Christian groups meet physical, spiritual needs of Ike victims

|PIC1|Major Christian relief organisations deployed response groups - armed with meals, water, ice and prayers - Saturday morning to the storm-affected areas of Southwest Texas in the wake of Hurricane Ike.

The hurricane roared ashore Galveston early Saturday morning just shy of a Category 3 with winds reaching as high as 110 mph.

As of late Saturday, officials confirmed two deaths, one in Texas and the other in Louisiana , as a result of Hurricane Ike. Around 4.5 million are without power in Texas.

Galveston's City Manager Steve LeBlanc said around 40 per cent of Galveston's 57,400 people decided to stay and ride out the storm.

The Salvation Army deployed five mobile disaster response units as part of three Texas National Guard "Strike Teams" Saturday to Galveston, Lufkin and Beaumont. The Salvation Army said it would provide hot meals, hydration and emotional and spiritual care to relief responders and others affected by the storm.

Two Salvation Army canteens are already moving toward Galveston and another will go to Lufkin. The organisation said it will also send out three 48-foot mobile kitchens to the most hard-hit areas and has a fleet of 60 canteens on active duty for the storm.

Meanwhile, a caravan of teams from The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) and Samaritan's Purse deployed from Charlotte, North Carolina, Saturday morning.

Chaplains from the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team (RRT) will respond to the spiritual and emotional care of those affected by the storm while volunteers from sister organisation Samaritan's Purse will take emergency supplies and focus more on the physical needs of the people.

"We recognise that although the sun has come up, it will be a long time before those folks see daylight," RTT director Jack Munday said at a press conference held at BGEA headquarters Saturday, just minutes before the teams were scheduled to leave.

Ken Barun, senior vice president at BGEA, told reporters that the disaster relief is also a vehicle for sharing the love of Christ.

"This is obviously a very devastating storm so we are trying to send as many people as we can there to share the love of Jesus Christ. Evangelism is part of everything we do and certainly, this is a vehicle for evangelism. By counselling people, we'll hopefully lead them to the Lord Jesus Christ."

Kirk Nowery, the chief operating officer of Samaritan's Purse, said at the press conference that the SP team would dig people out, take trees down, put plastic on roofs, deliver water purification systems and generators, and provide help and relief in a very difficult time.

Like many other Christian aid groups, both organisations still have workers responding to areas in Louisiana that were hit by Hurricane Gustav on Labor Day.

Convoy of Hope, the Mississippi-based disaster relief arm of the Assemblies of God USA, had staged trucks in San Antonio earlier and have prepared stocks of ice, water, and ready-to-eat meals.

On Saturday, Convoy of Hope President Hal Donaldson sent out a plea for donations, something many Christian relief groups have also urgently requested.

"This relief and recovery effort will take many weeks. This is a time for Americans to come together, to reach out to people who have lost everything they own," he said.

"Every dollar is critical. Millions of pounds of supplies are needed to help people get through this disaster."

As Christian aid groups assess their game plan for food distribution and relief efforts, Christian humanitarian group World Vision has taken up the task of caring for evacuees.

World Vision has delivered Hasbro toys and games to families at the Dallas Convention Center and mobilised volunteers in Dallas on Friday and Saturday to assemble hygiene kits that will be shipped to its partner groups further south of Texas.

President Bush has declared Texas and Louisiana disaster areas.