it looks to me like the ARC and the Salvation Army are carrying the bulk of the load and are in the best position to help right now. Maybe our folks are in disarray and will come in later. News on this would be helpful. I'm glad to see from Don's report that "things are coming together" but I'm not sure what they means yet for us as a congregation. We will "collect" things, but we want to get some help on its way right now.

We have 30 cartons of clothes that we could ship down there right now if we knew where to send them. Will ACS come pick them up? If we get a truck and drive it down there, is there an ACS distribution point we can take them to? We need more information in order to help effectively.

I was at a Greater Dayton Christian Connections board meeting on Thursday and learned that we are already seeing some refugees arriving in Dayton.

KMC was told by Greater Dayton Area Hospital Association that Dayton hospitals can expect to receive refugees airlifted from the Gulf Coast into Wright-Patterson Airforce Base. The hospital president told me that they forsee a problem finding places for refugees after they discharge them from the hospitals and that the churches may need to step up and house them. We're hoping that enough members open their homes that we can take care of that.

David VanDenburgh
Kettering Seventh-day Adventist Church
Senior Pastor

To: All Ohio Conference Pastors
From: Marwood Hallett
Sent: Sunday, September 04, 2005 11:06 AM
Subject: Katrina update 9.4.05


September 4, 2005
Pastors,
Below will be the latest from the Columbia Union Disaster Response
coordinator. But, before you look at that, let me share with you the
latest from the Ohio perspective.
1. Friday night I received a call from the OH Emergency Management Agency
(OHEMA) with a "heads up" that 1000 refugees were headed to OH.
2. Sabbath afternoon another call came in and there was a Conference call
with several state agencies as well as FEMA. There are at least 1000
refugees from the hurricane coming to OH and their arrival is scheduled for
Thursday. They are to be housed in Cincinnati, Toledo and possibly Akron.

3. The refugees are to go first to Red Cross shelters for processing and
paperwork and then to HUD housing in the cities I mentioned.
4. There will be a call for donations to make the apartments liveable.
I.e. furniture, bedding, kitchenware, etc., etc.

I'm asking that you start thinking of how you will communicate all this to
your church members. I'm sure they will want to participate.
I will be sharing the latest info with you as it unfolds. But, wanted to
give you a "heads up" also on this. There will be conference calls every
day this week, I'm sure. I will keep you posted.
Between you and me, my guess is that after the first 1000 arrive, there
will be others as well. We just don't know that yet.
Once the word gets out that this is happening, communities and all kinds of
organizations will want to get involved. There may be more "stuff" than
anyone can handle. I hope not. It may be that Adventist Community
Services (ACS) will be called upon to staff warehouses as items come it.
My hope is that the donations will be done by database and then called for
as needed rather than stockpiled somewhere. But, knowing the nature of
people and organizations, there may be massive piles of "things" to sort
and handle. So, be wise and don't collect things. Keep a database of what
is available and tell people we will ask for it when needed.
So, look for more of these notices to come to you. Be wise in what you
promise, work with your local communities, be sure to read the info which
follows and God bless!

From: Don - Columbia Union Disaster Coordinator
To: Marwood Hallett, Ohio Conference Disaster Coordinator

September 2, 2005

Conference Coordinators and Agency Directors,

Things are changing rapidly. The ACS-DR distribution system is nearing
completion and donations are starting to have a place to go. Volunteer
center is set up and taking calls and offers to help. Government and
community members in the northern states are collecting goods.
I have copied a news release that is on the ACS-NAD website that gives
numbers to volunteer and what to collect.
http://www.adventist.communityservices.org/newstest.html
Suggestions:
· If the community near your congregation are already doing collections
offer to work with them. I have received numerous phone calls from
community members and other denominations that want to or are doing
collections and they asked for my advice. A lot of times they don't have a
clue on what they are doing but they are doing it anyway. This is where we
can come in and offer our knowledge of donation management.

· The needs list is for food and personal care kits. You can have your
churches start to collect and put together personal care kits. The
logistics of transportation south needs to be worked. If there is a
conference who collects and organizes but does not have a full load they
can work with another conference in the union for shipping. Biggest thought
is to do this in an orderly fashion. "Keep your head while everyone else
is losing theirs"

· Money is still the biggest need right now. The money that comes in to
the Columbia Union I will be using it where the greatest need is. As
always we try to work on donations as much as possible (trucking, labor,
in-kind donations of goods, phone service, etc). You guys know the drill.
But if fuel is needed for the trucks or costs that we cannot get donated,
that is where the donated money to the local conference and to the union
can come in.

· Lets continue to work together across conference. I am proud of each one
of the Conference coordinators in the Columbia Union and would put you
folks up against any union as to the level of professionalism and
cooperation that you show. Keep up the good work especially as the days go
on. I feel it will get worst before it gets better. We are just starting
this work.

· I don't have much information on the volunteer center yet this morning. I
have a conference call at 2pm and I will find out if the need is great for
volunteers or if the call center is to preposition them. I expect to be
sending teams from this union to relieve the management in the warehouses.
When is the question. How long this operation will continue is anyone's
guess. Setting a lot of precedence. But if your people want to go south to
help, call the volunteer call center NAD sign up. If they are highly
trained and can be
management of warehouses then get names and days they are available to be
sent with the other teams from the union.

· As you probably have noticed, I am CCing the ACS Agencies in the Columbia
union. This was recommended by Monte and I see the wisdom in it. The DR
Coordinators need to be talking with these people if they have not already.
I believe it is critical to communicate and work together not against each
other. Working together to make things happen.

If questions or problems let me know I am here to assist.

Blessings
Don