IOCC emergency personnel prepare for Hurricane Rita

BALTIMORE, MD [IOCC/OCA Communications] — Three weeks after responding to the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina along the US Gulf Coast, IOCC emergency response personnel have begun preparations in Texas in anticipation of the arrival of Hurricane Rita.

Efforts have been underway since Tuesday, September 20, to position supplies in the areas projected to be most impacted by the looming storm. Orthodox parishes are being readied in Houston and further inland to receive relief shipments and evacuees.

Even as preparations for the next hurricane got underway, IOCC efforts continued in Mississippi and Louisiana. IOCC maintains a presence in Mobile, AL; Biloxi, MS; Baton Rouge, LA; and Houston, TX.

The scope of the disaster and the ongoing recovery efforts have prompted IOCC to bring in experienced relief personnel from its offices overseas.
IOCC head of office for the Republic of Georgia, Pascalis Papouras, a native of Cleveland, OH, arrived Monday, September 19, to assist in the response.

IOCC’s emergency response network, comprised of trained Orthodox clergy and their parish communities, provides emergency services to people struggling to recover from natural or man-made disasters. Heading IOCC’s emergency response network along the coast is the Rev. David Kossey of the Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese. Among the other emergency network members assisting IOCC’s efforts is the Rev. David Garretson, rector of the Orthodox Church in America’s Saints Peter and Paul Church, South River, NJ. Father David pursued emergency response training with IOCC shortly after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

“We are continually moving to respond to the needs as they emerge,” said Frank Carlin, field director for IOCC’s operations in the Gulf Coast region. “This is a fluid situation with rapidly changing needs.”

“The best way to help survivors of Hurricane Katrina is through cash gifts and assembling health kits,” added Mr. Carlin. “This gives us the flexibility to act quickly to needs as they arise and will help the communities as we begin planning for the long-term recovery.”

Contributions toward hurricane relief efforts received in recent weeks have enabled IOCC to respond is such ways as distributing more than 18,000 “Gift of the Heart” health kits, providing 1,500 household clean-up kits to people returning to damaged homes, and supplying over 150 tons of emergency assistance, including food, water, blankets and bed linens, diapers, personal health kits and mattresses.

The address and instructions on how to assemble health kits may be found on IOCC’s website at http://www.iocc.org/healthkits. The kits should be sent to IOCC at the Church World Service warehouse in New Windsor, MD.

As requested earlier by His Beatitude, Metropolitan Herman, OCA faithful are asked to send contributions directly to the IOCC Hurricane Disaster Response Fund, PO Box 630225, Baltimore, MD 21263-0225. Donations may also be made online at www.iocc.org or by calling toll-free 877-803-4622.