Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) has entered into a covenant agreement with the Synod of the Sun and its 11 presbyteries for coordinated disaster response.
Following hurricane Ida’s South Louisiana landfall late last month, the New Orleans Young Adult Volunteer (YAV) site turned a learning relationship with the Pointe-au-Chien Indian Tribe in Terrebonne Parish into a service opportunity.
On Tuesday, Richard Williams, Interim General Presbyter of the Presbytery of South Louisiana, was assessing damage from Hurricane Ida and delivering supplies when he came upon the Pointe-au-Chien Tribe southwest of New Orleans.
As they are wont to do, Presbyterian Disaster Assistance has sought out the voices of Louisiana residents impacted by Hurricane Ida. The result was Thursday’s half-hour Facebook Live panel discussion hosted by Darla Carter, communications associate for the Presbyterian Mission Agency, and featuring the Rev. Jim Kirk, PDA’s Associate for National Disaster; Richard Williams, interim general presbyter for the Presbytery of South Louisiana; the Rev. Barry Chance, pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Hammond, Louisiana, and Chip Chiphe, a ruling elder at First Presbyterian Church of Scotlandville in Baton Rouge.
Monday’s remarkable edition of “Between Two Pulpits,” the weekly webinar put on by Special Offerings’ Bryce Wiebe and Lauren Rogers, paired the Rev. Jim Kirk, Presbyterian Disaster Assistance’s Associate for National Response, and the Rev. Jennifer Burns Lewis, visioning and connecting leader for the Presbytery of Wabash Valley in Northern Indiana.
With a busy Atlantic hurricane season predicted and tragedies already being reported in the South, Presbyterian Disaster Assistance is encouraging churches to make disaster preparedness plans.
The 36-page Annual Report of the Presbyterian Mission Agency has been published online and can be seen here. The theme for this year’s report is “A year unlike all others … and we responded.”
Hurricane Delta clobbered southwest Louisiana on Oct. 9, making landfall just 13 miles east of where Hurricane Laura came ashore as a strong Category 4 storm just six weeks earlier. And, between these two direct hits, Hurricane Sally, a Category 2 storm with 105 mile-per-hour winds, dumped double-digit rainfall totals from Gulf Shores, Alabama, to Pensacola, Florida. Small, slow-moving Tropical Storm Beta caused severe flooding along the Texas and Louisiana coastlines.
Shortly after Hurricane Katrina dealt a historic blow to New Orleans, Hurricane Rita churned up to Category 5 in the Gulf of Mexico and threatened to deliver a second punch to the Crescent City.
