We grieve with those who have lost loved ones, homes, and livelihoods from the devastation that Katrina left along the Gulf Coast. Many students have had their educations disrupted. InterVarsity staff in the area evacuated safely but have lost much. InterVarsity has established a special account, the Gulf Coast Fund, to aid InterVarsity staff and student work in this area. You may contribute by going to https://www.intervarsity.org/donate/ and clicking on “Student work in the Gulf Coast.”
As colleges and universities in hurricane-ravaged New Orleans and the Gulf Coast begin to rebuild their campuses, InterVarsity’s Gulf Coast staff are beginning to reconstruct their ministries. Staff are tracking down chapter members who no longer have a campus and are helping them make connections in new places. Many students on other campuses come from homes along the Gulf Coast and their lives have likewise been disrupted.
Myron Crockett was InterVarsity’s staff in New Orleans, working on the campuses of Tulane and the University of New Orleans. He evacuated to Houston, but within days after Katrina he was back in the area, working with refugees in a New Iberia church pastored by the father of one of his chapter members. Myron and his wife, Alyssa, are temporarily residing in Baton Rouge while they reconnect with their students.
Chris Klingenfus, Deep South area director, was in the middle of the annual New Student Outreach at the University of Southern Mississippi when the hurricane struck and disrupted everything. “Follow up is definitely a challenge in this environment,” he said. Cell phone numbers in 228 and 504 [area codes], which account for one-fourth of the people we generally meet, are difficult to reach, since circuits tend to be busy for long periods of time. Those are the people we need to reach the most because those are the area code designations for the coast and New Orleans.”
Chris said that many of the students he met are now homeless. “One student from Slidell, Louisiana, said he and his dad went to his home in a truck to recover what they could from their house. They returned with a box that he could carry in his arms. [Many] students don’t even have clothes.” Chris is trying to compile a list of students and their clothing sizes in an attempt to connect them with what they need.
“People for the most part seem determined and resilient,” Chris said. “Most are just happy to be alive, and are grateful to God that he spared their lives and their families.” But he’s concerned that many may need to deal with emotional issues in the months ahead. He’s organizing prayer meetings in as many dorms as possible to pray for the victims of Katrina.
Across the country, chapters have responded with prayer and compassionate caregiving. Campus staff in Texas have found opportunities to minister with New Orleans Refugees. InterVarsity students at UNC-Chapel Hill, joined with other student groups in a campaign to raise $50,000 for hurricane relief efforts.
InterVarsity students at chapters in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Indiana have collected relief supplies that were delivered by Jon Stone, a team leader in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Through his other job with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, Jon requisitioned a military surplus truck, which he drove to Louisiana to help with the disaster recovery operations. Jon’s experiences are recounted in an urbana.org weblog entitled, Of Christ and Katrina.
Through this hurricane disaster, InterVarsity has been able to make a unique contribution to disaster recovery efforts in the U.S. by donating 5,000 cots to the Salvation Army and the Red Cross. For years these cots were stored on the University of Illinois campus for use during the triennial Urbana Student Mission Convention. Since the Urbana conference is moving to St. Louis for 2006, the cots will no longer be needed by InterVarsity.
Mission Network News coverage
Previous stories related to Katrina:
Gulf Coast Fund Established
Recovering from Katrina
What Katrina Can Teach Us by pastor, author and teacher Max Lucado
