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Emergency Response: We’re In It for the Long Haul
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When it comes to emergency response, at Episcopal Relief & Development we take the long view. When disaster strikes we not only provide the supplies, expertise and volunteers to help communities cope, but we also help develop strategies to prepare for future disasters and promote recovery and development. That’s why we’re still hard at work in places like the Gulf Coast some three and a half years after Katrina hit.
We’re taking the same long-term approach in communities along the Mississippi that are still struggling to recover from last summer’s floods. When high waters overwhelmed low lying communities, we quickly responded to requests from local parishes for emergency supplies. We also provided support for those displaced by the flood to rent housing. Though we can’t keep back the rising tide, Episcopal Relief & Development can help ensure that a family in need has a roof over its head.
That’s what we’re doing for the Wood1 family after the floods in Iowa. When the levee downriver from the Wood’s home was breeched, the Rev. Patrick Genereux and others from Christ Church in Burlington, Iowa helped them evacuate. The Woods are struggling to raise their young granddaughters, and they were overwhelmed by the prospect of leaving their home. They managed to salvage some clothes and food from the house, but the building itself was so badly hit that the Wood’s weren’t allowed back in to survey the damage until months later.
Father Genereux reports that thanks to the efforts of their local parish, caring neighbors and Episcopal Relief & Development, the Woods and so many others in the area are doing well. They are bolstered not just by our support and by the help we’re offering to those now rebuilding their homes, but also by the knowledge that we are all part of something bigger than ourselves — the loving and connected community of Christ.
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