Methodist children’s home in Philadelphia reaches out to survivors
 Sept. 21, 2005 By Theresa F. Haenn*
PHILADELPHIA
(UMNS) — Touched by the stories of people affected by Hurricane
Katrina, the Methodist Home for Children is reaching out to help its
counterparts in Louisiana—as well as an oft-forgotten group of
survivors: family pets.
“Our hearts and prayers go out to
the affected children and our sister organizations that provide for them
in this difficult time and in the months ahead,” said Angele Marie
Parker, president and chief executive officer of Methodist Home for
Children in Philadelphia. The Methodist Home for Children in New
Orleans evacuated 36 residents and 13 staff members to a related
facility, the Louisiana Methodist Children’s Home in Ruston.
Administrators of both homes expect the evacuees to remain in north
Louisiana for possibly six months. Parker said the Methodist Home for Children in Philadelphia would be helping with the recovery. “To
alleviate the financial burden of the coming months, and (help with)
the rebuilding and restoring of their storm-damaged facilities, our
board of directors of Methodist Home for Children Foundation in
Philadelphia voted to give a grant to assist in the recovery,” she said.
The board, chaired by Richard Hevner, a member of Covenant
United Methodist Church in Springfield, Pa., sent a $10,400 check to
assist both organizations in serving additional families and children
together on one campus.
Additional support for victims of
Hurricane Katrina will come from children of the School Age programs of
Methodist Services for Children and Families in Philadelphia. They
are planning to raise funds to help care for family pets that had to be
left behind as the floodwaters rose. The children will be selling
bracelets with all the proceeds going to Best Friends Animal Society,
an animal welfare agency based in Utah that is rescuing animals left
behind in New Orleans and working to reunite them with their owners.
With every $25 donated to Best Friends Animal Society, the children are
able to “adopt an animal” for a year. The children hope to be able to
adopt several pets. For more information on Best Friends Animal Society,
visit the Website at www.bestfriends.org.
Staff
of Methodist Home for Children decided that in lieu of holding its
annual staff holiday celebration at a restaurant or having it
professionally catered, their holiday celebration would be a pot-luck
luncheon. All funds that would have been spent on the staff celebration
will be contributed to the United Methodist Committee on Relief for
hurricane response work. The Methodist Home for Children, formerly
known as the Methodist Episcopal Orphanage, was organized by women in
Philadelphia in response to the needs of children orphaned as a result
of the Civil War. Ellen Simpson, the wife of Bishop Matthew Simpson,
then the resident bishop of the Philadelphia Conference, issued a call
to church women to organize a charity to provide for the orphans.
Details on the Methodist Home for Children are available at www.methodistservices.org or (215) 877-1926. *Haenn is director of development for the Methodist Home for Children in Philadelphia.
News media contact: Tim Tanton, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
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