EMERGENCY CARAVAN TO LOUISIANA AND MISSISSIPPI

Press Releases

October 25 2005 - SECOND PASTORS FOR PEACE CARAVAN DELIVERS AID TO VICTIMS OF HURRICANE KATRINA

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Lucia Bruno, IFCO/Pastors for Peace (212) 926-5757

The second IFCO/Pastors for Peace Emergency Aid Caravan to the Gulf Coast has delivered tools, generators, air compressors construction materials, food and water to the 6th and 9th wards in New Orleans, Algiers, Lake Charles LA, and Jackson Mississippi. The aid was requested by community groups as they cut away hurricane debris and begin the reconstruction process after Hurrican Katrina.

In September, the first Caravan delivered seven truckloads of aid to afflicted areas. Four box trucks and three yellow schoolbuses made stops in 25 US cities to collect 80 tons of urgently needed aid. The aid was delivered through the People's Hurricane Relief Fund (PHRF), a coalition of more than 42 community organizations in Mississippi and Louisiana initiated by the New Orleans progressive coalition Community Labor United. The Mississippi Emergency Relief Committee (MERC), also part of this network, coordinates distribution of the aid for Mississippi.

The Rev. Thomas Smith, chairperson of the Interreligious Foundatin for Community Organization (IFCO) board and pastor of Monumental Baptist Church of Pittsburgh, PA accompanied the second caravan.

Rev. Smith stressed the need for solidarity with the people of the stricken areas and the importance of listening to their concerns. "We cannot remain silent in the face of our government's racism, callousness, and systemic neglect. " he said.

The coalition is demanding that local, grassroots, Black and progressive leadership oversee the processes of relief, return, and reconstruction in New Orleans and on the Gulf Coast. They are determined to resist plans to gentrify New Orleans and give it over to white entrepreneurs, and determined to reclaim their communities for themselves.

As with our international caravans, our goal here is not just charity, but solidarity, as we continue to work for justice. As IFCO executive director Rev. Lucius Walker said, "We intend to stand with the victims in their hour of acute need, and also in the future as they continue to demand control of the process of reclaiming and rebuilding their homes and their lives."

Since 1988, Pastors for Peace has organized 50 caravans of humanitarian aid and compassion to our neighbor nations in Central America and the Caribbean. We are now responding to Katrina, and to the permanent hurricane of racism and classism which the Bush administration embodies, by organizing our first domestic caravans.

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September 18 2005 - IFCO/PASTORS FOR PEACE EMERGENCY CARAVAN TO LOUISIANA AND MISSISSIPPI IS ON THE ROAD

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - CONTACT: Ellen Bernstein, 646-319-5902 (cellular)

Since 1988, IFCO/Pastors for Peace has organized 50 caravans of humanitarian aid and good will to our neighbor nations in Central America and the Caribbean. But now we are responding to an unprecedented crisis at home; and so today we are launching our first domestic caravan. The rising tide of tragedy in Louisiana and Mississippi has us heartbroken, shocked, and outraged. And we are responding with concrete action, to express our compassion with those who are suffering and our consternation with those who should have responded in a more timely fashion and did not.

We see an opportunity to do what our government has not done and does not intend to do: to reach out quickly to those who hunger and thirst. We cannot fail to respond to the needs of our sisters and brothers; neither can we remain silent in the face of our government's racism, callousness, and systemic neglect.

THE PASTORS FOR PEACE EMERGENCY AID CARAVAN TO LOUISIANA AND MISSISSIPPI IS NOW ON THE ROAD

Our volunteers around the US have already filled seven of our Pastors for Peace schoolbuses and box trucks with urgently needed aid. We are traveling through 25 cities spread out from coast to coast, carrying over 100 tons of humanitarian aid. We expect to arrive in Louisiana and Mississippi on Friday September 16 to deliver the aid. The aid will be received by responsible community organizations offering direct response in places of acute need, so that we know the aid will be delivered quickly and directly to those who need it most.

"We want to be clear that we view the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina not as a short-term problem, but as a long-term national crisis," said Rev. Lucius Walker, Jr., executive director of IFCO/Pastors for Peace. "As with our international caravans, our goal is not just charity, but solidarity, as we continue to work for justice. We intend to stand with the victims now in their hour of acute need, and also in the future as they continue to demand a place in the process of reclaiming and rebuilding their homes and their lives."

The Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization (IFCO) is a national ecumenical agency, which was founded in 1967 to work for racial, social, and economic justice. More information is available at www.pastorsforpeace.org.