Operation Compassion Responds to Calls for Disaster Assistance
HURRICANE GUSTAV:
Gustav came ashore along the Louisiana Gulf Coast cutting a path of destruction almost as wide as the state is itself. While New Orleans was spared the brunt of the storm, Baton Rouge was not as fortunate. Within hours of Gustav’s passing through the area, Operation Compassion was on the move into the area with immediate relief supplies.
Operation Compassion established a disaster relief site with food and water distribution and then expanded to include hot meals and clean-up crews. Volunteers came from all over the country to aid and assist the survivors during this time of loss and confusion.
Operation Compassion used our disaster network of partners to help provide for needs. Feed the Children, World Vision, World Emergency Relief, Operation Outreach, Morningstar and God’s Pit Crew, to name o few, joined our efforts to help Baton Rouge and south Louisiana pick up the pieces of their broken lives.
HURRICANE IKE:
Before Operation Compassion and her partners could catch a breath, Hurricane Ike landed on the Texas Gulf Coast bringing more destruction and loss of life than could have been imagined. With more than 50 killed and 300 still missing, homes and businesses along the coast and inland were completely destroyed. Neighborhood after neighborhood was obliterated by the power of the winds and sea surge. In some areas water stood 10 feet deep flooding and destroying everything in its path.
Within hours of Ike’s landfall, Operation Compassion was with their two semis of disaster food and water. Within the first 36 hours, Operation Compassion had served more than 10,000 families. Once again, our disaster relief network partners began to deliver goods and volunteers began to come from all over the country with tools and equipment. Even though power was on in isolated pockets, volunteers and survivors began to clean up the debris. For others, they could only remember what their homes looked like and remember the importance of their finest possessions.
Operation Compassion is still in south Texas working alongside other partners, churches and faith-based groups assisting survivors overcome this catastrophic disaster. So far, Operation Compassion has sent more than 50 semis into coastal Texas for disaster relief.
CARIBBEAN DISASTER:
While the U.S. had two major hurricanes to deal with this summer, the Caribbean witnessed six storms, two tropical storms and four hurricanes. It appeared that each storm began to the east north east of Haiti and Dominican Republic or the island of Hispaniola. The storms would follow one of two paths, either cutting across the island or skirting along the coastlines. Either path wrecked havoc on this highly impoverished island. The storms proceeded to hit Jamaica or bend under Jamaica and then turning into Cuba.
During the past several weeks, Operation Compassion has sent more than 126 semis to the island countries of Jamaica, Haiti and Dominican Republic. At one point, Haiti was reporting that there was not one single bottle of water available in the country. People were actually without any fresh drinking water. Food is always a premium especially in Haiti and many were eating a few ounces of mush each day just to survive.
Thousands of people became homeless overnight as mudslides totally destroyed the little homes perched on the mountainsides. At one point, there were more than 600,000 living out in the open without any shelter at all. Operation Compassion just this last week was able to ship 60,000 tents which will house 120,000 people.
Operation Compassion and its international network of partners have silently and diligently been sending thousands of pounds of disaster relief food, water, clothing and other basic necessities of life. Many items we are sending are often taken for granted or are considered a right in this country. However, in the Caribbean, living from one day to the next is the greatest challenge. Operation Compassion is there to help children, widows, senior adults and single parent families succeed in their challenge.
Please send your donations to or contact:
Operation Compassion
Donnie W. Smith, D.Min., Executive Director of Care Division
David Lorency, President
Tim Burdashaw, Int’l. Operations Coordinator
Lisa Boen, Int’l. Logistics Coordinator
114 Stuart Road, NE Suite 370
Cleveland, TN 37312
423.728.3932 Office
423.728.3958 Fax
www.operationcompassion.org
