GOOD NEIGHBORS

As of Sept. 2, it was thought that the largest of all responses would be the hosting of 25,000 evacuees at the Astrodome in Houston. But those 25,000 Astrodome evacuees will only be a fraction of the total amount of people and needs that were flooding into Texas in the aftermath.

Thursday, hundreds of representatives from churches, synagogues and mosques gathered at Second Baptist Church of Houston under the leadership of the church’s pastor, former Southern Baptist Convention President Ed Young, to prepare for the mass arrival Katrina refugees.

At estimated 18,000 volunteers were scheduled to be trained at Second Baptist Church Sept. 3-5 — training required to work in “Operation Compassion: Astrodome Relief” during the upcoming months. Included will be 1,000-2,000 volunteers from Second Baptist Church whom the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention has been asked to train.

“We had representatives from all (Christian) denominations, both Protestant and Catholic, and Islam, Jewish synagogues, Muslim community, Baha’i, Buddhists, Hindu,” said Lisa Milne of the nearly 1,000 attendees to the meeting at Second Baptist Church on Sept. 1.

Sagemont, First Baptist, Houston, and numerous other churches will be contributing significantly to feeding those housed at the Astrodome, organizers said.

Since the disaster did not hit Texas, there was no immediate federal, state or city funding for the work that will go on at the Astrodome. “That can certainly change over time, but we don’t have time to wait,” Milne said.

The Astrodome relief effort will be coordinated with United Way of Houston and Southern Baptist Disaster Relief, counted as the third largest disaster relief organization in the country.

“One thing that we are really big on in disasters is that 100 percent of your donations go to the people, so that’s why we’re using our Southern Baptist agencies.”

Jack Little, a layperson at Second Baptist Church and a former executive in the city, is chairing the effort at the church. Feeding of the evacuees was to begin Sept. 7 with an estimated cost of $4.5 million for three meals a day for a month, staffed by 240 volunteers a day. Milne said the groups represented would work together to make sure the people are fed, and Second Baptist has committed to handle the first week of operation.

John Mark Benson, a music pastor at Sagemont Church, is the staff liaison for his church’s Disaster Relief Team, with church member Warren Gafford leading it. Benson estimates that several hundred from Sagemont will be trained to work at the Astrodome.

Additionally, “we are placing people in motel units, gathering information to put families in housing units available and ministering to them wherever they are. They need food and housing, and we want to do more than that.” At Sagemont’s Wednesday service Aug. 31, church members gave $38,000 for the relief.

Benson said Sagemont would also minister to the seminary students from New Orleans Baptist Seminary.