“The Command Chaplain at Fort Polk has $2,000 that has to be spent today on hurricane evacuees.”
HORNBECK–David Redden, a member at First Baptist Church Hornbeck, took the call.
After a few minutes of intense discussion, he hung up and made an
announcement to other members busy organizing food, air mattresses and
other supplies for Katrina evacuees who were expected to begin arriving
at any moment.
“The Command Chaplain at Fort Polk has $2,000 that has to be spent today on hurricane evacuees,” Redden said.
Activity ceased, as workers looked up from their tasks.
“How much?” one asked. “When? He wants us to spend it?”
“Hey I can spend $2,000 in a day,” another said.
Almost immediately, volunteers began making lists of items that evacuees might need.
“If their houses were destroyed, we knew they’d need just about
everything to start over,” said one member. “We were thinking
about household items at first, but then we realized they wouldn’t have
anywhere to put this stuff. So then we decided to buy food,
toiletries, and clothes in a variety of sizes.”
Kerri Blankenship and Mary Ann Hill, both members at FBC
Hornbeck, armed with lists that they divided between them, arrived at
Wal-Mart around noon, where four uniformed soldiers on their lunch
break waited with a check.
It turned out they had only an hour to spend $2,000. The soldiers
had to be back on base by the time their lunch break was over.
So Blankenship and Hill stormed the store. “I’ve never spent that much
money in that short a time,” said Hill. “That was like a
hurricane in itself.”
“It was kind of overwhelming because Wal-Mart was so crowded, and the
soldiers kept telling us to buy more,” said Blankenship.
Hill, who was shopping for evacuees staying at the Louisiana Lions Club, spent $600, mostly on food.
“I remember how grateful the people at the Lion’s Camp were.
There were 12 people there, and they had almost no groceries up to
then,” Hill said.
Blankenship spent $1,400 and shopped for evacuees who would be staying
at FBC Hornbeck and other area churches, buying mostly clothes, but
also food.
As it turned out, Jesse Buck, another member of FBC Hornbeck,
and senior chaplain’s assistant at Fort Polk, was the one who steered
the command chaplain toward FBC Hornbeck, Hill said.
The Command Chaplain, Colonel Van Dyken, was in the office that day, asking where there might be a need, Buck said.
Buck, who knew his church was expecting evacuees, spoke up, and the Chaplain went with his suggestion.
The funds, which were made available through the Chief of Chaplain’s
office in Washington DC, came from a variety of sources, including
individuals who gave money, Buck said.
The stipulation that the money be spent immediately was to ensure that
the money would go toward helping those who were most affected by
Hurricane Katrina, he said.