Last night I received an e-mail from Fred Franke, an elder at the Carrollton Avenue church. Franke is helping spearhead a relief effort called "Operation Nehemiah: Helping the Exiles." Below is the text of his e-mail to me. Please read it and prepare your heart for what you can do to aid.
Jim--
Thank you for your concern and willingness to helping us. And, thank you for
letting us know that Michelle is safe.
I wanted to write you briefly on what we are planning. We have put together an
action plan that essentially involves 3 Areas of Emphasis and Implementation:
1. Evacuees (housing, food, etc)
2. Establishing Temporary Lives (jobs, schools, etc)
3. Returning to New Orleans (several months from now)
Of immediate concern is our numbers that are evacuating elsewhere. They will
need housing & food for their families. We'll need funds that we can get to
those who have evacuated.
An account is being established to provide for immediate needs of our people.
We'll need help from every corrider of the family of Christ for that effort.
We'd also like all churches to start a data base of evacuees--
Names
Where They Are from
Location & Name of Home Church
Names of Elders & Preachers of their Home Church
Current Place of Residence
Current Land-Phone Number Where They Can Be Reached
their email address
We'll need that information when we start hearing from their home church elders
and preachers. We'll then get that information to them.
Please start contacting all churches in your area of the state so that all the
elders from these churches will be able to contact their flocks. It'll provide
a great connect.
Our immediate concerns right now is to fund our Hurricane Relief Account to
immediately assist our evacuees with necessary living expenses.
I will keep you posted.
--Fred Franke
Operation Nehemiah (helping the exiles)
