Mennonite Weekly Review

Mennonite Mutual Aid cosponsored a recently released report by the Institute for Southern Studies detailing the importance of church-sponsored relief efforts after Hurricane Katrina.

Those efforts were especially important because of the troubled government response, according to the report, “Faith in the Gulf: Lessons from the Religious Response to Hurricane Katrina.”

People around the country wanted to help after Katrina, and many gave through church organizations, including to Anabaptist-Mennonite groups.

Mennonite Central Committee, Mennonite Disaster Service, Mennonite Economic Development Associates and Mennonite Mutual Aid were among the organizations that responded.

MCC’s short-term response was woven through churches: providing funding to a Native American congregation in Alabama as its members sheltered hurricane evacuees, and supporting the work of congregations in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama in reaching out to neighbors.

MCC funds assisted Spanish-speaking New Orleans-area churches to reach out to hurricane-affected families, and enabled Spanish-speaking people from other countries to come and work in reconstruction.

Donors provided $2.2 million, allowing MCC to support long-term recovery. Efforts included connecting people to social services and child care in Meridian, Miss., and assisting evacuees in Houston over a three-year period.

Through a partner organization, Churches Supporting Churches, MCC provided funds to help a team of pastors from African-American churches in New Orleans work toward finding affordable housing for returning church members and others in the community.

MCC has also placed a worker in New Orleans to listen and be a liaison person for community organizations and efforts.

“MCC will continue to partner with local churches and organizations to ‘let justice roll down like waters’ in the midst of disaster,” said Rolando Santiago, MCC U.S. executive director, quoting Amos 5:24.