Friday was a good day to work

We added 18 Harding students to the volunteer base Thursday night. They started on three tree jobs for a church member, Jeanie, and two of her neighbors, Connie and Ms. Francis who live in Santa Fe. They brought out an enormous pile of branches from Ms. Frances' yard where several trees went down.
They also removed a tree that has been leaning on Jeanie's roof since the storm.


They cut up a large tree with a 2' trunk and another large tree in Connie's back yard.

And Jeannie fed them all really well!


The Lubbock crew worked more in Galveston while the Northside Christian crew continued working in Shore Acres.

I surveyed San Leon, checking out a request for help with a house that had lost a wall to the waves to make sure it was safe for volunteers. While there I found 91 year old Walter trying to get his storm door off the back addition to his two story house.

The wall had slid off the foundation in the waves and was leaning at an angle that made the door hit the eves when it opened. I removed the door and the extremely water logged exterior door he had already pulled off and left leaning in the doorway. The opposing wall was leaning the other way and the structure seemed stable, though it was obviously not sound. More on the crew clearing his house on the Saturday posting.

I dropped contact information with a couple of churches near the area, the post office, where the postmaster said her 81 year old father needed help, and another relief operation working at the Maranantha Baptist Church there in San Leon.
They fed me a great lunch. Committed relief was heading back to California Saturday and a new group is moving into the flooded, soggy, recovering church.
The entire area is heavily damaged. Much like the 9th ward after Katrina.




The first row of homes that received the bulk of the wave action are heavily damaged, or moved off their foundations. Large boats are in yards. Newer vacation homes are mostly up on stilts and were not badly damaged, but many full time residents' homes are small, built on the ground, and not well maintained. There were quite a few "yard sales" going on where everything was set out on the lawn to dry out...


Some people are living in tents.

Thursday started out Rainy

Really rainy! That didn't slow down the volunteers though.

The Northside Christian Church group started on Sharon and Brandon's house in Shore Acres.

Brandon, 16, really hooked in with this group coming back for dinner with them Thursday night and helping them on another house on Friday.
That Job was for Phyllis, also in Shore Acres.

They worked the weekend on Sharon's home as there was so much to be done.






and they had some fun in the Gulf checking out the damage to the beach homes in Galveston



The Lubbock Christian group spent their whole weekend doing work around Galveston with the Broadway Church of Christ. They cleaned up around the building, unloaded truckloads of mattresses and food. Served 900 meals a day to the community, and mucked out six "or more" houses. Or more, because they would move from one place to the next doing small jobs for those who needed help as well.

Photos from Houston Work 10/15 - 10/19

Jeff Smith

Bill Thomas

Mechelle Meyer

Robin Emerson

Amy Pyles

Houston Relief Update

I've been in Houston for a week and a half now managing the Hilltop Rescue operations on the ground. We have been VERY busy. There is a lot of need here and we are receiving volunteers. We can use more! The need is real and the work is stacking up. here's the story.

Hilltop has been on the ground since right after the storm. We surveyed the area and and found a definite need for outside volunteers. The local community has responded amazingly well, but local volunteers are drying up as people get back to their lives after giving days or weeks of their time. The need is greater now for outside volunteers. Between our own requests for help and those going unmet by other relief organizations in the area there are hundreds of work orders to fulfill.

This past weekend, we had 62 volunteers in from Harding University in Searcy Arkansas, Northside Christian Church in Tulsa, Prestoncrest Church of Christ in Dallas, and Lubbock Christian University. They were awesome workers and amazing people to work with. Some would have been happy working day and night.

We completed 14 jobs mucking houses and clearing downed trees from yards over the weekend as well as getting a lot of small side jobs done for neighbors of those we were working with, or just driving down the street and asking who needs help.

The worst hit areas where we can work are Galveston, San Leon, and Shore Acres. Areas on the Bolivar Peninsula (across the mouth of the bay from Galveston) are still off limits and most homes were completely washed away in those towns. Those areas are marked by yellow and red on this map respectively.

Wind damage to trees covers a much broader area, but is pretty much confined to the Galveston Bay area.

Our operations in Houston are being hosted by the Clear Lake Church of Christ. We are 20 minutes from most of the hardest hit areas. We have 42 real mattresses, 6 showers, plenty of bathrooms, a huge kitchen, and a gym we can use if it isn't being used for other purposes. We have a pool table, fooseball, and air hockey! We have plenty of tools for volunteers to use in their work, a 15 passenger van, a pickup truck, and two tool trailers to haul tools around in as well. This place rates 4 stars compared to the flooded school buildings, tents, and MASH showers we've had in the past. The church has basically turned over the back third of their building, their youth area, to us to use as long as there is a need.

The church has been awesome! The elders and church leadership have been overwhelmingly supportive of our operations to help them reach out to their community and responsibly spend the funds they have collected for the work. This is a place where "real Christians" prevail as the hands and feet of Christ. We are only supplementing what they are doing in their community. The youth group continues to work mucking houses in the area and church members made some fabulous dinners for our volunteers this weekend. I am personally quite impressed with our partners here.

Like the man said "Come on in boys! The water's fine!"

Servants Unite!

John McGuire

Pictures from Galveston Today

are at this link

And Pictures from the Northwest Church in San Antonio last week are at this link.

Our Farvorite Hero!

CNN has whittled down their list to 10 heroes for 2008. I wouldn't even mention that here, but one of them is a friend of ours. Liz McCartney, cofounder of St. Bernard Project is one of the finalists! We worked for them Christmas time, 2006 right after they set up shop. Now they've completed rebuilding 120 homes and are hitting it harder than ever. Give Liz a click to vote for her at this link.

Back in the Lone Star State

Servants Unite has 1 volunteer in Texas working for the next two weeks. Me.

I arrived in time for lunch today (Sunday), just as the closing song was being sung here at Clear Lake Church of Christ where Hilltop's camp is set up. I'm relieving Stan Cunningham from Northside Church of Christ in Nashville as camp manager when he returns home Wednesday.

Our hosts are awesome! We have new showers they built in for volunteers, real mattresses, great kitchen facilities, and some of the nicest people... but most everyone we've worked with who is willing to do this kind of thing has been that way.

We're spending the next couple of days arranging work for two large groups that come in Wednesday and Friday staying through the weekend.

You are still needed! There's a lot to do down here and a lot of hurting people that need to see you caring for them in their crisis like you did after Katrina. I know I've been home with you the last three weeks since Ike came in and we're all focused on our falling retirement savings, scared about our jobs, and fretting about who's going to win the presidential election. Please take this opportunity to break out of the worries of this world that are bogging you down to focus on eternal goals by being Christ's hands and feet to those here who have lost everything.

Since the media, (except for the Houston Chronicle) is off on other things, I'll be reporting on what we find the whole time I'm here. Please follow the blog and look for email updates over the coming days and prayerfully consider whether you can take that time away from your worldly fears for the refreshment that comes from working in the Kingdom.

Servants Unite!

John McGuire

First Ike Video

To see the work being done in the Houston area and the work left to do, see this video on YouTube. Jeremy Glover, the youth minister at Clear Lake Church of Christ, our host church, put this together.

Survivor Storm Stories

From the Houston Chronicle.

16-year-old Jerrith Baird searched for his 58 year old Grandma via kayak the day after Ike and found nothing but a few of the pilings that held up her house and submerged vehicles of his friends.

Mike Anderson was washed 14 miles inland with heaps of debris, an ordeal that lasted 36 hours.

The current count of those missing is over 400. Many are listed here.

Prayer Requests for Mark Day

Mark flew to Houston today to help June White of Hilltop Rescue set up camp. Your prayers for Mark and our Hilltop partners are earnestly requested.

Ike Missing

After seeing the devastation and hearing of the lack of evacuation, I've been afraid we'd see this story emerge. The Houston Chronicle has posted a list of 331 people who have been reported as not seen since Hurricane Ike. http://www.chron.com/databases/ikemissing.html

From the home page of the data source:

The Laura Recovery Center is providing a hotline to report information on people missing as a result of Hurricane Ike. This data is actively shared with appropriate law enforcement agencies.

When using this data, please consider that things are still very confusing in the wake of Hurricance Ike. Some data may be inaccurate or incomplete. Please help us improve this data. We are updating and verifying the data as our resources allow.

Hilltop Rescue Release on the New Camps

Dear friends,

I'd like to introduce you to a family from South Louisiana. They are Cajun by birth, with a long and rich heritage of Louisiana traditions. They are a hard working family who enjoy the blessings of good Cajun cooking and the fellowship that goes with great food, good family and faithful friends. They've seen many hurricanes come and go through the years, yet they keep rebuilding their lives each time, refusing to leave the area. They recounted that, when the twin hurricanes Katrina and Rita roared through their homes three years ago, they found hope and help from some new friends at the Maplewood Church of Christ in Sulphur, LA. As I spoke with the matriarch of this family, tears formed in her eyes and a lump caught in her throat. Even after three years she still finds it a bit difficult to talk about the wonderful young people who came to her home to muck out the filth that Rita had left behind.

For the past three years this family has continued to rebuild. not just their homes, but their entire community. This past week we all stood side by side on the muddy floor of their son's home. He had completely remodeled it, tearing out walls and replacing them with beautiful wood columns, tongue-in-groove paneling, and a solid wood kitchen bar. It was coming along beautifully when Hurricane Gustav blew into town. Amazingly, they were all kept safe as that storm blew by the coast and tore into the inland areas around Baton Rouge. This proud Cajun family sighed a big sigh of relief, praying that God's mercy was available to those who were not so lucky. And then, a week later as Hurricane Ike headed into the Gulf, they all held their breath once more. With mixed emotions they watched as Ike headed for Texas, and they once again felt like they were safe. They had no idea that Ike's sheer size would drive a wedge of water into their homes once more.

We joined Brian Spicer, the minister of Maplewood Church of Christ in neighboring Sulphur, and arrived once more to see what aid could be provided. Proud, and putting on a bold face, we heard the shake in her voice and saw the tears in her eyes as she challenged her family to rise once more to the challenge of rebuilding their lives. Hilltop Rescue has heard her challenge, and recognized that her plea is echoed throughout Southwest Louisiana and Southeast Texas. As we begin the process of answering that call, we are praying that you also hear it. Are you willing to go into the heart of disaster, either in Louisiana or Texas? Are you ready to help change other's lives, and have your life changed in the process? Our new friends need you. Sign up today!! If you are unable to go, please consider a financial donation. And, above everything else, keep us all in your prayers. (This message was sent to me by Stan Cunningham, a member of Hilltop staff who spent 6 days driving in southern Louisiana and Texas to assess damage and talk to hurricane victims.)

Partnering with the Maplewood church in Sulphur and with the Clear Lake church of Christ in Houston, we are setting up two volunteer camps which will run at the same time. We are stepping out in faith that God will provide volunteers and supplies needed to keep both operations running. Our focus will be smaller communities where aid is not as available; and just like always, our priorities are the elderly, the handicapped and disabled, single mothers, and those without resources. There are many families like the one described above in need of help. Will you join with us in meeting this need?

Sincerely,
June White
Director of Communications
Hilltop Rescue & Relief

www.hilltoprescue.org

Time to Hit the Road!

If you’ve been following our survey results last week on the blog, you know we need to be responding to Hurricane Ike. If you haven’t you can get the details here. In short, this is no Katrina. People have food and water and a place to stay. Neighbors are helping neighbors. There is a large area of destruction though and outside volunteers will be essential to helping many start their recovery.

Now that most of us have power back and have taken care of Ike’s damage here, we are ready to send a team as early as this next Saturday morning, September 27, 2008. Our long time partners, Hilltop Rescue are setting up two camps to help cover the 200 miles of gulf shore affected by this storm. One between Houston Texas and Galveston at Clear Lake Church of Christ will be ready for volunteers Sunday evening. The other near Lake Charles Louisiana at the Maplewood Church of Christ will be ready for volunteers Monday, but it will be rougher accommodations to start out.

It’s time for Servants to Unite! Please find your part in the following list of needs

• Please forward this notice to your friends, family, and church family.
  
• Start organizing people you know would be interested in this opportunity and pick a date to join a team. To sign up or ask quesitons, email john@servantsunite.org.
  
• Consider donating to cover expenses, and talk to your church leadership and missions team about contributing to our financial needs of shipping people to Texas to work for a week.
  
• We have a special need for people with plumbing skills in Houston ASAP and people in Lake Charles with construction skills. This task is to help prepare facilities for volunteers who will be working there over the coming weeks.
  
• We need team leads to step forward and vehicles for teams to use.
  
• We need your prayers for the success of our mission, for the safety of our volunteers, and for the faith of those we are going to help.
  

Teams will leave on Saturday mornings, travel two days (20 hours) to Houston, or to Lake Charles (17 hours) arriving on Sunday night, work Monday through Friday, and travel home two days the following weekend. Overnight stops will be with our friends at University Church of Christ in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, the halfway point on the trip.

• Teams will go every other week for the next 6 weeks and on demand after that.
  
• Ike team 1 September 27-October 5
  
• Ike team 2 October 11-October 19
  
• Ike team 3 October 25-November 2
  
• Special teams may be ran by request for special group circumstances.
  

You will need the same clothing and the same basic tools we have had in New Orleans and Iowa work. Those are listed in the volunteer link on www.servantsunite.org.

Donations may be made by mailing a check (please identify yourself in an accompanying note) to 5511 Copenhagen drive, Westerville, Ohio 43081, or using the Paypal link on the blog and web site. Servants Unite is a 501(c)3 non-profit which makes your donations tax deductible. 100% of donations will go to the care and feeding of volunteers working in the disaster zone. Primary expenses are fuel, food, vehicle rental, and support of our hosts’ expenses to have us.

Normal retail and other stores and restaurants are open in the areas where you will be staying. This is not the uncertain circumstance we went into right after Katrina. You will be staying in safe suburban neighborhoods. The people you will be working for will be extraordinarily grateful for your sacrifice of a small portion of your life for them in the name of our Lord. And just like those we’ve met in the New Orleans area, people are just ridiculously friendly and happy just to have someone listen to their story.

More information and updates as they are available.

Servants Unite!

John McGuire

Cleaning up Churches of Galveston

This link is a photo gallery of people on the island already cleaning up the churches in Galveston.

Crystal Beach Before and After

The Houston Chronicle has a set of recovery photos here that include these before and after aerial shots of Crystal Beach.

Last Man Standing

Probably the most shocking Ike aftermath picture is of the only house standing on the ocean side of Gilchrist. Compare that to what was there before on the google map satellite view of the town on the Bolivar Peninsula.

View Larger Map

This Story on CNN.com is about the people who lived there and their experience.

Ike's storm surge last week devastated the Bolivar Peninsula town, flattening most of the roughly 200 homes there. The couple's yellow house at the beach -- supported 14 feet off the ground by wooden columns -- was the only house on Gilchrist's Gulf Coast side not to be flattened.

"As we got there, the tears started flowing," Warren Adams, 63, said Thursday after his first visit to the home since evacuating. "There's a yellow house sitting there, but that's all. It was devastating."

Ike Photos

A friend of mine emailed this link today. This is all the stuff Mark and I were unable to see, either because flooding had receded or we weren't allowed into areas.

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/09/the_short_but_eventful_life_of.html

Here's a link to the few interesting pictures I took this week. The way this storm came out, it's either really bad, meaning we couldn't go see, or it's not so much worse than here.

New News Links

National news isn't covering much from Ike, but I've changed the newslinks to the right to focus on this event. The Houston Chronicle is a great source.

Assessment Complete. On the Road Home

Hoping this update finds you all with power and showered though it appears half the outages, 300,000 as of this morning, are still not repaired. Both our wives have been without all week so we're glad to be getting home tonight and able to assess the situation up there first hand. We completed our assessment across West Louisiana and East Texas yesterday afternoon, stayed with Tim in Mandeville again last night and are nearly to Birmingham on our way home right now.

There is a confirmed need of our type of help and there are several good options for us to partner with as their readiness matures. There are conflicting media and aid organization reports about the disaster area. As usual, what we’ve seen first hand indicates an average of what you may be hearing and what people have been emailing me. There are often those who exaggerate a situation intentionally or not, for good motives or bad. I am working hard to backcheck any information against what I can see and people who have proven trustworthy in our work.

The area effected and the population density of those not able to live in their homes is much smaller than we found after Katrina. Maybe 5-10% or so. There are probably many more casualties than have been reported as searches are just beginning. Barrier island communities where tens of thousands did not evacuate have been wiped clean in some sections by the storm. Those still out there continue to be evacuated by boat and helicopter to shelters. One man with a boat was allowed through a checkpoint where we were stopped yesterday to rescue friends who had called him from their roof in High Island.

This is no Katrina. None-the-less, there is extensive damage. Wind damage is probably about the same as at home in Ohio actually. Lots of limbs down and power out, but there were a lot of electrical crews in staging areas along I-10 in Louisiana and Texas not working. About half the electrical grid damage we saw was actively being worked on. Many areas of Huston have power restored, even right down next to Galveston Bay where the Eye came ashore. There are a few roofs missing significant areas of shingles and a lot of branches down, but the locals are pretty much cleaning that up.


View Larger Map

Flooding is a different situation, though, entirely. There are two categories of that. The worst hit places on the barrier islands, we could not get to, but photos on the news from the President’s visit yesterday show large areas where one in twenty houses, maybe less remain. The debris and even the piers that the house sat on are washed away. Nothing is left. That isn’t something we can help fix any time soon.

I want to head off a misconception for you that I had myself. Galveston Island, on the whole, is not a wealthy resort community. Many poor to middle class live on the island in ancestral homes that have been damaged or removed by the storm. 1/4 of people live below the poverty line. 14% are over 65. These are the kind of people we focus on helping.

There is a narrow line of flooding, much of it rural that we can work on immediately once we have a base of operations to work from. The largest pocket is near the space center along the eastern edge of Houston near Galveston bay. League City, Texas City, and places like that. Rural areas around Orange Texas and South East of Port Arthur are flooded, but mostly didn’t get the wave action that wiped away the homes that were more exposed to the sea. There is a low density of damaged homes in many areas, but everything in Bridge City was flooded.

We saw several distribution locations (news reports 60) FEMA has set up around Houston. The Southern Baptists were setting up a feeding station at Orange which is an appropriate location. They also have others on the way in according to their email update yesterday. Except for the most devastated areas where authorities rightly want to encourage people to leave because they are just unhealthy, people are not going hungry or thirsty that we can tell. Stores and gas stations are open in Houston and opening hourly in other areas as power is restored. Walmart in Port Arthur was open without power. Target in Friendswood was giving out truckloads of ice and water. The Red Cross is distributing meals. The Houston food bank is looking for additional assistance as their demand is way up, but still is functioning.

The primary need that we can fill as soon as a hosting organization is ready for us is mucking and maybe a little chain saw cleanup work.

Southeast Church of Christ in Friendswood, a Houston suburb may also host a relief effort for that area. They are in a suburban area and have great facilities for us to use and they are only 30 minutes from most damaged areas including Galveston and Bolivar Peninsula areas that were the hardest hit.

I’ve made contact with two churches in Nederland/Port Arthur about hosting operations for areas around Beaumont, Orange, Bridge City, etc.

Hilltop is discussing the possibility of hosting in Sulfur, Louisiana and investigating the areas we hit this week as well.

View Larger Map
Their decision of where to set up shop will impact our decision as we know the four needs of volunteers, work, showers, place to sleep, and food will be managed.

We’ve left business cards at churches that look suitable where we couldn’t find anyone and spoken with quite a few contacts investigating the needs and our options to work down there so it’s been a productive trip. The situation is still very new and fluid, as these things are, so no definite plans yet.

I still want to plan a tentative trip for Saturday, September 27. This would be a two day drive with an overnight each way, work for 5 days, and return home the following weekend, October 4 and 5.

Servants Unite!
John McGuire and Mark Day

Winnie Texas

Lots more wind damage here. Got 7 miles from High Island and were stopped again. Appears there's still not getting to the coast.

Learned that Southeast Church of Christ in Houston area is setting up operations. No answer on the phone, but we're heading that way.

News from the Road

Yesterday we drove through west Louisiana and into Nederland, Texas. There's no power on the Texas side anywhere except for a couple gas stations right on the I-10. We're now in Port Arthur and finding the worst hit areas, but I'll blog this out in sequence of our trip.

The wind damage is not so severe as with Rita and Katrina. Not even close, but some towns received a lot more storm surge than they did 3 years ago.

We did not visit, but Daphne German was in Laplatte, Louisiana last night and reports whole neighborhoods still underwater there.

After waiting through a lot of traffic (Texas plates headed home) we checked out Lafayette, and New Iberia and found no obvious problems there.

Delcambre, Louisiana has some flooding from storm surge. It had receeded enough that many people were already cleaning out their homes, but some roads were still flooded so we couldn't get out to the lower, extremely rural areas.

We drove west through Lake Charles finding minor wind damage, but most power is on, stores are open, and all is actually more normal there than in Ohio.

We spoke with Brian Spicer in Sulfer, Louisiana who has been running volunteer ops in West Louisiana since 2005 says most areas are OK, but he has heard from many residents of Cameron who have been rebuilding the last three years that their town is wiped away again. Even homes with 15 foot stilts (new building code) had water in them. They are in hotels he says. This area will need assistance in the weeks ahead, but there is little we can do now and can't get into the area yet.

Brian has met with 30 families from Cameron today and new information from ariel and boat surveys reinforces that the community was almost totally destroyed. They would like to have camping gear, stoves, ice chests, pots, pans, gas cans, insect repellant, probably tents, so they can live out there once they can get back into the area. They hope that will happen in the next couple of days.

We crossed the Texas border and topped off with Diesel. We turned south and drove through Orange (no power, and some wind damage) and into Bridge City. Areas around those towns flooded heavily and scuttlebut has it that many died there, but officials are not saying. We witnessed search and rescue boat and helicopter patrols at the base of the large bridge on the south end of town where we were turned back.

We drove through Beaumont (some power, some wind damage, flooded underpasses) and down into Nederland, TX where Mark Day's wife Jan has a cousin... Yea, it's that convoluted, but yet again God provided us with clean sheets a soft bed, and a tepid shower.

This morning we started in Port Arthur/Nederland area which has some wind damage and no power, but not a lot of structural damage to homes or electrical grid. A policeman, a preacher, and a church secretary we talked to all felt blessed with the outcome, but said Orange and Bridge City would really need help. We made some good contacts who may be able to host volunteers there.

We are attempting to get closer to the Boulivar Peninsula area where there was a lot of damage to assess. We don't expect to find any churches habitable down there though. We were turned back taking a southern route to Sabine Texas where they are only letting in residents, and the guy behind us with his boat who was going to rescue friends from their flooded neighborhood.

We went around another way towards High Island and were blocked by two barges washed on to the road. Dead cattle were in the ditch to the side and dead fish were scattered on the road. Got a pic (of the barges and fish) that'll I'll place here if I can.

We redirected again and ran into a closed floodwall, and after a final detour manged to get back onto the I-10 West of Beaumont.

I'll post updates as we can and as we have cell data service for Internet access.

Tim Hines reports president bush declared today that volunteer expenses would be reimbursed from the government, that we've gotten disaster fatigue and not as many people are volunteering. We hope this is true and await specifics.

Pray for us and Gary Watt's team from Hilltop Rescue as we survey the disaster zone.

Pray for all the storm victims in Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky too. While I'm down here, I know many of you, including my family and Mark's are without power and cleaning up their neighborhoods. Be safe!

Servants Unite!
John McGuire

On the Road Again

Mark Day (South IB groups) and I are traveling down I-65 currently while you are enjoying the remnants of Hurricane Ike. There's been quite a lack of information coming in from the storm's aftermath so we're on our way down to scout out needs and hosting sites to work with. Post storm analysis, though, says Galveston bay only got a 13 foot storm surge rather than the possible 25 foot predicted due to a change in course of the storm. That means the maximum surge was felt more around Port Arthur and Beaumont, destinations we hope to investigate this week.

Plan on a team leaving by next Sunday for chainsaw and mudout work. Also useful will be counselors and medical types who can handle first aid for the body, the brain, and the soul. If you can join such a trip or take responsibility to lead it down, please reply by email, or call Melinda McGuire at 614-523-3996. She tells me (via cell phone), though that our power is out at the moment. Hopefully those problems up there will be short lived.

There are going to be people needing trees cut up there. Amy Fox, one of our initial volunteers, has already called with a large tree in her yard in Westerville. If you need help, or want to offer it, email replies or a call to Melinda will work to get people together for the local effort too. If you have elderly or disabled neighbors, please take this opportunity to check on them today and tomorrow.

We're staying with Tim Hines in Mandeville tonight. We will keep you posted as to what we find this week on the blog and less frequently via more emails.

As always your prayers are requested and appreciated for safety, the wisdom of the spirit, and successful outreach in Jesus' name.

Servants Unite!
John McGuire

This is the next big one

Our response now seems inevitable after two large storms have rolled over an area covering more than half the gulf coast in a week.
This is a telling article about the last major hurricane to hit Galveston and Houston 100 years ago.

Unfortunately, Ike, though a category 2, is expected to be producing a maximum storm surge, at this hour, of 20-25 feet; up to 11 feet higher than that 1900 storm which destroyed everything on Galveston Island. Add to that wave heights of 25-50 feet. All this due to the fact that the storm is over 900 miles wide and carries tropical storm strength winds across a 550 mile swath including much of Louisiana still recovering from Rita and Gustav. Estimates indicate, only 60% of Galveston residents left the island. Most of Houston was not evacuated to avoid the deaths and other problems experienced in the evacuation attempt from hurricane Rita 3 years ago.

As the storm has come ashore, officials are telling the press this is their worst case scenario.

Please be in prayer today for those who have lost their lives last night, those who will be out first to begin the relief response and rescue, and our part. We will need volunteers to collect water, lead teams, be hands and feet in the disaster zone, and help organize all our efforts. We need contacts in the area to find a partner to work with. We'll need the power of the Spirit to sustain us and use us to His will.

Servants Unite!
John McGuire

Help for Haiti

Servants Unite, small as we are, is not an international relief organization. However, as we've been blessed with weekening storms this season, Haiti has been beaten by every one of them. A humanitarian crisis is looming.

Lifeline Christian Mission has a large mission with diverse services in Grand Goave Haiti and their US operation is based right here in Westerville, Ohio.

They are receiving 5 times the usual number of people seeking food and clean water. Unfortunately, they have had to turn people away.

To help alleviate the need, they hope to pack a container this weekend with the supplies in their warehouse to ship out next week. Volunteers may be needed in Westerville when the container arrives. I will let you know when it is there.

They are also asking for additional donations to ship as many containers as they can fill.

My recommendations is if you feel called to help organize donations for this special need they are filling, help organize your church, school group (IB kids :-), service organization, work, whatever to gather only the requested supplies at your meeting place. We can then get the supplies to Lifeline in bulk rather than several hundred people dropping off a case of water each.

Servants Unite will organize pickup of these supplies from your location and deliver them to Lifeline if you need assistance with that part of it.

If you wish to work with Lifeline directly, go for it. The contact at the office who will be handling supplies is Dana Krahel, Volunteer Coordinator. They are at 184 Olde County Line Road, Westerville, Ohio 43081. Phone: 614-794-0108.

Here's the plea letter we received this week:
We ARE having a Non Perishable Food Drive in Ohio and one in Indiana and hope to get an entire container of food ready to ship in about 1 month (we already have some food on the way now to Haiti for a stop-gap measure and we’ll buy what we have to buy, Lord willing!):

• Canned and foil packaged meats and meals
  
• Dried beans, peas
  
• Rice
  
• Pastas of all types
  
• Canned vegetables
  
• Soups
  
• Canned meals such as Spaghetti-O’s, etc.
  
• Bottle Water
  
• Peanut butter
  

When making a choice the lighter the weight the more we can get on the container

At this time we are NOT requesting clothing or shoes; only food.

We have put out a plea for funds but are also preparing a flyer to be sent to our churches asking for these items. We will receive them and send them on regular schedule containers too, as long as they keep coming in. We ship at a minimum once a quarter from our warehouse.

Thank you again and pray with us that in all of this loss that people will turn to Christ and know that He is the answer!

God bless you and tell everyone at Westerville “thank you”!
Bob and Gretchen

Ike Ike go away!

Prayer, petitioning for the devolution of Gustav... The storm weekend to a category 2 rather than growing to a category4. Katrina, if you'll remember was roaring into New Orleans as a strong category5, but deteriorated to a category 3 by landfall. Rita had the lowest barometric pressure ever recorded while in the gulf, but deteriorated, against predictions, before making landfall and missed the metropolis of Houston/Galveston, also against predictions.

Ike is the last storm on our scopes of this menacing train of storms this past month. It is projected to make landfall near Houston tomorrow night. The trend in course predictions from the National Weather Service is moving it closer to that highly vulnerable area overnight.

Responding to Houston, like we did New Orleans, is more difficult because of the added distance. Nonetheless, if called, we will go.

Let's do our best to avoid that necessity, though with prayer and petition to our Lord to quiet the storm as he has the others. As bad as they have been, we know this one can be even more devestating to more than 2 million people living there.

John McGuire

Post Gustav Update from Chalmette

Here's an update from Aaron at The Gathering who we've stayed and worked with for several trips during the past year.


greetings,
if anyone emailed over the weeked, we had a small snafu with our website and server, so i may have not received what you sent this way. same with shauna.

anyhow, we received power on friday, sept 5th- most people's refrigerators were a bit of a mess. neighbors across the street lost lots of shingles--enough that the paper and vents were gone, too leaving exposed wood and attic-their drywall ceilings fell into the bedrooms! what a mess.

shauna returned friday evening and our whole team has jumped in:
-patching shingles -tarping roofs -standing fences back up...

..mowing lawn for a national guardsmen who had long hours on duty in new orleans during the evacuation -cooking food and passing it out "down the road" (several people still w/out power on the far east end of our parish sunday and monday)

tomorrow we'll go help remove the floor at dennis' house- he's a good friend who was very close to moving into his house last week (moving in for first time since katrina). we were going to go over and do some touch up painting, but his front door blew in during Gustav and his new flooring is ruined.

from some of these comments notice the heartache that some people might have with some old Katrina emotions returning. our task is clear- serve and love like Jesus, pointing at Him and reminding people over and again that He is hope and love.

thanks for asking about things and for sending the emails our way. a few of you said you'd been meaning to call me anyway- ha, my how disasters bring us together. and for that, see attached picture about how we all find strength to lean on-finding anything and everything to make a fence stand! and the first pic is our group driving back from the retreat.

please pray that our work and daily endeavors keeps advancing the Kingdom rather than our own agenda.

our AC went out in the car- now we have those decisions to make. and next week we plan to begin a Financial Peace group meeting at a local school. hopefully another way of meeting people and helping families. thanks!

aaron johnson
the gathering
chalmette, LA
504 610 7779

Tuesday night update from Brendan

Well it's about 6:30 pm and were almost out of it here. We are still getting some feeder bands carrying wind and tornadoes. We have had a few close calls near my home but most of them have landed out in pastures. Tomorrow I am venturing out into surrounding areas. Baton Rouge got hit pretty hard with wind damage and there is a big need for chainsaws. So we will see.

For anyone that has tried calling me at my 985 number I had it changed to 225-368-5223. Guy with my old number says I must have alot of friends cause he has gotten many calls. Anyway just letting everyone know we are ok. Thank you for all your prayers.

brendan

The next few weeks...

Tentatively I think we can still plan to send a team down to Louisiana or Mississippi this coming weekend. If you wish to go, please email me or call Melinda at the numbers on the blog. Work will primarily be chain saw work cutting up trees and tarping roofs. Accommodations are not yet secured for more than a few people so the team may need to take a camper or two with them. More details as they are available.

I have not heard of a need for supplies to be shipped down at this time. However, tens of thousands of low income New Orlineans have been shipped to shelters across the country. Churches are hosting them as close as Louisville Kentucky. There may be a need to assist them until they can get back home, depending on some decisions the Red Cross will have to make.

More details on Gustav relief as they are available.

Many more storms are coming. Hanna is aiming at Charleston South Carolina, Tropical storm, soon to be hurricane Ike formed yesterday and is following Hannah, Tropical depression 10 formed overnight out past Ike and is in line following it and Hanna West.Also, another area of activity between Hannah and Ike as well as a 2nd area of activity North of the train may still develop into storms. We are facing a huge increase in activity that may still require responses to other parts of the country. Keep posted for updates.

Brendan's OK and already looking for help

Greensburg where he's at presently was hit hard all day by heavy storm bands. Many tornadoes have been reported throughout the area all day long. Lots and lots of trees are down. They lost power at 10:00, cell service at 11:00, and landline phone service at 1:00 today. It's still storming hard there now. He drove 15 miles up the road to get cell service to check on family and get word out.

The area he reports is most heavily effected by the wind damage and downed trees is in the yellow on this map.
He's working on a place for chainsaw crews to stay and work for next week.

Monday night update on our friends.

I've heard nothing from anyone in New Orleans. My cell showed a connection to Brendan's phone in Greensburg, LA, but just static on the line. Not sure if he heard me or not. Sent a text. That area has had a lot of tornadoes and strong storm bands all day. I'll put up a new post when I hear from him.

Talked to Daphne German in Bayou La Batre Alabama. The surge was not bad there. There was water and waves over the park we stayed in there last summer, but they could drive through it at noon today. She reports there is not much damage that far east.

Heavy storm bands went through the Mississippi coastal area between there and New Orleans. I expect if we are needed it'll be for chain saw crews to work in that area and north of New Orleans for a few weeks. As of now, just on the back side of the storm it appears that massive amounts of prayer have paid off.

More on the way

After Gustav, there's a train of storms incoming.Hannah is projected to land on the Georgia North Carolina border Friday as a Category 1 or weak 2. Tropical Storm Ike gained that status today after becoming a tropical depression just this morning. It is heading for the Caribbean islands.

Projections of both Gustav and Hannah are showing they will impact our weather here in Ohio.

Gustov Drops to Category 1

Gustov came ashore around 9:00 this morning Central Time. It has now dropped to a Category 1 level as it moves further onshore oblique to New Orleans exposing that area to the heaviest rains and tornado risk. Tornado warnings are up out through Mobile Alabama and up to Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

Storm surge is hitting 9' and a little more in peak areas, but the New Orleans Industrial Canal is at the top of the flood walls and waves are being blown over. There is still a good possibility that continued surge and runnoff from the heavy rains up stream can push the water level over the wall and begin to flood areas West of the canal.

A barge and two decomissioned Navy ships have broken loose and are pinned against a bridge, but may damage the flood walls if they break loose.

It isn't yet as bad as expected, but there's still a lot we don't know and it isn't over yet. Please continue prayers. They are working!

Gustav Update - Monday Morning

Just woke Brendan Hendrix up checking on him. He says it's picking up pretty good there in Greensburg, LA. Gustav is just off Houma, Louisiana and has degraded to a category 2 storm!

Update from Brendan Hendrix

Friends,
It's around 8 pm now and the outer bands have started hitting where we are. I am located about 25 minutes north of Hammond, La. no way of tellin' what it's gonna do as to the erratic nature of this storm. It is currently a catagory 3 with winds of up to 115 mph. I have been steadily trying to arrange things here for immediately following the storm. For those of you not privy to this the northeast side is usually the worse side of the storm for winds and tornadoes. Thankfully through prayers from you all this storm has lost alot of its power between Cuba and here. Just continue to pray for the storm to dissipate.

I will keep you all updated as best I can.

god bless
brendan

geaux tigers!!!!!!!!!!

Oh to be as prepared as Southern Baptist Disaster Relief

Here's their latest email update:

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight”. (Proverbs 3:5-6 NIV)

Southern Baptist Disaster Relief continues to plan for Hurricane Gustav. For the second time in three years the worst-case-scenario could be in store for the Gulf Coast of Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas. Southern Baptists, along with our national partners, are planning for and anticipating the worst.

Terry Henderson and an Incident Command Team are en route to Camp Garaywa, located in Clinton, Mississippi. Camp Garaywa is owned and operated by the Woman’s Missionary Union of Mississippi. Also staging at Camp Garaywa will be mobile units that will move to the coast as soon as appropriate assessments take place. A second Incident Command Team is in route to Temple Baptist Church in Ruston, Louisiana.

Southern Baptist liaisons are located at the National Headquarters for American Red Cross and the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency in Washington, D. C. They will assist in providing close coordination and communication with these agencies. American Red Cross has also provided a liaison to the North American Mission Board’s Disaster Operation Center (DOC) located in Alpharetta, Ga.

Meals are currently being prepared by Southern Baptist Feeding Units at shelters housing evacuees in Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and, Texas. Chaplains are serving with the Feeding Units to provide ministry and support for the evacuees and volunteers.

A combined capacity of more than 575,000 meals per day has been activated and has begun moving toward the anticipated impact area. A total of 39 Feeding Units from 23 Baptist state conventions are moving toward the central Gulf Coast and are expected to arrive over the next three days. Each Feeding Unit will be accompanied by chainsaw, communication, and shower units as well as Disaster Relief trained chaplains. A conservative estimate is that more than 4,000 Southern Baptist volunteers will be traveling with these units.

Ministry sites in the Gulf Coast area have been pre-identified by state Baptist convention, American Red Cross and Salvation Army leaders. Once Hurricane Gustav has cleared the area, Disaster Relief leaders will assess the viability of these sites to provide accommodations for units and volunteers after which units will be deployed to begin ministry to persons impacted by the storm.

While the east coast state Baptist conventions are continuing to watch Hurricane Hanna, they are also releasing assets to respond to Gustav’s affected area. State Baptist conventions located in the Northern, upper Midwestern and northwestern United States are expected to be in the second phase of deployment. Following Hurricane Gustav’s landfall and assessments provide by Southern Baptist leaders and our partners decision will be made about future deployments.

NAMB’s DOC has moved to a Level IV, the highest activation. NAMB staff and volunteers will be manning phones and entering data to support the affected and responding state convention units. Tomorrow’s hours of operation for the DOC will be 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. Eastern Day Light Savings Time.

Florida Baptist Convention continues to respond to needs caused by Hurricane Fay. The response have move to local area churches and associations ministering in their area with Florida Baptist Convention’s leadership closing their command centers.

The only power we have right now is prayer

Tonight at Westerville Christian Church at 6:00, Greg Bondurant, has planned a prayer time to ask God's mercy to dissipate hurricane Gustov and protect the gulf coast from the massive destruction we saw after Katrina. Against the models, the storm has been weakening and projections are on their way down. To me, knowing the prayers that are being asked of our Lord, that is an answer. There's nothing else we can do right now. We cannot stop a hurricane with our own efforts. We can only ask the creator of the heavens and the earth to cover those in harms way with his grace and mercy.

Please join us tonight at 471 College Avenue in Westerville, organize your own church or group to pray for the continued weakening of Gustov, or join us from where you are at 6:00 eastern time tonight to ask God to block and disperse this storm to His glory.

Mandatory Evacuation Ordered for New Orleans

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin ordered a mandatory evacuation of the city beginning at 8 a.m. Sunday but urged residents to flee now. "You need to be scared," Nagin said as Hurricane Gustav roared into the Gulf of Mexico with 150 mph sustained winds. "And you need to get your butts moving out of New Orleans right now."

Gustov has passed Cuba, is at category 4, and is forecast to top out at 155 MPH winds tomorrow. Category5 the top of the Safir Simpson scale is >155 MPH winds. This is a Katrina like storm ironically landing near the same place as Katrina.

Increase Predicted in Gustov's Strength

Gustov is now predicted to brush Category 5 status before coming ashore in Louisiana. Keep those prayers coming!

St. Barnard Project Team Update

Thanks for the note and your concern. We have been busily preparing for the worst and hoping for the best. We spent the past two days removing tools from our clients' homes, taking yard debris to the dump, and making sure that materials are away from the windows. In the office we moved everything of value upstairs. We've got a great staff and they were cranking it out for the past two days.

We are about to head north either to Atlanta or closer if we can find a hotel room. We've secured our home, packed up our stuff and sedated the cats.

Please thank everyone for their concern and let then know that we're doing ok. We'll be in touch and let you know when we have nore info.

Take care,

Liz

Letter from The Gathering church plant in Chalmette

Hello friends,

Thanks for your calls, emails, and texts today- I’ve heard from people in multiple states and we are encouraged by this.

I meant to write earlier in the week to share a moment with you all- a pause moment, I guess you could call it. Sunday evening at the Gathering, there were 3 guys visiting. One of them, age 50, had been once before. So matt is teaching out of Matthew and asks us to look at a verse in the book of Malachi. Every time we jumped to a new scripture he leaned over to look at which way I was flipping in my Bible, asking "what page are we on?" "Where’s that book" etc.

I just write to share the "pause" in this story. It wasn't an earth shattering moment, I didn’t break down in tears, but I paused at what God was showing me. I don’t want to take the Holy Scriptures for granted. I want to crave and desire the message and voice that God uses His Word for. And I want to "pause" more often so that I see what God is doing around us, like bringing a rough guy, 50 years old, to look at Jesus healing people in the Gospels. I thank Him and praise Him for slowing me down in that moment.

That guy came and painted with me all day Monday- he doesn’t have a job right now, but the relationship continues. Thanks for "pausing" to read this- I hope your days are stopped periodically so you can hear and see the Holy Spirit at work. Forgive me, God for skipping those moments all too often.

Regarding the impending storm, our team had planned to get away on a retreat this weekend. In fact, Mrs. Johnson came down to watch Everly at our house. So--we have accommodations reserved about 3 hours northwest of Chalmette, a bit past Baton Rouge.
What are we doing? We are praying. We are asking God to dissipate this storm and keep everyone from harm.

We are watching and gathering info- I feel like such a rookie here! I asked several neighbors what they were doing and we are obviously paying attention to the news, etc.

What are we not doing? We, as the Gathering team will not stay to weather the storm. We have not overstocked our cabinets, etc and etc. People were at Home Depot and the grocery buying, well, you can imagine. But rightfully so- we try to put ourselves in their shoes- I have to respect their experience and the grief they have-- is it ironic that tomorrow is the 3 yr anniversary of Katrina?? We are headed to a memorial breakfast in our community and then heading to the retreat facility.

So I hope I’ve answered your questions- Shauna and I put our patio stuff in our garage this afternoon. We’re trying to be wise and good stewards. We are getting together at 8pm central time tonight to discuss as a team and pray. I’ve heard folks in Indy will be joining us, which is 9 eastern. I will try to email any updates tonight or tomorrow.

Thanks, again, for asking and thinking of us. In all things, whether rebuilding homes, hosting Bible studies, or driving in heavy traffic out of here, may God be praised and receive any and all glory from our lives. Amen.

Aaron Johnson
The Gathering
Chalmette, LA
504 610 7779

From Daphne German

We worked with Daphne in Bayou LaBatre last spring and summer. That small town is still recovering from the last several hurricanes and doesn't have room for this one.

"Remember us as the path looks the same and you know had bad we were hit. God bless
Daphne"

Letter from Brendan Hendrix

OK my friends here we are at the 3 year anniversary of Katrina and it looks like she may have a brother heading our way. I am just asking that you all keep us in prayer. the New Orleans area really can't take another hit from a storm like that yet. I am presently located 45 minutes northwest of Mandeville/Slidell area where i would like to think I am in a safe area.

For those of you that know me yes I am making calls to see what kind of help will be set up in case of landfall. You know I cant get away from it! I will be communicating with john mcguire of Servants Unite. In the event we lose power or I get too busy, you can check out his web site for updates.

Thank you all for your help in the past and prayers now!

Brendan

Letter from Joy Fellowship

I'm receiving pre-emptive requests for prayer and assistance if it turns out to be needed today. Also notes on here's what we are doing to prepare for the storm. I'll share them here as they come in.

Servants Unite Team 7 worked with Joy Fellowhip in January 2006. You can find blog entries here.

Joy Fellowship Church
1510 Lindberg Dr. Slidell, LA
985-781-9777

My Dear Friend,

It is hard to believe that it has been three years since Hurricane Katrina made its destructive way through Southeast Louisiana. And through all of the bad things that that storm brought, Leslie and I never cease to thank God for all of the wonderful friends such as yourself that the Lord brought our way as a result of the relief work that God himself anointed our little church to embark upon. We still minister to hundreds every week both here and at our church in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans.

Now we find ourselves in the position of coming to you again to be ready to help. As Hurricane Gustav churns in the Caribbean Sea, the Latest computer models as of this morning (8/28/08) shows this storm with a good probability of making landfall somewhere along the Southeastern Louisiana coastline as a category three at a minimum. Like California has its earthquakes, and Asia has its tsunamis, our Achilles heel is tropical storms. While we are wearing out the knees of our trousers praying that this thing will go somewhere harmless and die, we must also be ready to do what God called us to do; be a responder who carries the hope of God.
I have already been in touch with several international disaster organizations including the Salvation Army who have promised us their full support, but we also need you, the local church. Please begin to pray with us that we will have the finances and physical support to help those who cannot help themselves.

An immediate need that we will be having is that we have already been notified that a mandatory evacuation will be ordered for our area, thus forcing us to cancel our services for Sunday. Our church will have no income to operate for possibly a week or better. Couple that with the additional expense of evacuation that those in our body will incur and you can see that our church will be in a fix financially, right out the chutes. I am writing you now because should this system come close to us, our communications will be knocked out. If that happens, just assume we need help and organize teams. Please pray and seek the Lord for whatever you can do to assist us in this time. We will be thankful for whatever you can offer us.

Blessings be yours,

Pastor Larry Roques
Senior Pastor
Joy Fellowship church
Slidell/New Orleans

Senior Pastor Larry Roques: 985-768-8134
Youth Pastor Joe Badon: 504-287-5731
www.joyfellowshipchurch.com

And now there are two

An area of development yesterday became tropical depression 8 overnight and is now tropical storm Hanna
It is forecast to remain a category 1 hurricane traveling east of Florida and into South Carolina over the next week.

Pray hard and often and remember the scout motto, "be prepared"! It might be a busy few weeks for us.

Trouble Brewing

I've been holding off for a week on an update waiting to see what happens. First it was TS Fay which dumped tons of rain on most of Florida.

There hasn't been a relief effort set up in Florida that I've found needing out of state volunteers so I've been waiting to see what turns up.

I'm sure you are following along as it made the main stream news today, but in case you missed it, this thing is not going where we would hope.

You can track progress with me at the National Hurricane Center site. Gustav is expected by the majority of computer models to hit New Orleans as a major hurricane Monday night; just past the three year anniversary of Katrina on Friday. The gulf is hot and winds are light leading the the expected development after the storm passes Cuba.

Our first job here is prayers for our new friends we've been helping in New Orleans and along the gulf coast. We want to be fervently asking God to block this storm's progress and development and spare the severe suffering Katrina caused happening again. Please post a comment to this post if you've done so to let them know we are.

Our second job is to get prepared. Immediate storm relief will involve collecting the right stuff packed the right way and shipped cooperatively and efficiently into a receiving organization who can distribute it out of the truck. This will require churches and volunteers to act as central collection facilities and a couple people who are good at managing logistics to organize the shipping. Please email me immediately if you can fill this role. If collection is required I will publish inventory requests for food, personal care, baby care, and cleaning kits.

Our parallel task is to start making plans for volunteers to perform immediate relief. Services will be chainsaw, distribution of supplies, counseling, first aid, and flood cleanup. This will require volunteer team leads, vehicles, tools, and potentially camping gear.

Both stuff and people will cost $$$$$ to get where they are going. Please discuss with your church leaders the possibility of a special collection or one time missions gift to Servants Unite to cover these expenses so they will not be required of the volunteers and donors of supplies. Do that this Sunday if not before so we are as prepared as we can be.

Communications contacts for any effort like this will begin with John McGuire (614-404-8610) and Melinda McGuire (614-523-3996). As others end up managing portions of the operation their contact information will be distributed here and on a special web page for the new effort.

Since Katrina three years ago, we've provided 2500 man weeks of labor in Louisiana, Alabama, Ohio, and Iowa. 400 of those were in the first 4 trips to Mandeville. All of you have had an awesome heart to serve.

We may be called in the next few days to rise up again and put our hard earned experience to use making a new effort even more effective and glorifying our Lord even more than we have. Please be in prayer for what your role will be when that time comes.

Servants Unite!

John McGuire