Many Evacuees Seek Aid From Black Churches - Yahoo! News
Many Evacuees Seek Aid From Black Churches - Yahoo! News: "DECATUR, Ga. - A local black church quickly raises an average of $85 from each of its 70 members to feed hungry hurricane evacuees. Across town, a black church pastor takes 10 families into his home. Another black church turns its sanctuary into a warehouse packed with donated clothes, toiletries and hope.
Black churches nationwide have stepped up to provide aid to many of Hurricane Katrina's victims, in response to the overwhelming number of black evacuees who are seeking their help, partly out of frustration with the bureaucracy of government agencies and other charities.
'They're trying to find familiar faces, familiar settings, when everything familiar has been wiped out,' said Bishop Eddie L. Long, senior pastor of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, one of the nation's largest black churches with more than 25,000 members.
Some black church leaders have publicly criticized the response of government agencies and local Red Cross chapters. In Atlanta, church leaders have accused the Red Cross of failing to respond fast enough to the needs of evacuees and of being disconnected with grassroots efforts like those happening at black churches.
'Churches have resources, but they're not getting millions' of dollars, said the Rev. Darryl Winston, president of the Greater America Ministerial Association and pastor of The Church of Greater Works in southwest Atlanta. 'With the Red Cross, the money is coming in, but nothing is coming out.'"
Black churches nationwide have stepped up to provide aid to many of Hurricane Katrina's victims, in response to the overwhelming number of black evacuees who are seeking their help, partly out of frustration with the bureaucracy of government agencies and other charities.
'They're trying to find familiar faces, familiar settings, when everything familiar has been wiped out,' said Bishop Eddie L. Long, senior pastor of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, one of the nation's largest black churches with more than 25,000 members.
Some black church leaders have publicly criticized the response of government agencies and local Red Cross chapters. In Atlanta, church leaders have accused the Red Cross of failing to respond fast enough to the needs of evacuees and of being disconnected with grassroots efforts like those happening at black churches.
'Churches have resources, but they're not getting millions' of dollars, said the Rev. Darryl Winston, president of the Greater America Ministerial Association and pastor of The Church of Greater Works in southwest Atlanta. 'With the Red Cross, the money is coming in, but nothing is coming out.'"
posted by Blackgold at 7:20 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home