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Community Unites to Aid Hurricaine Victims

 

Published September 1, 2005

By: Ann Hanson - Naperville Sun

 

Lana Griffin began to cry as she described the situation of hurricane victims who have taken refuge in the prayer center across from her business in Baker, La. "(Baker) got a little wind and a little rain, but just looking at these folks ... it is just beyond comprehension," Griffin said. Griffin and her husband, Gary, run the Ship-N-Store across the street from the Bethany World Prayer Center, where the amount of refugees staying there was expected to double Wednesday from about 300 to more than 600. It is just one of the places working to house those who have fled New Orleans to Baker, about 100 miles north. "There is another church within a few miles of our facility that is housing refugees," Griffin said. "I don't know how many people they have there. The local community center is full. Most of the area schools are full. The churches are opening their doors and filling up. "She said the victims are in desperate need of supplies.

"Truly, it is the most basic of needs that people have," Lana said. "They literally left with the clothes they had on their backs and they have nothing to go back to and don't know when they're going to be able to return to their homes, if they have a home to return to." The Griffins and the Associated Mail and Parcel Centers Association, of which the couple are a part, have put out a call to its members asking for any relief they can offer." Local businesswoman Judy Wrubliwsky, a member of the association who also owns The Boxes shipping center in the Cress Creek Shopping Center, has responded. She is accepting donations at her store on Royal St. George Drive and will ship them free to the Griffins." The Griffins will distribute the goods first to the shelter across from their business and then, if they have enough, to as many groups in Baker as possible. "Wrubliwsky said donations will be getting into the hands of people who need them and who might not have access to Red Cross services, which are stretched because of the magnitude of the disaster.

"This is getting really down there where it's needed," she said. Griffin said their first request is prayers and then anything that might help, from pet food to children's toys to soap. Anything that they can send that they feel would be of use to these people, we will certainly make sure they get into the hands of the folks who need them," she said. The Boxes is open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.Saturdays. "Anything that people want to drop off, I'll pack up," Wrubliwsky said. Various churches and religious organizations in the area also are making efforts to assist victims.

Community Christian Church in Naperville is partnering with Chapel on the Campus Church in Baton Rouge, La., to provide donated items to the hurricane victims in New Orleans. People can leave their donations in rented trucks provided at Community Christian's Naperville campus, at 1635 Emerson Lane, or its Children's and Arts Center, at 174 Highpoint Drive in Romeoville. The churches are looking for bottled water; towels, washcloths and bedding; new or like-new clothing, including shoes, socks and underwear; diapers and baby wipes; and toiletries such as soap, shampoo and deodorant. Drop-off times are from 9 a.m. to noon Friday, 4 to 7 p.m. Saturday and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sunday.

Pastor Dennis Eenigenburg of Chapel on the Campus Church and his son will drive the two trucks to Baton Rouge, where they will distribute the items to shelters in the area that are housing victims from New Orleans. People who prefer to make a monetary donation can make checks payable to Community Christian Church. Write "Hurricane Relief" on the check. Call Community Christian Church at (630) 388-5000.

Meanwhile, churches in the Catholic Diocese of Joliet are being asked to take up a collection for hurricane victims during the weekend Masses, said Sister Judith Davies, a spokeswoman for the diocese. A prayer that can be said for the victims will soon be posted on the diocese's Web site, at www.dioceseofjoliet.org. As part of a national effort, the Jewish United Fund-Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago also is taking up a collection for the victims. People can send checks to the Jewish Federation Katrina Relief Fund, c/o Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago, 1 S. Franklin St., Room 625, Chicago, IL 60606.