SACRAMENTO — This is what Susan Ryan hopes. The next time there’s disaster, the next time people are hurting, one of the first things they’ll see is someone coming to help from Presbyterian Disaster Assistance.
Ryan, who leads the disaster assistance program for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), said the church’s emphasis in the aftermath of hurricanes Katrina and Rita will be on long-term recovery — in helping people after the immediate-relief assistance from groups such as the Red Cross ends.
The church’s disaster assistance teams are well-trained, and are helping in the Katrina recovery effort by setting up tent villages where Presbyterian volunteers can stay while helping churches and families in the affected areas rebuild. “I really encourage the churches to send as steady a stream of volunteers as possible” to show the church’s constant presence in times of trouble, Ryan said.
The General Assembly Council also is being asked to consider whether to register Presbyterian Disaster Assistance and several other relief and development programs as a nonprofit entity that would be separately incorporated but still related to the church. That 501c3 status would make Presbyterian Disaster Assistance available for grants and matching funds it’s not now eligible for — such as, for example, donations some employers make to match the charitable gifts their employees make.
A report on that concept would be made at the council’s meeting in February 2006 and, if approved, could be submitted to the assembly in 2006.
Ryan said Presbyterian Disaster Assistance has been racing full-tilt since Katrina hit — and the outpouring of assistance has been overwhelming. People have offered money to rebuild Presbyterian churches, the Medical Benevolence Foundation gave warehouse space to store supplies, help for churches reviewing insurance claims, trailers for command centers, computer expertise for scheduling volunteers.
Ryan said she’s called up some big Presbyterian churches that typically give to World Vision but not to her agency, and told them “World Vision has no U.S. presence … so I want your money.”
She said she challenged them to find the funding for six tent villages, at $150,000 each. “If there ever was a time for us in the PC(USA) to be redeemed from our fighting, to be redeemed from the polarization,” Ryan said, “now is the time.”
