> Steve,
> 
> How did you guys fare in Katrina's wake?
> If you look at AIM's web site, you can see that we're mobilizing help.
> 
> Let me know if you see any ways that we can respond.
> 
> seth

Steve writes:

Thanks so much. For us personally, damage to personal property was minimal, and everyone -- friends and family -- are all right. Stunning, though, the impact on the entire region.

Carole, Becky (Drew's girlfriend), Drew and I spent the day serving through the local Red Cross and needs are so widespread, volunteers are almost overwhelmed.

Churches have been wonderful, and local communities have exceeded expectations, but the needs are all-consuming.

Drew and I drove a couple of folks from a suburb community center evacuation site to the downtown bus station only to find the bus station closed due to loss of power. We ultimately found distant relatives for each of them to stay with in the downtown area. Not home, but close enough to cause both to collapse from the sheer sense of emotional, mental exhaustion. Breaks your heart.

They had both been in the Superdome (yes, many have gotten out by other means), and their stories were gut-wrenching -- murder, rape, thievery, exploitation and hording of food and medical supplies. It has been awful.

What is there to do?  We try to consider what we do when a family is burned out of their homes but lives to talk about it. There are over a million and a half people in the region that face that possibility. People are offering homes and jobs -- folks who've likely never had 'surprise' guests are turning over spare bed rooms to strangers, feeding them, clothing them, providing transportation. 

And, yet, beyond the obvious -- shelter, food and water, medical care, and some means of providing for themselves, the dear people we have spent the week with have these needs and more. They need the chance to call relatives and simply tell someone they are okay -- literally dozens of people used our cell phones, for the very first time having the chance to tell family they had survived and were in the Baton Rouge area. No one knew. The region was terribly ill-prepared for this.

Also, all need pastoral care and the chance to tell their own stories.  You know this firsthand, dozens of times over, from having witnessed the same phenomena over the years. Victims need prayer, a loving hand, a touch, someone to listen to them for an hour or more -- they just need love. Seth, we didn't want to leave them. We didn't want to leave. 

Babies separated from parents. Couples separated from each other. Family members saved but relocated to multiple shelter sites, many times in separate cities, and often with no means of communication. It's awful. Moms who struggled to save young kids only to have them slip away from rooftops (the media is being kind not to show footage that we now know they have on hand). You almost can't bear to listen, but they need to talk it all through.

Trouble is, you know how difficult it is for many volunteers to do that. They lend help sorting donated clothing -- and there are tons of donations, serving meals, icing down bottles and bottles of water, unloading trucks and so on, but hundreds of evacuees lay just beyond the supply areas of community centers, church gyms, warehouses and civic centers. They are in dire need of the personal. Not one person turned down the chance to pray -- many quoting Scripture and sharing their regrets for the actions of fellow citizens. They cried, and cried, and cried. Some said for the first time. Unbelievable.

This work will probably go on for a long, long time. Fortunately for us, the area Red Cross coordinator for two neighboring parishes (counties) is a member of our church. I say fortunately because he is able to focus our efforts where the needs are the greatest, and is able to do so daily.

Evacuees will be scattered across Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama (maybe more states, who knows). They are vocal, many wondering if they'll be able to go back. Others asking why they should -- lost spouses, kids, businesses, homes and cars. Brother, according to the survivors, when the flood waters recede, thousands and thousands of bodies will surface.

Again, it will be awful.

This is going to take months of hard work, love and service. No amount of help would go unappreciated. You'd be so proud of the students whose mission trip experience and volunteer spirit allows them a "take care of the needs, and work 'til you drop, I don't care if I'm tired and missed lunch" attitude.

Thanks so much for your prayers, your heart, your training and the clarity of your focus. More than a few local folks are serving with AIM hearts, let me tell you.

Maybe, at some point down the road, God will have provided a troubled region with a greater sense of His desires for us, more than a few newly-integrated churches, and the determination to build our communities differently. We pray.