Mennonite Weekly Review

AKRON, Pa. — Mennonite Disaster Service began releasing funds to Anabaptist churches housing Hurricane Ike evacuees Sept. 16 while waiting to be able to begin cleanup.

“Things need to settle down before people are allowed back in to help with the recovery efforts,” said Jerry Klassen, MDS disaster response coordinator.

About 2 million people were still without electricity Sept. 16. Food was rotting, ice was scarce, gasoline was hard to find, and people were without housing.

MDS is releasing funds to Anabaptist churches in the affected areas that are willing to care for and house evacuees. MDS donated $3,500 to Western District Conference of Mennonite Church USA to provide food, water and shelter for evacuees in Dallas.

MDS provided an 80-kilowatt generator for New Beginnings Church just outside of Houston to provide emergency power for evacuees. People were without air conditioning, fans and ice.

Physical help will be delayed until the infrastructures of cities and towns are up and running. However, MDS is asking for donations to help churches with lodging and long-term rebuilding.

“In some ways, Hurricane Ike may be worse than Katrina,” Klassen said. Ike affected a larger area than Katrina, including requiring Houston to be evacuated.

Klassen and his wife, Doreen, endured the storm from their hotel room in Jasper, Texas. The winds were powerful enough to blow off the roof of a medical clinic across the street. They stayed close to the storm to be better positioned to assess the damage and begin coordinating relief efforts.

“The beauty of the path of destruction is that along that same path lie opportunities to see God at work,” Klassen said.

MDS has called upon its early response teams from Arkansas and Missouri. They are equipped with chain saws for cleaning debris, tarping for roofs and other tools for early response. They will be housed in Newton, Texas.

“Responding to Hurricane Ike and Gustav will add to the workload of our ongoing work of Katrina and Rita, but with God’s help and the generosity of our donors and volunteers, all things are possible,” said Kevin King, MDS executive director.