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First Presbyterian Church |
APPEAL: Hurricane Mitch Relief and Recovery
Dear friends,
As we have watched the frightful scenes of destruction, it is clear that the devastation
is of historic and almost apocalyptic proportions. Recovery will be a long road. In light
of the extraordinary need, Presbyterian Disaster Assistance has pledged a minimum of
$200,000 from One Great Hour of Sharing funds to be divided between the immediate relief
and the recovery stage of this disaster. We have already forwarded funds to the region and
our partners are active in their response. We are cooperating with the Church World
Service in the support of material aid shipments. Shipments of material aid are being
scheduled and pulled together for Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador. But that hardly
touches the pain or need - generous additional giving by Presbyterians is needed.
Already, $1400 has been collected from our congregation. If you would like to help meet
the desperate needs of these people, you can send it to the church office or put it in the
Sunday offering plate. Just designate your check "Hurricane Relief" and make it
out to First Presbyterian Church.
"Honduras is mortally wounded . . . . We are making an urgent and anguishing
call to the international community. Our capacity for suffering and pain was never before
put to such a hard test." -Honduran President Carlos Flores
Truly, neither the Honduran nor the Nicaraguan people have ever faced such a natural
disaster in their history. Along with the tremendous death and dislocation, Hurricane
Mitch caused huge shortages of food and potable water, created health hazards, and
destroyed means of transportation, leaving rescue efforts unable to reach thousands in
desperate need.
The long-term effects may be the most devastating. Much of the infrastructure of both
nations has been destroyed and will take tremendous resources to rebuild, while the
economies to support such rebuilding, already among the weakest in the hemisphere before
the hurricane, have also been devastated. Agriculture, industry, and tourism will all
require enormous efforts to bring back. The poorest of the poor have lost everything, and
the agencies that helped them survive are already stretched to the limit.
"We see with hope the generosity of Nicaraguans who have given away personal
possessions in the midst of the poverty that overwhelms us in order to share with those
hardest hit by this natural phenomenon." - Gilberto Aguirre, Council of Evangelical
Churches of Nicaragua (CEPAD)
The resilience, hope, and generosity of the Nicaraguan and Honduran people are an
inspiration. Not only are they digging out and focusing on rebuilding, not only are people
in the poorest churches collecting money and clothes for shelters in their area, they are
working together across wide denominational differences to organize a coordinated response
to the disaster.
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Last update 2002-06-24 12:44:19