ICOC Volunteers with HOPEww and Red Cross Helping Hurricane Ike Evacuees

As the massive Hurricane Ike made landfall at Galveston, Texas. today, it threatened to devastate the city and other towns along the Gulf of Mexico with a wall of seawater 20 feet high. Volunteers in the Gulf Coast Region were ready to respond immediately with Shelter, Mass Care, and Debris Removal Services. By late Friday, more than a million Texans had left their homes for safer places inland, but tens of thousands decided to tough it out, and the authorities feared that those people had put their lives at risk. Officials in Galveston, on a vulnerable barrier island, estimated that 40 percent of the city’s 57,000 residents had ignored an order to evacuate. As many as 100,000 homes could be inundated by the wall of water expected to hit the coast, federal officials warned, and millions of people could be left without electricity.

In San Antonio Todd Paczkowski, HOPE worldwide Program Director in San Antonio stated “The American Red Cross made another call for more volunteers. Volunteers have been working shifts serving food, and signing in evacuees. We are now being asked to help with childcare by bringing games and toys for the children to play with.” Todd went on to say, “As of 10 p.m. last night the American Red Cross was still receiving bus loads of people from the storm affected areas and more are expected today. A fourth shelter will be opening today in San Antonio. Several of us were at Kelly Air Force Base last night serving dinner to the evacuees. It was heart warming to see all of the emergency crews in action. For nearly two hours people stood in line waiting for food. I cannot express in words my gratitude for our volunteer’s hearts to serve.”

In Dallas Bill Hooper has been directing the efforts of volunteers working in Sheltering, Mass Care, and providing housing at the Thousand Oaks Ranch. The church camp owned by the Dallas Fort Worth Church of Christ. In Houston Forecasters said the giant storm — nearly 600 miles wide — would send water surging up Galveston Bay and into the Houston Ship Channel, the nation’s second-busiest port. It was also expected to swamp neighborhoods along the seven bayous that thread through Houston. Matthew Bridges, HOPE worldwide Program Director in Houston, managed the evacuation of the Houston Church right after being involved in leading the effort for Houston volunteers being on site in Baton Rouge after Hurricane Gustav. Matthew said “In Houston we have a heart to serve now we may need others to help us.”

In Louisiana The effects of the storm were being felt as far away as New Orleans, where 60 M.P.H. winds from Hurricane Ike’s outer bands gusted Friday morning. The storm surge forced the closing of floodgates on drainage canals in the city, and people in coastal communities at its suburban edge were ordered to evacuate. The storm’s surge flooded roads and streets around coastal Louisiana on Friday afternoon, with the small communities close to the Gulf of Mexico reporting as much as two feet of water in some places. In low-lying Plaquemines Parish, south of New Orleans, as much as seven feet of water was reported on State Highway 39 by a state official.

Frank Dowd, Executive Director of HOPE worldwide Gulf Coast and his team of 50 volunteers from across the country have served 1,380 volunteer hours since Hurricane Gustav hit Louisiana. They have distributed important recovery information to over 6,000 homes in the communities surrounding ExxonMobil plants and impacted 8,102 family members in those homes. Frank said, “We will continue to accept volunteers from across the country to help us remove debris and cut trees in the coverage areas.” I would like to applaud the “Brave Hearted” leaders and volunteers from across the country who decided to serve. You have amazed the American Red Cross and ExxonMobil and impacted thousands of lives! To make a donation to help HOPE worldwide's Disaster Relief efforts, click here.

Antonio Boyd, VP HOPEww North America

www.hopeww.org