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Katrina objected, but couple tied knot in church shelter

 


Katrina objected, but couple tied knot in church shelter

Sept. 2, 2005       

By Meredyth Earnest*

ANDALUSIA, Ala. (UMNS) — It wasn’t how they imagined spending their honeymoon.

Nickie and Maria Simmons of Gulfport, Miss., had planned on getting married during the week of Aug. 29, when Hurricane Katrina intervened, forcing the couple to flee with five of their six children. They ended up at Whitfield United Methodist Church in Montgomery, Ala., which was offering shelter to evacuees.

They arrived on the evening of Aug. 28 with their kids, ranging in age from 7 months to 14 years old.

“God was with us and we made it,” Nickie said. “We’ve seen the reports. … The whole coast was wiped out. There’s nothing left.”

Upon their arrival, the church learned about the couple’s marriage plans. The couple asked the Rev. Judd Stinson, pastor, if he would marry them.

They had evacuated so quickly they didn’t have enough money to buy a marriage license. When news of their plight spread, other residents of the shelter collected the necessary $40 to buy the license. Whitfield members also arranged for clothing for the wedding, bouquets and a wedding cake for the couple.

As victims of Hurricane Katrina evacuated throughout the Southeast, many of them made their way into Alabama and West Florida. United Methodist churches throughout the Alabama-West Florida Annual (regional) Conference provided shelter and emotional support to victims, even as church members suffered alongside them.

The church’s Mobile District sustained the most damage within the conference. In hard-hit Bayou La Batre, reports indicate that of the 2,300 inhabitants, 2,000 were flooded out of their homes, and those homes were likely lost. In addition, the town’s shrimp industry — the area’s main industry — suffered a catastrophic blow that could take years to recover from.

Bayou La Batre First United Methodist Church suffered damage to the church roof, and the new parsonage sustained major damage. Despite that, the church is operating as a local headquarters for the Federal Emergency Management Agency and a distribution point for resources from the United Methodist Committee on Relief. Congregations from around the conference and throughout the connection were delivering supplies to the church to reach the desperate residents.

Headland (Ala.) United Methodist Church delivered a truckload of 500 pounds of ice, tarps and a generator to Bayou La Batre First Church Sept. 1. Members of the southeast Alabama church collected supplies and asked for community support to make the donation possible.

Not far from Bayou La Batre, the small town of Coden was devastated. Coden United Methodist Church was all but destroyed by the rain, wind, flood water and mud. The sanctuary was a soaking mess of mud and water with pews and other items piled on top of one another. Entire walls of the fellowship hall and Sunday school building are gone.

Outside of the areas directly affected by Katrina, churches were serving as refuges for those displaced by the storm.

More than 100 evacuees arrived at Whitfield United Methodist Church before Katrina made landfall. Church volunteers assisted the Red Cross in providing meals, showers, a children’s nursery, and other services for those seeking assistance. The church was holding prayer services in the chapel to pray for all those affected by the storm.

Other churches across the conference are also doing their part in the relief efforts for not only Alabama, but Mississippi and Louisiana as well.

Gulf Breeze (Fla.) United Methodist Church was severely affected by Hurricane Ivan, which devastated the conference less than a year ago. In response to Katrina, the church opened its doors to all those seeking help. It held a prayer service Aug. 31 and was involving the entire congregation and community in putting together flood buckets and health kits for victims.

The church was also offering Stephen Ministers to evacuees at Pensacola, Fla., and Gulf Breeze-area hotels in need of support. The church was assembling work teams to go into the community and to call local people who live on streets impacted by water.

 “Our church volunteers are finding that those they call are very appreciative of our continued care,” said the Rev. June Jernigan, an associate pastor at Gulf Breeze Church. “They don’t feel forgotten.”

Richards United Methodist Church in Pensacola was putting together sack lunches and health kits for distribution to the large number of walk-ups asking for assistance at the church. “We are also gathering clothing in conjunction with other area ministries,” said the Rev. Gene May, pastor of Richards Church. The church also offered office space to UMCOR for Pensacola operations.

Lathram Chapel United Methodist Church in Cantonment, Fla., planned a trip to Mobile to assist Government Street United Methodist Church with food, water and clothing needed by residents. “If there is any way we can help, we will,” said the Rev. Pamela Avery, Lathram Chapel pastor.

Even smaller congregations such as Bellview United Methodist Church in Pensacola were finding ways to be involved in disaster relief ministry. “We made a commitment to God in our worship service last Sunday to help in any way we can,” said the Rev. Norman Brown. “We are not real big, but we will do everything we are capable of to help. This isn’t just me talking; this is the heart of the church.”

Despite the massive devastation along the Gulf Coast, every church can find a way to help, a conference official said.

“If every church will make flood buckets — even three would be a great help — or health kits, that would involve them in working toward bringing light in the midst of so very much darkness,” said the Rev. Bill Elwell, Mobile District superintendent. “If every person who gets up in the morning and finds all is OK would simply find a person or a family who is not OK and find a way, in the name of Christ, to make someone else’s day, we can go a long way in bringing the message that love is more powerful than the strength of a storm.”

Donations to support the United Methodist response to the Hurricane Katrina tragedy can be made online at www.methodistrelief.org and by phone at (800) 554-8583. Checks can be written to UMCOR, designated for “Hurricanes 2005 Global,” Advance No. 982523, and left in church offering plates or mailed directly to UMCOR, P.O. Box 9068, New York, NY 10087-9068.

*Earnest is director of communications for the Unite d Methodist Church’s Alabama-West Florida Annual Conference.

News media contact: Tim Tanton, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.

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