• Thank You to All Saints'
• All Saints' Vestry Challenge
• All Saints' Mission Notes
• Pastoral Letter From Bishop Gray
• Link: Katrina Reflections -  "Lost City" by Tommy McGlothlin
• Link: Katrina Reflections -  "In the Center" by R. Steven Cooper

Reflection 3/1/06

Katrina – Camp Coast Care - Lots of Changes
Down Came the Tents…

The biggest change we noticed as we arrived on Sunday was the completely empty distribution tents – the last day they were open was Friday the 17^th.  On the Monday of the week we arrived crews came in and struck first the clothing and next the food distribution tent. On Friday of that week the free clinic closed for a week so that it could be moved to a new location – joining forces with a free clinic that was in existence before Katrina.  So what’s left at Camp Coast Care? Plenty.

   The Camp is now focused on recovery rather than relief. Numerous crews to deconstruct and help reconstruct damaged homes go out daily and those folks are still housed and fed in the Coast Episcopal School Gym.  The replacement for “general distribution” of goods is personalized One-to-One care where a client is interviewed to discern the best way he or she or their family may be helped and an action plan is put into place.  If the Camp does not possess the means to help - the persons are referred to some place where they may get the help they need. The intention is to help folks regain day to day control of their lives in the face of the reality of towns that will take literally years to return to functionality.

   The Coast is not out of the woods. Above the tracks, life looks more normal. Roofs are increasingly less “FEMA Blue” and more and more businesses are scarred but reopening. South of the tracks about half of the debris still remains in place and all those homes and businesses ARE STILL AS THEY WERE August 30^th – decimated. 

Our help is still required - - - How?

Check these Websites for More Info on How YOU Can Help…

o        http://www.CampCoastCare.com

o        http://www.GodsKatrinaKitchen.org

o        http://www.ClotheThePeople.com

o        http://www.Dioms.org

A Thank You Love Letter to All Saints'

Dear Ones all, Church Family, and Friends,
You are such generous and loving Children of God !!!

You give and give and give some more !!! I have been overwhelmed by your stepping up and answering our calls for HELP at Camp Coast Care! You have given all the Money you had available, and then you gave again and again when you could give more! Thank you! You have taken a very long day to cook extra good treats, cakes, cookies, and energy breads for exhausted Helpers when you had just baked for our ECW Food Fair! Thank You!!! You took another long, very long day to go through your closets looking for coats, jackets, warm clothes, washing them, packing them into ages and kinds, and bringing them into the church!! THANK You again !!! You took another long—very long day to drive down to the coast to deliver much needed food, warm clothes, and new gifts so families would get what they need when they need it! Thank You yet again!! You helped in the Pre School and hugged one child after another (who had watched his house destroyed) so he would know he was loved and safe. You worked on the docks unloading box after box in heat or cold and no one knew how your back, knees or feet ached. You helped in the “store” finding a shovel, gloves, can goods, or detergent for weary folks with haggard faces when you had mounting jobs back home waiting for you. You found just the right toy and put it where little hands could reach it, next minute you were finding an extra-extra large sweater for a hard to fit man or a tiny size 0 pants for a very thin sick girl. You helped in the medical tent stitching up gashed legs, gave shots, calmed terrified victims, or just fixed hundreds of blisters that might get infected from walking on filthy ground or showering in bad water. You have given up your hard earned and much needed vacations to go down and sleep on a cot with twenty to one hundred and sixty of the most loving, yet snoring “strangers” (brothers and sisters in Christ) only to rise yet another day to don the work boots, gloves, masks, and Heart of Christ to go out to nasty, horrible wrecks of “homes” and HELP a stranger in unbelievable need ! And most important, you brought your joyous sense of humor, “laughed to keep from crying”, wept with those who needed it, but always brought Hope with anything you did. THANK YOU MORE THANK YOU CAN EVER KNOW!!

In this work you may be very sure that YOU ARE NEEDED AND APPRECIATED FOR YOU ARE THE LIVING MIND, EXHAUSTED /SORE AND ACHING BODY, TIRED AND TEARFUL EYES, AMAZING CALLOUSED HANDS, YET VERY DETERMINED AND LOVING HEART OF JESUS CHRIST --- AND YOU WILL CONTINUE TO BE AS LONG AS THERE IS A NEED ! AND THERE CONTINUES TO BE GREAT NEED ! THERE ARE STILL THESE AND SO MANY OTHER VITAL WAYS YOU HAVE HELPED! I AM SO PROUD TO CALL YOU MY CHURCH FAMILY!!! THANK YOU, THANK YOU, AND THANK YOU YET AGAIN.

Yours in Christ, Love, Jean Cooper
 

All Saints' Outreach

VESTRY ANSWERS KATRINA’S CHALLENGE TO THE DIOCESE

Hallmark Greeting Card Company has, for years, promoted the gift that keeps on giving---well, enter Hurricane Katrina!

As you know, six Episcopal churches located on the Gulf Coast were destroyed. This devastating event has produced many consequences, not the least of which is the elimination, at least in the near term, of the ability of those parishes to make a pledge to the Diocese. It presently appears that this translates into an eighteen percent reduction in the income of the Diocese.

Bishop Gray has called upon all Mississippi Episcopalians to assist in the effort to overcome the ever-unfolding losses caused by Katrina. Many parishes, including All Saints, have answered that call in a number of ways. As an on-going response, the Vestry, at its meeting on October 17, voted (albeit not unanimously) to increase our annual pledge to the Diocese from twelve percent to fifteen percent. This will not affect the amount for community outreach and should not affect any program. From my point of view this does not reflect anything other than a recognition that we must be mindful of our needs as well as those of others. In the end, we recognize that caring for ourselves and others requires sacrifice and selflessness.

This is not a new direction for All Saints. A number of years ago the Vestry committed to work toward a goal of giving away fifty percent of our money. In fact, the pledge to the Diocese once exceeded twenty percent.

So, what does this mean for All Saints right now? It means that each and everyone of us can respond by increasing our pledge or by paying an old and unpaid pledge. Of course, there are many ways in which one might help, but at this point in time one of the most significant of those ways is through the giving of money.

We Episcopalians have traditionally felt that too much talk of money is, quite simply, bad form. In most cases, I agree. However, our parish mission statement calls us “to do God’s work in the world…”. That includes serving our Diocesan family as well---even if it means using the dreaded “m” word.

With all of this in mind, I urge you to answer this call. It is the call of our Bishop, it is the call of humanity, it is the call of the Gospel---we need but answer.

Peace,
David Sparks, Senior Warden

10-19-05 Personal Observations:

 

I went to the coast Wednesday 10-12 to Monday 10-17 only to discover that much had changed and then again - not much had changed. Tree debris piles have been replaced by drywall and furniture and appliance debris piles. The beachfront coast still appears savaged. The folks whose homes have been ravaged by water and wind still roll up to the "Camp Coast Care" relief center in Coast Episcopal School's back yard at the rate of 1000 to 1600 per day. While the folks at the diocese and on site are are working tirelessly, occasional tight moments in the supply of goods or volunteers made some of the time there quite tense. Would the crew that was supposed to show be able to make it? 3 crews did one did not. The one crew that didn't left us with only 12 folks to staff a 35 person center.  No hard feelings that they could not get down - everyone is doing their best. In spite of being short of staff we opened and served nearly 1100 people. "Served"  means we gave them food, clothing, personal care, cleaning supplies and as much compassion as we could muster.

 

Make no mistake the work is hard - the work is rewarding.

Most of all the work is needed.  Please find, beg, borrow or steal some time to get down to the coast to volunteer - YOU are needed.

 

If you can't volunteer - please contribute some supplies or a gift or debit card from national chain stores so that the supplies so desperately needed will be on the shelf when those 1000 people who are our Mississippi neighbors pull up in front of "Camp Coast Care". Please don't make them wonder if their needs will be covered. Your neighbors need you. This IS what Christ wanted when he urged us to love our neighbors.

 

We need to begin LONG TERM PLANNING to cover the future needs of our neighbors. If you have seen what I have seen then you know that your life is truly forever different. If you have not seen the need - Now is the time.

Apathy is not an option - too many of our neighbors will suffer without our help.  ---Steve Cooper---

 

 

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Update 9-20-05: Mission  to the Coast

On Thursday, September 15 a team of men and women volunteers from All Saints’ left Tupelo loaded with tools, cleaning supplies, etc. and headed to Long Beach, Mississippi. Within minutes of arriving part of the team was sent to remove a tree from an elderly woman’s roof. The remaining members worked in the distribution of clothing and relief goods. The next day another roof was repaired and covered with tarps.

Saturday numerous members worked keeping the distribution store supplied – a full time job given the volume of those seeking help. Literally hundreds of people were served by the relief center Saturday. Also, an average of 300 people are being served daily by the free medical clinic associated with the Coast School Center. There is still much work that needs to be done on the Gulf Coast. Please check the Diocesan Website (www.dioms.org/supplies.htm) for items you can donate which are still needed.