Chicagoland Churches of Christ Bulletin Board for Katrina Relief Efforts:

• 10/20: This week we have cleaning supplies from the Sheldon Heights church and food from the Chicago Food Depository. Brother Leo Gilbert and Brother Willie Carter coordinated the load. The truck will be leaving on Friday for Lafayette, LA. Brother Greg Warren will be coordinating the distribution of the supplies and food in Louisiana. Next week we hope to send office furniture and equipment from Phil Hanson of C. H. Hanson Company who contacted us via Rich Little of the Naperville church.
• 10/6: The truck is to be loaded on Friday afternoon for delivery to brother Warren in Hammond, LA. It was so amazing that after we had made plans to send the truck to Hammond, Mike Reeves from the South Baton Rouge church called to ask if we could consider sending a truck to Hammond to brother Warren's congregation. God's network system just can't be beat!
• 10/3: The Monroe St., Sheldon Heights, and  West Chicago, churches are working together to get another truck on the road. Our tentative destination is Hammond, LA. We are trying to get our truck with a full load (40,000 lbs). If other churches want to help, we need full pallets (2000 - 3000 lbs) tightly shrink-wrapped. We need 18-20 pallets for a load. If others want to help, we can convert cash to load materials. If you collect items, please collect them in pallet-size lots as noted above. We may be able to pick up some pallets. Call to see about that. (630.774.8555 - Justin Avey). We hope to get on the road by Thursday of this week. We'll try to do a load per week, more if possible. (Late update: Brother Gilbert expects us to have a load ready on Friday morning.)
• 9/26: Exploratory survey trip planned by brothers from the Sheldon Heights congregation.
• 9/18: North Park church in Rockford took a truck of food to help with the Whites Ferry Road efforts.
• 9/18: Two trucks, about 30,000 pounds of food went to Hammond, LaPlace, and New Orleans from the West Chicago church.
• 9/16: Trucks from the North Park congregation and from West Chicago are scheduled to leave for Baton Rouge. Van from Park Forest is taking materials, money and workers to spend a week in Louisiana, working with the Tammany Oaks church in Mandeville. Whites Ferry Road is working out of this church, CCDRE is working out of South Baton Rouge.
• 9/16: Van with non-perishables, some teens to go with Bobby Lawson for a week to do specific family support in LaPlace area
• 9/11: Need to fill our trailer with fresh fruits and vegetables to take in to the NO warehouse via South Baton Rouge congregation. If you have good resources for a semi load of fruits and vegetables, please let us know. Chuck Miller
• 9/11: Sheldon Heights Church of Christ collected personal items and loaded 2 semi trailers which were sent on Monday to churches in Mississippi and Louisiana. One truckload went to Moss Point, MS to share with churches in Moss Point and Brookhaven. Another truck went to Hammond and Lafayette, LA churches. Sheldon Heights raised $25,000 in cash to send and in partnership with other Chicago churches sent $55,000! Praise God! On September 26th, a group of brothers from Sheldon Heights are flying to Mobile, driving to New Orleans, and flying back to Chicago on the 29th. Their purpose is to survey needs in the area for future action. We are excited about the vision and effort of Sheldon Heights and sister congregations from Chicago.
• 9/7: Cash donation to the South Baton Rouge church - West Chicago church
• 9/7: Obtained use of refrigerated semi trailer for hauling food through Mike Henkel
• 9/1: Two trucks to Tylertown, MS. Approx. 12,000-14,000 pounds in supplies (water, non-perishable food items, medicines, chain saws/blades, fuel, etc.) - West Chicago Church of Christ/Justin Avey
• Ottawa church - donations have been sent to CCDRE in Nashville; families have relatives in Biloxi, MS with great losses
• Naperville church - support for four families of NCC who have relatives affected by Katrina (special collection this Sunday). Other funds to channel through WFR and CCDRE
• Wilmette - funds through CCDRE
• Colonial Village - working to fill a semi with supplies; have a driver in congregation
• RCC - Labor Day Retreat campers/staff raised over $400 for relief efforts

10/3 Update:

God is good! We had a great phone conference this morning with Leonardo Gilbert, Luis Lugo, Justin Avey, Kevin Bowman, Cliff Plummer and Chuck Miller. We are trying to get a process underway to keep trucks going to distribution points in LA. Brother Gilbert and Brother Lugo are working to secure food items. We need pallet size lots of 2000 - 3000 pounds each, tightly shrink-wrapped so they can be loaded and unloaded by fork-lift. Smaller items can be loaded on top of the pallets (brooms, mops, etc.) If you can help with pallet-size lots or want to send cash to purchase items, let us know. Phones: Justin Avey-630.774.8555, Leonardo Gilbert - 708.692-3000 or 708.568-2929, Luis Lugo - 708.275-6229, Chuck Miller - 630.669.3012.

9/19 Update:

See action report. There is a great need for protein, vegetables, etc. We are hoping to get another truck ready for the weekend of October 1st. We have a 48' refrigerated trailer we need to fill up. Call if you can help: Kevin Bowman 630.816.6772 Also, see the BLOG from Tammany Oaks in Mandeville, LA www.toccrecovery.blogspot.com

9/14 Update:

Great things happen through prayer! JoAnn Betts, an employee at Service Dec, has a cousin with the Chicago Food Depository who has been very helpful and is trying to work out the details of getting us fully loaded with food. We have 800 tarps for house roofs. We need pallet(s) of mosquito spray. Great response from Chicago Food Depository. We're getting terrific price. We found out that Brother Leo Gilbert of Sheldon Heights is on the board of the CFD!

9/13 Update:

We spoke this morning with Mike Reeves of the South Baton Rouge church. Their needs are for tarpaulins to cover holes in roofs (12x12 suggested), mosquito spray, sunscreen, and fruits and veggies. Other frozen foods can be used also. Canned, frozen, fresh. Contact Kevin Bowman to help: 630.816.6672

We ran into two major obstacles today: (1) the food bank will not allow us to buy food to take to New Orleans. The food has to be used in this area. (2) Mike Reeves called to say there may be a problem storing perishables in the warehouse. The food could be distributed from the truck, but this would be much more work. Please pray fervently for both these situations!

9/10 Update:

Justin, Darrell Vaden and Chuck Fryer left on Friday with a truck for Tylertown. They delivered about 15,000 pounds of food.  They started back about noon on Saturday. We are working now on produce for South Baton Rouge.

9/8 Update:

Bobby Lawson has bank account and routing information for the Tammany Oaks church in Mandeville, LA (Tod Vogt, minister)

9/7: Update

Tylertown, MS reports that they have a source for water. They expect access to gasoline by next week. They are out of food. They need staples (rice, flour, sugar, beans). Truck will leave on Thursday/Fri.

Sue from the Cardinal Drive church has sent an email regarding 150-400 flood victims arriving today in Elgin who need supplies, housing etc. See her email: Cardinal Drive email 9/7

Mike Henkel (West Chicago) has obtained use of a 48 foot refrigerated trailer which can haul 40,000 lbs. of food. Should be ready by next week. See Mike's email

9/6/05  West Chicago:

Justin Avey, a deacon of the West Chicago church, is planning to send trucks  to target specific churches/families, etc. Last weekend he sent the first trucks to Tylertown, MS. Click for a report from that trip. In the next 8-10 weeks to come, Justin is planning to send trucks to the area. He may even be able to get a refrigerated semi. He can use extra drivers (no CDL required for most of the trucks), people who can go to help, and cash or donated goods.

It is best to have items on pallets and shrink-wrapped. Loose, small items are difficult to handle. You know what is needed: water, non-perishables, OTC medicines, especially for children, feminine products, etc. We'll try to post a needs list asap. Ideally, if you want to send money to the West Chicago Church of Christ (memo Katrina Relief), we can get the items, tax exempt, and have them properly put on pallets, etc. Costco has been great to help us package things and has even donated some free items. That has been a great help.

If you have families/churches that need specific help, send me an email with the details. I'll get you in touch with Justin and we'll try to be of help.

Next truck will probably leave late this Thursday (9/8) or early Friday morning (9/9). This weekend trip will be going again to Tylertown. They made up 1000 care packages with the last shipment and they are out of food again. This food is being distributed by a local church in Tylertown. Tentative plans are for another truck to go back to Tylertown next weekend (9/17).

If you send updates and news, we'll try to post them. Send to miller.chuck@comcast.net If you have Katrina related web/email links, I'll try to list them all.

Justin is glad to have you contact him directly: javey@joavey.com cell: 630.774.9244

Mike Reeves from the South Baton Rouge congregation is posting this BLOG with needs and news: http://www.sbrcc-storm-relief.blogspot.com/

Tod Vogt, minister at the Tammany Oaks congregation in Mandeville, LA, keeps a daily BLOG. They are working closely with the Whites Ferry Road church in distributing aid. Here's a link. www.toccrecovery.blogspot.com

White's Ferry Road church in West Monroe, LA - close by and many years of disaster relief experience. www.wfrchurch.org

Churches of Christ Disaster Relief Effort in Nashville. Well organized, large scale disaster relief since 1990: www.disasterreliefeffort.org

South Baton Rouge church - at the heart of refugee and relief efforts. www.sbrcc.org Email: hope@sbrcc.org

Great pictures of the NO area from WWL TV www.wwltv.com/

Illinois Help Hotline: 800.610.2095