At the Diocesan Convention in October, I mentioned that in the first six months of this year individuals and congregations had sent over $225,000 to Episcopal Relief and Development before the hurricanes hit.  Just to get a sampling of what we have done since the devastation, I urged people to jot down on a piece of paper what contributions they had made since.  These snaps of miscellaneous papers told a story of amazing compassion and generosity.  I assembled the messages into categories, and here they are.

Episcopal Relief and Development

Clearly this was the big category for cash gifts, and obviously several hundreds of thousands have poured in immediately.  Also plenty of gifts to the Red Cross (lots of matching gifts from employers), a chili cook-off for the Salvation Army through an Oakland Baptist Church with ties to New Orleans, the Monterey Jazz Festival “Higher Ground for New Orleans,” Interfaith Hospitality Network, local school campaigns, “Clean-up Bucket” Campaign at CDSP for returnees to New Orleans, Habitat for Humanity, and on and on.

Our Children

Our children became pen pals with children in Mississippi, raised $2,500 in pennies, toys for preschool refugees in Houston, filled a large truck with new and used clothes, held a bake sale by fifth graders, car wash raised $950, shipped 20 Katrina Kid Kits to Baton Rouge, cookie sale raised $800, God Squad of Contra Costa wants to work in Mississippi in August, Peter Pan Preschool raised $700, junior high group collected blankets and quilts for parish in Mississippi and on and on.

Very Close to Home

“I’m going to spend my sabbatical working on the Gulf Coast,” shoes sent via a friend to shelters in Louisiana/Texas, to a church in Mississippi where our parishioners have connections, sent everything from diapers to musical instruments to our sister church in Vicksburg, Mississippi, publicized a list of web addresses for trustworthy online donation sites on church web site, contributed to rebuilding Loyola and Xavier Colleges in New Orleans, sent $3,000 to St. Andrew’s, Mer Rouge, Louisiana, where the Rev. Whit Stodghill (formerly of California) is rector, $2,500 to a displaced New Orleans family whom we know, sent $5,000 to the discretionary funds of two New Orleans rectors who are old friends, our Mom’s group is supporting three families as they rebuild their lives, Tie a Knot and Say a Prayer campaign resulted in a prayer quilt for Christ Church Cathedral, New Orleans, one of our members is a structural engineer who assessed damage to the Super Dome and New Orleans Convention Center, directed my funds to Jenner, Louisiana, two parishioners who are healthcare workers volunteered for the Gulf Coast and took their families, support for the Union of Black Episcopalians and the NAACP Relief Fund, collected house wares, clothing, and bedding for neighborhoods in Houston which are providing temporary housing, I spent nine days with the evacuees at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, household items for Arlington Episcopal Mission (Texas), a team of five of us are going to Pass Christian, Mississippi in November, contributions to Christ Episcopal, Tyler, Texas, which is feeding 250 refugees daily, took in a man from Louisiana who was homeless, sent 300 articles of clothing, providing assistance for a family evacuated, raised $14,000 for St. James’, Greenville, Mississippi, where Rev. Liz Jones (formerly of California) is rector, for relocation and kitchen efforts, in conversation with St. Paul’s, Daphne, Alabama, taking care of two very large extended families who have relocated to Georgia, and on and on.

Big Linkage

A host of our congregations have adopted St. Patrick’s, Long Beach, Mississippi.  The Rector of St. Patrick’s, David Knight, is a dear friend to many people here.  So a couple of our priests went immediately to Long Beach, large amounts of money have been raised, our people are committed for the long haul, and there will be work delegations of youth and adults from several of our congregations.  A schools and tools campaign has begun in order to collect school and tool supplies. And a web site has been established for people wanting to help.

Officially

The Diocese of California has a protocol on Hurricane Relief that offers matching grants and relief effort suggestions.  This is sponsored by our Department of Faith Formation and can be accessed by contacting Julia McCray-Goldsmith at Diocesan House at (415) 869-7826.

I am overwhelmed at how generous and caring and creative are the people of our Diocese.  On top of so many pledges and campaigns there is room for spontaneous outpouring of gifts.  We are living out Jesus’ story of the Good Samaritan.

The Rt. Rev. William E. Swing
Bishop