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The week after Katrina hit, during my church's regular Wednesday-night prayer service, there was a great deal of discussion about the hurricane victims and concerns about how we, as a church, could help. It was decided that our first plan of action should focus on our members who have family directly affected by the storm. Our business manager, Selmore Haines, designed a comprehensive ministry plan for our church. Our hurricane relief effort involves the activities of 15 different committees, including Logistics, Intercessory Prayer, Counseling, Transportation, Housing Bank, Meals, Entertainment, and Financial Assistance. An emergency meeting was scheduled for the following evening, and the plan was introduced. In the days that followed, our members signed up for the different committees and began donating money, food, clothing and other necessary items. Additionally, we started by purchasing sixty $50 gift cards from Wal-Mart to assist families.

One of our young-married members contacted us shortly after the hurricane. He had family members who had come from New Orleans, expecting to stay in his Dallas apartment for a couple of days and return home. Instead, 40 relatives, ranging in age from his grandmother to 5-month-old twins, quickly realized they had no home to return to and decided to start life anew in Texas. With the grandmother's strong encouragement, the adults immediately began registering for aid, searching for employment, and applying for apartments. Right away, our church was able to assist the families with food, gas, clothing donations, and hygiene items. When our young member, obviously exhausted from the stress and responsibility, came by to pick up some of the donations, I reminded him that God could make good things come out of even this terrible situation. He smiled a little and acknowledged, "Well, for a long time, I've wanted my family to come to Dallas. Now almost all of them are here."

In the days that followed, this family secured aid and apartments, with our church's relief committees helping wherever needed. Other church members were able to travel to Louisiana and other Gulf Coast areas to check on their relatives and bring them back to their homes in the Dallas area. Our church provided Wal-Mart gift cards for gas and emergency needs, furniture, sheets and pillows, and other items that would help.

One of the most moving experiences occurred in our fellowship hall when we were assisting evacuees. We transformed our fellowship hall into a shopping center of sorts. Pants, shirts, shoes, suits, undergarments, socks, ties, coats, sweaters, and many more items were displayed for the families to take what they needed. One little girl, who appeared to be 4 or 5, went back to the clothing area. She looked sad, and obviously displaced. She walked over to a section where there were items for kids. One of the items was a brand-new backpack.

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