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May 04, 2011

Texas Disaster Responders Featured in National Resource Library

Recently, Episcopal Relief & Development wrote two articles featuring the Rev. Tracie Middleton, deacon at St. John's, Silsbee, and Bill Taylor of St. Augustine’s in Galveston. Both articles can be found in Episcopal Relief & Development’s US Disaster Program Resource Library. The online Resource Library is a collection of tools and stories from around the nation that can be used for developing new response programs. These articles are under “Disaster Response Articles” in the Resource Library on er-d.org. Read excerpts below:

 

Preparing for Disaster with Church Partnerships

 

Bill and Tammie Taylor were living in Houston when Hurricane Rita swept through the Gulf Coast in September 2005. They witnessed the highways packed with residents evacuating from Houston and Galveston. During the chaos of evacuation, Tammie’s family lost track of their elderly uncle who had been staying in a nursing home in Louisiana and evacuated before the storm. They worried about him for several days before they later discovered him in a town outside of Houston after he was recognized by friends who saw his interview with a local TV station.

 

Read the rest of the Taylors' story here: http://www.er-d.org/userfiles/Post-TIPS-DisasterCommunications.pdf

 

The article on St. Augustine’s in Galveston was also featured in the monthly newsletter, Lamplight: http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Lamplight--News-from-the-US-Disaster-program-at-Episcopal-Relief---Development.html?soid=1103773510270&aid=TDJ1X7egyik

 

Setting up Communications During Disasters

 

Tracie Middleton is a deacon and fire-chaplain for the Diocese of Texas near Beaumont, a town of about 111,000 people two hourseast of Houston on the Gulf Coast. After Hurricane Katrina, Beaumont received evacuees from Louisiana and Mississippi. Unfortunately, soon after Katrina, Beaumont suffered extensive damage when it was hit by Hurricane Rita. Then the city had to take care of both its own population and those who had fled there after the previous storm. Middleton began as a volunteer with The Salvation Army, and then was hired as the public relations representative for the organization as it worked to respond both to the evacuees and local residents affected by the hurricane.

 

Read Tracie's advice here: http://www.er-d.org/userfiles/Post-STORY-StAugEvacuation.pdf