May 7, 2010

Reverend Jerry Hoek of Faith Christian Reformed Church in Nashville, Tennessee, contacted the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee (CRWRC) early this week to let staff know that all of the church's members are accounted for after a weekend of heavy rain deluged the southern U.S., and resulting floods killed 21 people in Tennessee alone.

"We are very thankful that to our knowledge, no one in our congregation has been seriously affected by the flooding, but the loss of life and the destruction of property involved has hit our city hard," Hoek said. CRWRC's Disaster Response Services (DRS) is collaborating with Hoek's congregation and with response coordinators for several other disasters from Mississippi to Maine.

The massive storm system that raked over Tennessee last weekend also spun off a tornado, and killed 10 more people in Mississippi and Kentucky. With scores of people still missing and area rivers receding, the death toll is expected to rise.

"CRWRC-DRS volunteer managers Rick and Bonnie Wiersma are overseeing responses in the eastern U.S. region," says CRWRC-DRS director Bill Adams. "Regional managers are juggling coordination of our activities related to the flooding on the East Coast last month, a monster tornado in the Yazoo City, Mississippi, area two weeks ago, and the current flooding in and around Nashville."

The agency has also received a request for needs assessments from Rhode Island and from the Disaster Recovery Committee in Somerset, New Jersey, (SADRC) where heavy flooding is wreaking havoc on local residents this month. CRWRC collaborated with SADRC after Hurricane Floyd in the same area in 1999.

SADRC representatives noted on Tuesday in an email that, "because of what we experienced eleven years ago working together, we are very interested in moving forward to arrange assessment teams from CRWRC to work in the Somerset area as quickly as possible."

Adams said that CRWRC-DRS is setting up volunteer work crews in each location to help with cleaning up, mucking out, and repairing victim's homes and businesses. CRWRC-DRS will also assess needs for a possible reconstruction phase of these responses, coordinating each phase with state and federal agencies as well as local organizations and other national-level emergency relief groups.

Rev. Hoek at Faith CRC in Nashville states his small but sturdy congregation is ready to help. "Right now, most everything is still in the immediate recovery stage," Hoek says, "but soon, clean up and rebuilding will begin. We want to work as much as we can with our denomination in this effort."

CRWRC-DRS is appealing for financial support to respond to these disasters. Donations to "Spring Storms 2010" can be given online at http://www.crwrc.org/, or by phone call to 1-800-55-CRWRC. Checks made out to CRWRC, with "Spring Storms 2010" written in the memo line can be mailed to CRWRC, 2850 Kalamazoo Avenue SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49560-0600.

Members of the press wishing to arrange an interview with Bill Adams, call cell, 616-560-2782. For more information about CRWRC, call media contact Beth DeGraff at cell 616-648-7821.

For more information about these programs, visit http://www.crwrc.org/, or call 1-800-55-CRWRC.

CRWRC is an agency of the Christian Reformed Church in North America ministering in development,

relief, and justice education with people in need in 30 countries around the world since 1963.

Christian Reformed World Relief Committee