LA Now! - Oct. 30, 2009
8 pages
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timhebert
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VOL.
10, No.
20 OCTOBER 30, 2009BATON ROUGE, LA
NON-PROFIT
U.
S.
POSTAGE
PAIDBATON
ROUGE,LA
PERMIT#
575
527NorthBlvd.
BatonRouge,LA
70802-5700
Hagar’s House
Bayou Blue UMC / 4
UM Men/ 3
Toy Mission / 7
In August of 2005, Hurricane...
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VOL.
10, No.
20 OCTOBER 30, 2009BATON ROUGE, LA
NON-PROFIT
U.
S.
POSTAGE
PAIDBATON
ROUGE,LA
PERMIT#
575
527NorthBlvd.
BatonRouge,LA
70802-5700
Hagar’s House
Bayou Blue UMC / 4
UM Men/ 3
Toy Mission / 7
In August of 2005, Hurricane Katrina
struck Louisiana’s Gulf Coast.
The city of
New Orleans was devastated by the storm,
largely by flooding caused when levees
were breeched.
The storm displaced thousands in New
Orleans and left behind a population of
homeless persons that reaches unprecedented levels for a U.
S.
city: one in 25
residents.
According to USA Today (2008
article), there is an estimated 12,000
homeless in the city, which accounts for
4% of New Orleans’ estimated population
of 302,000.
The numbers were reported
by the homeless advocacy group UNITY
of Greater New Orleans, which added that
the number is nearly double the preKatrina homeless count.
After Katrina, a large number of those
homeless began to camp under the
Claiborne overpass on Interstate 10.
In
October of 2007, the city of New Orleans
began taking steps to relocate the group
into safer venues.
When First Grace United Methodist
was approached by the city to help with
the problem, the church took in a group of
homeless women in need of shelter.
That action provided the seeds for what
is now the church’s full-fledged ministry
for homeless women in New Orleans.
With the help of generous donations, the
church was able to purchase and restore a
spacious older home that will house the
First Grace UMC sponsors shelter for homeless
See Hagar’s House, page 8
Response, September 2009
The Democratic Republic of the Congo
could be the archetype for what Africans
call the “resource curse” — the malady
where impoverished people fare worst in
countries with abundant natural resources.
Yet United Methodist Women is helping
impoverished families, women, children
and youth in the Congo keep hope alive.
With incredible wealth both above and
below the ground, the Congo has a history
of its resources benefiting everyone but the
Congolese people.
For decades the nation
was the personal fiefdom of Belgium’s
King Leopold.
Later it became a Belgian
colony.
The Congolese won their independence in 1960, but the country’s first democratically elected prime minister, Patrice
United Methodist Women keeping hope alive in the Congo
See Congo, page 5
After Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in 2005, the numbers of homeless people in the city began to rise.
First Grace United Methodist Church was approached by the city to help with the problem, and the church took in a
group of homeless women in need of shelter.
First Grace UMC has established a home and ministry for homeless
women known as Hagar’s House.
Pictured outside the shelter are Rev.
Shawn Anglim, pastor; US-2 GBGM missionary
Amanda Thrasher, who will serve at Hagar’s House; Angela Davis, House Coordinator; and Nichol Leubron musician
and Hagar’s House volunteer.
Thrasher was recently commissioned during an Oct.
13 service held in Connecticut.
For the latest
information regarding
disaster recovery efforts,
visit the La.
Conference
web site at
www.
la-umc.
org
or contact the UM
Disaster Recovery Center
at (225) 346-5193
BY PAUL JEFFREY*
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