Take care of our own
I contacted the Board of Directors for The New Orleans Church and received this reply:
Thank you for your offer of help for the New Orleans Church. My name is Aaron Ford, and I am the current president of the New Orleans Church board. Our relief efforts are being coordinated by our former preacher, John Kennedy, who now lives in Northern Virginia. Our church administrator, JoAnn Perdue, is in Baton Rouge, and is now setting up a temporary church office. You can contact John at (xxx)xxx-xxxx. His email address is kennedy22@cox.net. Donations are greatly appreciated, and you can contact our administrator by email at nochurch@bellsouth.net. Her direct line is (yyy)yyy-yyyy, but I’m not sure whether it is working yet.
Love in Christ,
Aaron Ford
At the present time, I would suggest contacting John Kennedy by email because he is probably working the phones pretty hard trying to communicate with others.
In Dallas, members are opening their hearts to help. I know that the Greater Houston Church is in the middle of a huge conference, but I am hopeful they will lend a hand as well. One board member of New Orleans is in Houston at a hotel. I asked the church office to contact him and see if they could help. Here in Omaha, one family has taken in relatives that lived in New Orleans, but there could be more. I have not heard from other board members or other churches, yet, but I realize that may take some time. I also understand that there are many more people trying to help and that is encouraging.
JUST IN:
My name is Debbie Linzenmeyer. I grew up and was baptized in the New Orleans Church of Christ.
My mother is in Dallas trying to organize housing and food and money for the MANY families in the New Orleans Church that are not only now homeless but also have no money to support themselves. They are now refugees and are depending upon hearts of disciples like my mother to take them in for the next several months. They cannot return to the city and they cannot return to their jobs. For many of them, it will be several months before they even see insurance money…for others who dont have insurance…the support of other disciples may be all that they have. Many of the christians from New Orleans are depending upon disciples they have relationships with in Texas. These are not only my brothers and sisters, but people who I grew up with and love…FAMILY.
THE NEED IS GREAT for FOOD, MONEY, HOUSING, and CLOTHES. We are currently g! etting the Dallas Leadership involved, as well as HOPE in Dallas, to send relief to the many people that escaped the hurricane but are now homeless and without income for several months. Many of the christians in Dallas will be opening up their homes.
If you desire to help your brothers and sisters, please contact me at deborah.linz@gmail.com
The main NEEDS from disciples like you is prayers, financial support, and clothing. If you have NICE, clean clothing you would like to donate…please ship it to the following address:
Attn: New Orleans Relief Donations
1933 Robin Meadow Dr
Carrollton, Tx 75007If you want to make a financial donation, we are currently working with HOPE to get information as to who you can cut a check out to. We will be collecting at least for the next month so PLEASE EMAIL ME if you are interested, the brothers and sisters are desperate for your lov! e and support.
Please also pray that we can locate all of the disciples to make sure they are safe and cared for. Responding on this post is great, but I appreciate emails.
Thank you so much!
Debbie Linzenmeyer
Helping Our Closest Kin
The Churches of Christ relief effort in Nashville, TN says that they have plenty of supplies, but need manpower. If you live anywhere near Nashville,they need volunteers in their warehouse M-F 8 to 4. They loaded two tractor trailers of supplies yesterday (Thursday) and headed down.
Rapha International and Impact Houston and the LSU-Shreveport Foundation are providing relief locally. I would take a wild guess that until some order is restored in New Orleans, they will probably need money more than anything else.
I am also certain that any Church of Christ in Baton Rouge would be able to help locally. It has also been suggested to friends that the Carrollton Ave Church of Christ may be able to help, if they can be rebuilt, themselves.
Helping Others
The best organized relief efforts are probably through Catholic Charities and the Red Cross. They are larger organizations that have the most resources at this point.
Any one of us can help now and in the future. I hope to help in some way when the city is being rebuilt, but I do not what I will be able to do. Please continue to pray, pray especially for the restoration of order so that the rebuilding can start.
As I find out more, I’ll be sure to let you know.