Locals spending Christmas volunteering in Louisiana
Posted on Saturday, December 24, 2005
More than 20 members of the Washington/Madison Southern Baptist Association are spending the holidays helping those affected by Hurricane Katrina.
The group left at 5:30 a.m. today to serve at an American Red Cross Disaster Relief Kitchen in Kenner, La. "We will be preparing meals for the victims of Hurricane Katrina," said team leader Harry Black. "We’ll serve between 12,000 and 18,000 meals a day. Red Cross emergency responders will be carrying the meals out to the areas affected."
Black said team members will be in Louisiana until New Year’s Eve. "New areas are opening up so people can get into their homes," he said. "This is the first opportunity for a lot of people to see their houses since the hurricane hit. They can be there during the day, but they have to leave at night."
Black said more than 6,000 Arkansas volunteers have served 1.5 million meals between their responses to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. "Before Thanksgiving, we prepared the 1 millionth meal," he said. "We served an average of 21,000 meals a day at that time. It’s pretty exciting."
The Washington/Madison Southern Baptist Association, Black said, is made up of 58 churches. "We’ll have a team down there every week until the disaster is over," he said. "We also have some volunteers from Benton County and others from Indiana who heard about us."
Although team members will be giving up their holiday celebration this year, Black said, the group is determined to do all it can to assist hurricane victims. "Each group is assigned to go down at a certain time," he said. "I guess you could say we got the short end or the long end of the stick, however you want to look at it. Christmas is a time to be at home with your family. We prayed on it a lot and about 22 people volunteered to help."
Black said team members don’t mind giving up their Christmas to assist others. "There are people without electricity or food or water," he said. "We’ll be there to provide them with one good, hot, nourishing meal a day."
While most Americans will be enjoying the holidays with families and friends, Black said, he hopes people will remember that there are still victims of Hurricane Katrina who are displaced from their homes. "We know all the political stuff of who did what and who didn’t do what, but what we need to remember is that there are still victims who are displaced," he said. "We want them to know we’ll be here to help them, even at Christmas."
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