Can you Help Volunteers Fly?

If you have any Frequent Flyer Miles that you might be interested in donating to folks flying down to LA or MS this year to help with Katrina Relief (we have 5 trips slated so far this year - click here for more info), please send an email to beth.shields@gmail.com

Thanks!


graphic courtesy of stock.xchng

Baltimore Sun: "6 months later, area is still reeling from Katrina"

*click here for KatrinaGrace 2006 Trips Information*

The Baltimore Sun ran a story yesterday giving a few details of what's been done and what remains in the Katrina-affected area that's received the most attention - New Orleans:

• "...vast stretches of the city -- 100 square miles or more -- are still abandoned and rotting."
  
  
• " Fewer than 15 percent of 15,000 businesses are open."
  
  
• " But about two-thirds of the city remains uninhabited."
  
  
• "Reconstruction officials have picked up about 33 million cubic yards of debris, but they're only halfway done, and piles of fetid mattresses and moldy drywall still line many streets."
  
  
• "The new hurricane season is fewer than 100 days away, and repairs to the city's levees are 40 percent complete, federal officials said recently."

What's even more sobering is that New Orleans is just one area in a 90,000 square mail zone that was devastated by Hurricane Katrina.

Updated KatrinaZone Team Plans for 2006

updated on Sunday 2 April 2006

Here's where we are on 2006 Trips

If you have a group that would like to volunteer separately from any of these planned trips, please email Stephen at sshields@faithmaps.org.

• KatrinaGrace Team V
  
  
• The Cooking Team
  
• Trinity Church - Covington, LA
• Leave on Sun 16 Apr & Return on Sat 22 Apr
  
• Cooking for 60-80 people Monday thru Friday from 8 AM to 5 PM
• Update: This Team is Now Filled
• Team Consists of:
• Peggy Westland - Team Leader
• Peggy Wortman
• Len Thompson
• Bill Tagalicod
• Lynne King
• Steven Lilly
• Odin Worthman
  
  
• The Biloxi Team (NEW TRIP)
  
  
• Work Team
• Bay Vista Baptist Church - Biloxi, MS
  
• Randy (Gadget) and Nicole Ambuel are the Team Leaders
• Leave Easter Weekend, Return the Following Weekend
  
  
• KatrinaGrace Team VI
  
  
• Trinity Church - Covington, LA
  
• Stephen Shields will lead this team.
  
• Leave Sun 28 May and Return on Saturday 3 June
  
• Trinity has reached out to 4,600 folks who could use some "so how's it going?" followup. This will involve those who are good listeners and an empathetic ear. This would be a good trip for those who are, as Trinity's Volunteer Coordinator says, "mercy-focused."
  
  
• KatrinaGrace Team VII
  
  
• A Work Team
• Trinity Church - Covington, LA
  
• Date Change: Sunday, July 2 - Saturday, July 8th
  
  
• KatrinaGrace Team VIII
  
  
• Work Team
  
• Trinity Church - Covington, LA
  
• Specific dates to be set for one week in November 2006

As always, for all of these trips we are looking for donated frequent flyer miles. If you have any miles that you would like to contribute, please email Beth Shields at beth.shields@gmail.com.

Pictures from Tuesday 7 March 2006

It's hard to believe that after half a year there should still be so much devastation in New Orleans and Mississippi.

Benjy Oliver posts about his tour this week of New Orleans and Katrina Damage and has created an online album where you can see all of his shots.

Forcey Memorial Church

Our partner in the Baltimore-Washington Corridor who has worked with us in the past with our Trinity trips is Forcey Memorial Church in Silver Spring, MD. They have a nice website they've set up supporting their efforts.

Sat 4 March 2006 Presentation to Grace's Men's Breakfast

I had a great opportunity today to speak to Grace Community Church's Men's Ministry about

• Hurricane Katrina,
• some its impact,
  
• how Christians are responding,
• how KatrinaGrace has responded, and
  
• what KatrinaGrace is planning in 2006.

Stephen Shields

Slideshow here.

Residential Construction Project Manager Sought

All - I am asking you to specifically pray and help us seek at least two
individuals that could serve as a construction pm. We really need to be
moving to construction at this time, and will not be able to do so
effectively without a good residential construction project manager.

Please ask your churches and friends for any ideas of names, and
forward them to me to follow up with. We should be able to provide
housing and possibly some form of per diem. this is such a great
ministry opportunity.

Mark Lewis, who coordinates volunteers in Covington, LA for Trinity Church and Compassion Ministries, asks for suggestions for this position.

Compassion Ministries Katrina Page

I've added a link to the Evangelical Free Church of America's Compassion Ministries Katrina Page under "Links and Information" on the right-hand side of this page.

Trinity Church, in Covington, LA, with whom KatrinaGrace has been working since the storms, is an Evangelical Free Church and Compassion coordinates the volunteers from all over the country working through Trinity.