Monday, October 10, 2005
Next Steps - Brad
Dear fellow volunteers, associates, clients, and friends: Please see website for additional info and pics at www.springroadcoc.com/Katrina
Well I am fresh from the field in Louisiana and let me tell you God is at work. There are many relief organizations at work there as we speak providing food, shelter, and other essentials. So far the only group we have come in contact providing any wide scale physical assistance is the Tammany Oaks group we have associated ourselves with. This is essential because there are people without insurance, people fighting insurance companies, and contractors who are charging outrageous sums of money to perform work. Even if money is no object there are not enough contractors to complete any work in a timely fashion.
I want to share with you that the vastness of the devastation is beyond comprehension. Yesterday, we posted an email my daughter sent to her school teacher as to her thoughts on one of the days we were there. Please read it. It catches the essence of what we were trying to do. She was given that assignment from one of her teachers as Westerville South High School.
I have never been more personally touched than to work side by side with my wife and daughter in the work of the Lord. We serve often in various church capacities but never before like this. Each evening at the devotionals teams would share where they saw Jesus on that particular day. He was always evident in many places but I shared on Tuesday night that I saw Him in my wife and daughter as they worked in ways and in conditions that we would never consider doing for ourselves here. We would hire it done. But here we were among mold, dust, fallen trees, water, smells of all kinds and destruction beyond our comprehension working for someone else in a way we would not consider for ourselves. If you want to spend some quality time with your family sign up for one of our trips, I guarantee your family will not return the same.
With this email I am informing you that our team has committed to sending at least 6 more teams to LA. We are also beginning to look at areas in Lake Charles where we have contacts. The area was very hard hit with Rita and the loss of property, business, and homes is substantial. Our current plan is to leave on Saturdays and return on Saturdays for these next 6 trips which should allow for an additional half day of work on Monday. The proposed dates are as follows: Nov 5, Dec 3, Jan 14, Feb 4 and Mar 4. In addition we are looking into a trip over Christmas break leaving on Dec 26th through Jan 1. This trip will have to be coordinated heavily as work may be tougher to find with families potentially being gone for the holiday. If you want to sign up for a trip please email me or call at 614-288-5825
Please understand a few things about what is happening down there:
Things are not getting back to normal – in order to rebuild the infrastructure and business community it is important to “sell” that things are getting back to normal. Well it’s not. The fact that the French Quarter is open only reflects massive amount of moving of junk and displacing it. And besides open for who? Things will not be back to normal for a long time. To put it into a sad perspective I couldn’t even find a drive through for a hamburger at 9:00 at night!!!!!
The work we are doing is only a drop in the bucket – however, it is much more beneficial to us and those who go and work and experience how God is working through this event than it will ever be to the overall impact of the hurricanes. One of the Tammany leaders told the story of the boy who came upon a beach full of washed up starfish. One by one he threw them back in the ocean. A stranger observing him stopped him and said “little boy don’t you realize that you can never save all these starfish, there are far too many to even matter” The boy looked at the stranger bent over picked up a starfish and threw it back it the ocean and said “it mattered to that starfish”. Thanks for that great illustration Brett. And I would venture to say it mattered even more to the little boy. Know that you can contribute and YOU can make the difference in someone’s life.
There is something for almost everyone – there is a wide variety of work to be done in Mandeville from cutting downed trees, to de-mucking houses, cooking, warehouse work, organization and more. There are food boxes to deliver and people who just need to talk. If you can go and not need entertained then there is something for you to do.
To date we have accomplished the following:
Here is what we need you to consider:
Talk to your church family – We have developed a DVD that is designed to be a self contained request and special offering. It contains images from the disaster set to music as appeals are made.
Promote – We are going to need additional volunteers. If you are students talk to your teachers about what it would take to be gone for a week. My daughter was able to do it and my son who goes to a different school was given permission but we decided he was too young (10). We also need promotion for additional funds. Promotion is not limited to central Ohio. I intend to visit some churches in Nashville soon hoping to secure volunteers and funds, send info to your families and friends in other states.
Pray – Pray for the safety of all those involved. Pray that God’s plan in this disaster will be clearly seen and followed, and pray that lives can continue to be changed as a result of the efforts being put forth.
We are in the process of setting up a separate organization to handle the administration of these items but for the time being continue to make donations payable to Spring Road Katrina Fund. They can be sent to 74 S Spring Road, Westerville Ohio 43081. May God bless you as you consider how you can make a difference in this event?
Because He first loved us,
Brad Hayes
Well I am fresh from the field in Louisiana and let me tell you God is at work. There are many relief organizations at work there as we speak providing food, shelter, and other essentials. So far the only group we have come in contact providing any wide scale physical assistance is the Tammany Oaks group we have associated ourselves with. This is essential because there are people without insurance, people fighting insurance companies, and contractors who are charging outrageous sums of money to perform work. Even if money is no object there are not enough contractors to complete any work in a timely fashion.
I want to share with you that the vastness of the devastation is beyond comprehension. Yesterday, we posted an email my daughter sent to her school teacher as to her thoughts on one of the days we were there. Please read it. It catches the essence of what we were trying to do. She was given that assignment from one of her teachers as Westerville South High School.
I have never been more personally touched than to work side by side with my wife and daughter in the work of the Lord. We serve often in various church capacities but never before like this. Each evening at the devotionals teams would share where they saw Jesus on that particular day. He was always evident in many places but I shared on Tuesday night that I saw Him in my wife and daughter as they worked in ways and in conditions that we would never consider doing for ourselves here. We would hire it done. But here we were among mold, dust, fallen trees, water, smells of all kinds and destruction beyond our comprehension working for someone else in a way we would not consider for ourselves. If you want to spend some quality time with your family sign up for one of our trips, I guarantee your family will not return the same.
With this email I am informing you that our team has committed to sending at least 6 more teams to LA. We are also beginning to look at areas in Lake Charles where we have contacts. The area was very hard hit with Rita and the loss of property, business, and homes is substantial. Our current plan is to leave on Saturdays and return on Saturdays for these next 6 trips which should allow for an additional half day of work on Monday. The proposed dates are as follows: Nov 5, Dec 3, Jan 14, Feb 4 and Mar 4. In addition we are looking into a trip over Christmas break leaving on Dec 26th through Jan 1. This trip will have to be coordinated heavily as work may be tougher to find with families potentially being gone for the holiday. If you want to sign up for a trip please email me or call at 614-288-5825
Please understand a few things about what is happening down there:
Things are not getting back to normal – in order to rebuild the infrastructure and business community it is important to “sell” that things are getting back to normal. Well it’s not. The fact that the French Quarter is open only reflects massive amount of moving of junk and displacing it. And besides open for who? Things will not be back to normal for a long time. To put it into a sad perspective I couldn’t even find a drive through for a hamburger at 9:00 at night!!!!!
The work we are doing is only a drop in the bucket – however, it is much more beneficial to us and those who go and work and experience how God is working through this event than it will ever be to the overall impact of the hurricanes. One of the Tammany leaders told the story of the boy who came upon a beach full of washed up starfish. One by one he threw them back in the ocean. A stranger observing him stopped him and said “little boy don’t you realize that you can never save all these starfish, there are far too many to even matter” The boy looked at the stranger bent over picked up a starfish and threw it back it the ocean and said “it mattered to that starfish”. Thanks for that great illustration Brett. And I would venture to say it mattered even more to the little boy. Know that you can contribute and YOU can make the difference in someone’s life.
There is something for almost everyone – there is a wide variety of work to be done in Mandeville from cutting downed trees, to de-mucking houses, cooking, warehouse work, organization and more. There are food boxes to deliver and people who just need to talk. If you can go and not need entertained then there is something for you to do.
To date we have accomplished the following:
- We have sent over 100,000 lbs of goods and supplies
- Sent over 160 workers to help families
- Collected just over $41,000 in monies or specific donations
Here is what we need you to consider:
Talk to your church family – We have developed a DVD that is designed to be a self contained request and special offering. It contains images from the disaster set to music as appeals are made.
Promote – We are going to need additional volunteers. If you are students talk to your teachers about what it would take to be gone for a week. My daughter was able to do it and my son who goes to a different school was given permission but we decided he was too young (10). We also need promotion for additional funds. Promotion is not limited to central Ohio. I intend to visit some churches in Nashville soon hoping to secure volunteers and funds, send info to your families and friends in other states.
Pray – Pray for the safety of all those involved. Pray that God’s plan in this disaster will be clearly seen and followed, and pray that lives can continue to be changed as a result of the efforts being put forth.
We are in the process of setting up a separate organization to handle the administration of these items but for the time being continue to make donations payable to Spring Road Katrina Fund. They can be sent to 74 S Spring Road, Westerville Ohio 43081. May God bless you as you consider how you can make a difference in this event?
Because He first loved us,
Brad Hayes
# posted by John McGuire @ 6:27 PM 
