Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Come Celebrate Our Progress!


September 13, 2010 will mark the 2nd anniversary of Hurricane Ike's impact in Galveston. Though the memories are horrendous for Galvestonians, we want to take time to remember the progress that has been made.

This year, we want to celebrate the rebirth of Galveston by volunteering for a day and blessing 2 homes! The staff of The Episcopal Diocese of Texas is invited to take a day off from regular work to participate! TEDRD's board of directors and staff will also be working. Everyone else is also welcome to come as well. And bring family and friends!

Just be sure to contact Luke to let him know you are coming!

We will be starting the third year of recovery by repairing even more homes on the island. Come join us and celebrate the progress we have made!

Luke's contact info: 713.252.9693 or volunteer@epicenter.org.

WHEN: September 13, 2010

WHERE: Galveston, meet at the William Temple Episcopal Center located at 427 Market St. Galveston, Tx 77550

TIME: Show up to volunteer at 8:30 a.m. House blessings to begin at 4:00p.m.

Monday, August 16, 2010

A Message From Carolyn

Friday is my last day as the Preparedness & Planning Coordinator with Texas Episcopal Disaster Relief and Development. As a long-term volunteer through the AmeriCorps* VISTA program, we knew that my work with TEDRD would be completed this fall, though it is hard to believe that the end is now so near.

I am grateful to have had the opportunity to serve with TEDRD, and I have gained an invaluable amount of knowledge and experience over the last year. I’d like to take one last opportunity to share some of that knowledge with you:

1) Preparedness isn’t easy. For churches and families alike, there’s a lot to consider while creating an emergency plan. Not only that, but making preparations is often expensive as we begin to stock up on necessities or take precautions to prevent damage.

However…

2) Preparing for emergencies is still one of the most important things we can do. Every step, every precaution we take is one more thing that could prevent damage or injury. Few people are ever sorry for being prepared; to not be ready is a story tainted with regret that has been told countless times.

To help make preparing your church easier, our Parish Emergency Planning guide is available for download at www.epicenter.org/preparedness. Print this useful workbook, and utilize it for your own benefit.

Though we are already well into hurricane season, and even in the midst of the two historically most active months, it is not too late to begin. Everything you do today will make a difference when that storm, flood, or fire comes.

Thank you for a great year; I hope that my work here will continue to benefit your churches for years to come.

For families that want to prepare visit: http://www.texasprepares.org/

Monday, August 9, 2010

Finishing Summer, Finishing Projects


We're working hard in the next couple weeks to finish some projects before a brief vacation.

Saturday we had a great crew from Smith International in Houston help us out along with a youth group from Webster Presbyterian. The Smith crew was filled with engineers that were of great help and the youth worked their tails off in the hot sun.

This week we have the May family visiting from the Chicago area helping us out. We hope to get a couple more people back home in the next month!

Thanks everyone for your help!

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

New England Lends a Hand


This week, we have a group from Christ Church of Needham, Massachusetts. They have already done a ton of work and will continue throughout the week.

Although they are from a much cooler part of the country, they aren't backing away from the heat. It may be one of the hottest weeks of the year, but they are working through it!

Also, we had the Chafizadeh family visit us this week. They heard about us through the Hewlett family that visited earlier this summer. Thanks Hewletts for spreading the word! And thanks Chafizadehs for making the trip!




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