Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

 

Homeland 

Security 

Institute 

Pete Hull 

Task Lead 

Stephen Bowen 

Tanya Buttress 

Bridget Kanawati 

Russell Miller 

Richard Rowe 

Sarah Maloney 

Division Manager 

John Sopko 

Deputy Director

HERALDING UNHEARD 

VOICES: THE ROLE OF 

FAITH-BASED 

ORGANIZATIONS AND 

NONGOVERNMENTAL 

ORGANIZATIONS DURING 

DISASTERS

Final Report 

December 18, 2006 

Prepared for the 

Department of Homeland Security 

Science and Technology Directorate 

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Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

Acknowledgements 

In particular, we wish to express our deep gratitude to the following people whose help in this report was 

so valuable: 

Bill Bollier, State of Louisiana 

Reverend John Boyles, Faith Prepared Network 

Captain Wilbur Douglass III, Chaplain Corps, U.S. Navy 

Captain Leroy Gilbert, Chaplain Corps, U.S. Navy (Ret.) 

Chaplain Gene Ground, Victim Relief Ministries 

Jody L. Herrington, Operation Blessing 

Bill Horan, Operation Blessing 

Dr. Gary Huckabay, U.S. Northern Command 

Dr. Ernest L. Johnson, Louisiana NAACP 

Bill Lokey, Federal Emergency Management Agency 

Mary Marr, Christian Emergency Network 

Keith Rothfus, Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, DHS 

Reverend Daniel K. Soliday, Nazarene Disaster Response 

Kate Summers, U.S. Senate Sergeant at Arms 

Susan Taylor, Churches of Scientology Disaster Response 

Kenneth G. Thompson, Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism 

For information about this publication or other HSI research, contact 

Homeland Security Institute 

Analytic Services Incorporated 

2900 S. Quincy Street 

Arlington, VA 22206 

Tel (703) 416-3550 • Fax (703) 416-3530 

www.homelandsecurity.org

HSI Publication Number: RP006-44-01 

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Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

CONTENTS

Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................................................................... ii

Executive Summary.....................................................................................................................................................1

Objectives ............................................................................................................................................................1

Approach..............................................................................................................................................................1

Findings................................................................................................................................................................2

Recommendations................................................................................................................................................3

1. Introduction .............................................................................................................................................................5

Surprising Successes Amid Chaos .......................................................................................................................5

The Context: Filling the Breach Left by Traditional Resources ..........................................................................6

2. Project Overview .....................................................................................................................................................7

The Project’s Objectives ......................................................................................................................................7

Scope....................................................................................................................................................................7

Methodology........................................................................................................................................................8

FBO and NGO Distinction...................................................................................................................................9

Assumptions.......................................................................................................................................................10

Services..............................................................................................................................................................10

Organization of Findings....................................................................................................................................11

3. Significant Impact..................................................................................................................................................13

Research Question 1...........................................................................................................................................13

Findings..............................................................................................................................................................13

4. Services ...................................................................................................................................................................17

Research Question 2...........................................................................................................................................17

Findings..............................................................................................................................................................17

5. Limitations and Challenges ..................................................................................................................................23

Research Question 3...........................................................................................................................................23

Findings..............................................................................................................................................................23

6. Best Practices .........................................................................................................................................................27

Research Question 4...........................................................................................................................................27

Findings..............................................................................................................................................................27

7. Why Were FBOs and NGOs So Effective?..........................................................................................................29

Research Question 5...........................................................................................................................................29

Findings..............................................................................................................................................................29

8. Conclusion..............................................................................................................................................................33

Exploration and Discovery.................................................................................................................................33

Findings..............................................................................................................................................................33

Recommendations..............................................................................................................................................35

Moving Forward ................................................................................................................................................37

Epilogue .............................................................................................................................................................37

Appendix A1. Shelter Services..................................................................................................................................39

Discussion..........................................................................................................................................................39

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Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

Sub-function: Shelter Evacuees .........................................................................................................................41

Sub-function: Shelter Relief Workers and Volunteers.......................................................................................42

Findings..............................................................................................................................................................42

Limitations and Challenges................................................................................................................................43

Best Practices .....................................................................................................................................................44

Appendix A2. Food Services .....................................................................................................................................45

Discussion..........................................................................................................................................................45

Sub-function: Prepare Meals..............................................................................................................................46

Sub-function: Serve Meals.................................................................................................................................48

Findings..............................................................................................................................................................48

Limitations and Challenges................................................................................................................................48

Best Practices .....................................................................................................................................................48

Appendix A3. Medical Services ................................................................................................................................49

Discussion..........................................................................................................................................................49

Sub-function: Advanced Medical Care ..............................................................................................................50

Sub-function: Basic Medical Care or First Aid..................................................................................................50

Sub-function: Prescription Medication ..............................................................................................................50

Findings..............................................................................................................................................................51

Limitations and Challenges................................................................................................................................51

Best Practices .....................................................................................................................................................52

Appendix A4. Personal Hygiene Services ................................................................................................................53

Discussion..........................................................................................................................................................53

Sub-function: Assemble and Distribute Toiletry Supplies.................................................................................54

Sub-function: Toilet Facilities............................................................................................................................55

Sub-function: Showers.......................................................................................................................................55

Sub-function: Laundry Services.........................................................................................................................56

Findings..............................................................................................................................................................57

Limitations and Challenges................................................................................................................................57

Best Practices .....................................................................................................................................................58

Appendix A5. Mental Health and Spiritual Support..............................................................................................59

Discussion..........................................................................................................................................................59

Sub-function: Mental Health Services ...............................................................................................................60

Sub-function: Spiritual Support Services...........................................................................................................61

Findings..............................................................................................................................................................61

Limitations and Challenges................................................................................................................................62

Best Practices .....................................................................................................................................................62

Appendix A6. Physical Reconstruction Services.....................................................................................................63

Sub-function: Debris and Tree Removal............................................................................................................64

Sub-function: Structure Mudding Out and Cleanup...........................................................................................64

Sub-function: Home Repair ...............................................................................................................................65

Findings..............................................................................................................................................................65

Limitations and Challenges................................................................................................................................66

Best Practices .....................................................................................................................................................66

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Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

Appendix A7. Logistics Management and Services ................................................................................................67

Discussion..........................................................................................................................................................67

Sub-function: Assess Community Logistics Needs ...........................................................................................68

Sub-function: Transport and Distribute Supplies...............................................................................................68

Sub-function: Warehousing ...............................................................................................................................69

Findings..............................................................................................................................................................70

Limitations and Challenges................................................................................................................................70

Best Practices .....................................................................................................................................................71

Appendix A8. Transportation Management and Services .....................................................................................73

Discussion..........................................................................................................................................................74

Sub-function: Evacuee Shuttles .........................................................................................................................74

Sub-function: Volunteer and Relief Worker Shuttles ........................................................................................75

Sub-function: Evacuate or Relocate Victims .....................................................................................................75

Findings..............................................................................................................................................................76

Limitations and Challenges................................................................................................................................76

Best Practices .....................................................................................................................................................77

Appendix A9. Children’s Services............................................................................................................................79

Discussion..........................................................................................................................................................79

Sub-function: Child Care Services.....................................................................................................................80

Sub-function: Recreational Services ..................................................................................................................81

Sub-function: Educational Services ...................................................................................................................82

Findings..............................................................................................................................................................83

Limitations and Challenges................................................................................................................................83

Best Practices .....................................................................................................................................................84

Appendix A10. Case Management and Related Services.......................................................................................85

Sub-function: Provide Information ....................................................................................................................86

Sub-function: Referral Services .........................................................................................................................87

Sub-function: Form and Application Assistance................................................................................................87

Sub-function: Financial Relief ...........................................................................................................................88

Findings..............................................................................................................................................................88

Limitations and Challenges................................................................................................................................88

Best Practices .....................................................................................................................................................89

Bibliography...............................................................................................................................................................91

Appendix B. Conference Material............................................................................................................................97

Appendix B1. Conference Invitation........................................................................................................................99

Appendix B2. Conference Agenda .........................................................................................................................100

Heralding Unheard Voices:..............................................................................................................................100

The Role of Faith-Based and Non-Governmental Organizations During Disaster ..........................................100

Appendix B3. Panelists’ Biographies .....................................................................................................................101

Appendix B4. Keynote Speech (1) ..........................................................................................................................103

Reflections on Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and Grassroots Faith-based Organizations (FBOs) 

Response to 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina..........................................................................................................103

Appendix B5. Survey...............................................................................................................................................111

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Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

Appendix C. Surveys Referenced for Research ....................................................................................................113

Appendix D. List of In-Person Interviews .............................................................................................................115

Notes .........................................................................................................................................................................117

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Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

GLOSSARY

AAR after-action report 

ACORN Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now 

ARC American Red Cross 

BISCO Bayou Interfaith Shared Community Organization 

CEN Christian Emergency Network 

CMSA Case Management Society of America 

CWE Christian World Embassy 

DCC disaster child care 

DHS Department of Homeland Security 

DMAT Disaster Medical Assistance Team 

EMT emergency medical technician 

EOP emergency operations plan 

ESF Emergency Support Function 

FBO faith-based organization 

FEMA Federal Emergency Management Agency 

GAO Government Accountability Office 

HHS Department of Health and Human Services 

HSI Homeland Security Institute 

HSRI Human Services Response Institute 

HUD Department of Housing and Urban Development 

IRD international relief and development 

IRS Internal Revenue Service 

LANO Louisiana Association of Nonprofit Organizations 

LDR Lutheran Disaster Response 

LSU Louisiana State University 

NAACP National Association for the Advancement of Colored People 

NDR Nazarene Disaster Response 

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Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

NGO nongovernmental organization 

NRCC National Response Coordination Center 

NRP National Response Plan 

OBI Operation Blessing International 

OIG Office of the Inspector General 

POD point of distribution 

SBC Southern Baptist Convention 

SDR Churches of Scientology Disaster Response 

SOP standard operating procedure 

TBM Texas Baptist Men 

TRACK Transitional Recovery Action Center for Katrina/Rita 

USERRA Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act 

UMC United Methodist Church 

UMCOR United Methodist Committee on Relief 

UPC University Presbyterian Church 

USCG U.S. Coast Guard 

VAL volunteer agency liaisons 

VOAD Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster 

YMCA Young Men’s Christian Association 

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Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Faith-based organizations (FBOs) and secular nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) stepped in to fill 

the gaps when the geographic scales, intensities, and durations of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita 

overwhelmed the existing disaster response resources. FBOs and NGOs undertook a surprisingly large, 

varied, and demanding set of activities with extraordinary effectiveness. 

They provided shelter, food, medical services, hygiene services, mental health and spiritual care, physical 

reconstruction, logistics management and services, transportation, children’s services, and case 

management. The FBOs’ and NGOs’ successes in providing these services are a stark contrast to the 

many chronicled deficiencies and failures of government during the catastrophic 2005 hurricane season. 

By studying these organizations’ successes, we can learn lessons that may make the nation better prepared 

for, and thus more responsive to, such disasters. 

Objectives 

This Homeland Security Institute (HSI) project analyzed the role of FBOs and NGOs during disasters. 

The study is not a comparison between government efforts and those of other organizations. Nor does the 

study compare small organizations to large organizations. 

Our goal was to learn from their experience, to recognize the roles played by these organizations, and to 

provide the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) with an understanding that will enable government 

to work more effectively with these organizations in future disasters. 

The research focused on five key research questions: 

1. Did FBOs and NGOs have a significant beneficial impact during and after Hurricanes Katrina 

and Rita? 

2. What are the services performed by FBOs and NGOs? 

3. What are the limitations and challenges to FBOs and NGOs in performing these services? 

4. What best practices did FBOs and NGOs develop related to those services? 

5. If they did have significant beneficial impact, why were they so effective? 

Approach 

Our methodology incorporated two techniques: historical analysis and quantitative analysis. The historical 

analysis drew upon extensive interviews with staff and volunteers from organizations most of which are 

located in the region directly affected. We contacted 1,082 FBOs and NGOs and conducted 252 phone 

interviews and 46 in-person, in-depth interviews. We also convened a conference in Baton Rouge of 

233 attendees, mostly from local FBOs and NGOs. The breakout sessions from that conference provided 

us with additional data and enabled us to validate initial findings. The quantitative analysis drew upon our 

survey. We sent the survey to 694 organizations. We received 153 responses from 127 organizations. The 

survey asked questions about 41 relief and recovery activities. 

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Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

Findings 

HSI’s major findings from this study include: 

1. FBOs and NGOs had a significant beneficial impact during and after Hurricanes Katrina and 

Rita. Thousands of FBOs and NGOs provided services across the entire geographic region affected by the 

hurricanes. The scale of their response was unprecedented. In some communities, they—not the 

government—were the focal point for services. In other communities, they were the sole or lead provider 

of services for days or weeks. They made life-and-death differences in people’s lives. They gave food to 

the hungry and vulnerable. They reduced suffering, facilitated restoration of infrastructure (primarily by 

housing relief workers and volunteers), and lessened the economic impact of the hurricanes by donating 

services and material resources. 

2. FBOs and NGOs provided services in at least ten distinct service areas: shelter, food services, 

medical services, personal hygiene services, mental health and spiritual support, physical reconstruction, 

logistics management and services, transportation management and services, children’s services, and case 

management and related services. 

3. FBOs and NGOs faced significant limitations and challenges in performing these services: 

inadequate government planning, overlooked service needs, inadequate coordination and integration, 

problems with access and credentialing, inadequate training and experience, cost (economic, physical, and 

emotional), unanticipated needs for long-term services, and waste management and sanitation. 

4. Organizations adapted and developed effective practices to deal with these limitations and 

challenges. These are three of the best practices that apply broadly: 

• Specialization. Many FBOs and NGOs specialized in one or a few services. This proved highly 

effective, especially if the organization could partner with others that were providing 

complementary services. Specialization optimizes the contribution of organizations during a 

disaster. Specialization was a best practice noted in four functional areas: food, medical services, 

mental health and spiritual support, and physical reconstruction. 

• Partnering. Organizations partnered with one another to meet complementary needs. This also 

was highly effective. Examples were arrangements where one FBO served as the shelter, while a 

community NGO prepared the meals and delivered them to the shelter. Partnering was a best 

practice noted in four functional areas: food, logistics management and services, children’s 

services, and case management. 

• Preserving family unity. Shelters that strove to preserve family unity found that this practice had 

beneficial ramifications in shelter operations, medical services, mental health and spiritual 

support, and children’s services. This was also a best practice for facilitating care for those with 

special needs. 

Additional best practices unique to just one service area are identified in the appendix for that service. 

5. FBOs and NGOs were effective for three broad reasons: their specific mission and strong 

motivation to be responsive to whatever people needed, their closeness to and familiarity with the 

communities they served, and access, either directly or through networks, to unique resources and 

capabilities directly applicable to the types of services needed following a disaster. 

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Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

Recommendations 

Governments should: 

1. Encourage and learn from FBO and NGO best practices 

2. Address overlooked services such as routine transportation, children’s services, and pop-up 

shelters in response and recovery planning 

3. Investigate inclusion of FBOs and NGOs, particularly local ones, in planning, coordination, 

integration, training, and exercises 

4. Resolve challenges with 

a. Access and credentialing 

b. Long-term services 

c. Waste management and sanitation 

5. Reconsider the appropriate balance between government and nongovernment responsibilities 

and between local and higher levels, to provide good, quick and flexible response to disasters 

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Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

4 
Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

1. INTRODUCTION

Americans responded to Hurricane Katrina in unprecedented ways.... The Federal 

Government knows a lot about the works of non-governmental agencies that are 

approved or affiliated with the federal, state, local agencies. However, little is known 

about the role and effectiveness of grassroots faith-based organizations that provided 

incalculable services to victims of Hurricane Katrina. 

Captain Leroy Gilbert, Chaplain Corps, U.S. Navy (retired), keynote address, 

Heralding Unheard Voices Conference1

Surprising Successes Amid Chaos 

In Hattiesburg, MS, Temple Baptist Church opens its doors as a shelter for over 300 workers from the 

local power utility. Church volunteers operate the facility around the clock for three weeks so linemen 

and technicians can rest between their arduous shifts returning power to the battered community.2

 In East 

Baton Rouge, LA, University Methodist Church operates a distribution center providing critical supplies 

to other shelters.3

 Elsewhere in Baton Rouge, Lifting Up This Temple Unto God Full Gospel Church uses 

its bus to shuttle evacuees to medical clinics and bathing facilities.4

 In Opelousas, LA, Pastor Nathaniel 

Carter opens the New Life Church of God in Christ as a shelter the night Hurricane Katrina makes 

landfall. He does so without direction from any government authority. Over the next five months, the 

shelter provides refuge for 200 to 300 evacuees each evening.5

These are four snapshots from hundreds of similar examples that occurred in the wake of Hurricanes 

Katrina and Rita. In the hours, weeks, and months following those disasters, faith-based organizations 

(FBOs) and other nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) provided critically needed services, resources, 

and capabilities. 

These hurricanes brought together those with experience, skill, and resources with those who only had a 

desire to serve in a noble and very necessary cause: to bring relief to suffering people. For some 

organizations, such as the international relief organization Operation Blessing, disaster response is a core 

capability, their raison d’être. But for many organizations, particularly local churches, such as Christway 

Church in Bentley, LA, that is not the case. Christway Church is a very small congregation that had no 

experience in sheltering prior to Hurricane Katrina. Yet the congregation of Christway Church found a 

way to shelter evacuees, and it did so for two months.6

Large national organizations and small neighborhood ones, faith-based and secular, from all 50 states and 

beyond, came together in this time of our nation’s need. These organizations didn’t wait for authority and 

guidance from anyone other than their own leadership, members, and/or congregants. Local organizations 

often began helping others while they themselves were suffering from the effects of the storms. 

FBOs and other NGOs were incredibly effective even though they were not included in much of the 

government pre-disaster planning and did not have experience in such relief efforts. These organizations 

sheltered tens of thousands of evacuees, prepared and served millions of meals, and provided a broad 

range of services: medical care, warehousing, physical reconstruction, and more. They provided these 

services not only for evacuees, but also for relief workers and volunteers. This is a critical and often 

overlooked aspect of these organizations. By hosting those who came into a community to rebuild and 

restore, FBOs and NGOs enabled communities to heal and return to a more normal condition. Many are 

still doing so today. 

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Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

In the four examples above, we see a glimpse of past efforts, and, no doubt, visions of future ones. These 

and hundreds of other examples show us what could happen should there be another devastating event 

that cripples government and slows its response. In the absence of governments, neighbors will help 

neighbors. This is a powerful force in America and one that is not well understood at the state or federal 

level in any coherent fashion. But should we ever face another disaster of the magnitude of Hurricanes 

Katrina and Rita—or greater—it will be these national and local organizations that will be there day after 

day, on the front lines, serving meals, caring for the victims, restoring services, and rebuilding lives and 

communities. 

FBOs and NGOs had a significant beneficial impact for many victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. 

They provided shelter, food, medical services, hygiene services, mental health and spiritual care, physical 

reconstruction, logistics management and services, transportation, children’s services, and case 

management. What follows is a glimpse into the world of FBOs and NGOs and their actions following 

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. It is a journey into a world of volunteers, of small local churches and large 

national denominations, of neighbors helping neighbors and also helping strangers, of downtown soup 

kitchens and outreach centers, and of those dedicated to serving others: good Samaritans all. 

In the midst of all the horrible things that went wrong in Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, theirs is an untold 

story that exemplifies the best of America. Perhaps even more important, the keys to their success point 

the way to improvements in disaster response by all sources, at all levels, in the future. 

The Context: Filling the Breach Left by Traditional Resources 

In the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, what many may consider the big story has already been 

told: the story of the governments’ performance. Many after-action reports (AARs) focused on the 

various levels of government, on government agencies, and on the American Red Cross (ARC). Few have 

highlighted the successes of faith-based organizations and nongovernmental organizations; the account of 

the disaster response and recovery effort is not complete without their stories. 

Previously, the ARC provided shelters following a disaster, but the geographic scale, intensity, and 

duration of these two hurricanes overwhelmed the existing disaster response architecture. Few Americans 

realize that in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, hundreds of pop-up shelters—often simple 

churches with nothing but a few cots and a strong sense of compassion—opened their doors to evacuees.7

FBOs and NGOs had stepped in to fill the gaps. 

The successes of FBOs and NGOs in the wake of these disasters are a stark contrast to the many 

chronicled deficiencies and failures of government. From these organizations’ successes, we can learn 

lessons that could make the nation better prepared for, and thus more responsive to, such catastrophes. 

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Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

2. PROJECT OVERVIEW

...organizations stepped in to provide for “unmet needs.” When the government (federal, 

state, local) or national emergency organizations failed to act expeditiously or could not 

provide the essential services for victims of Katrina, grassroots faith-based organizations 

saw what needed to be done and acted according to the needs of the people. 

Captain Leroy Gilbert, Chaplain Corps, U.S. Navy (retired), keynote address, 

Heralding Unheard Voices Conference8

The Project’s Objectives 

This project analyzed the role of FBOs and NGOs during and after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The 

research focused on five key questions: 

1. Did FBOs and NGOs have a significant beneficial impact during and after Hurricanes Katrina 

and Rita? 

2. What were and are the services performed by FBOs and NGOs? 

3. What are the limitations and challenges to FBOs and NGOs performing these services? 

4. What best practices did they develop related to those functions? 

5. If they did have significant beneficial impact, why were they so effective? 

Our primary purpose in conducting this study has been to learn what FBOs and NGOs, particularly local 

ones, did in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Although there have been a number of AARs 

following these disasters, there has yet to be a comprehensive accounting of the experiences of these 

specific communities. Thus, the goal of this study is to inform the Department of Homeland Security 

(DHS) of the range of capabilities that FBOs and NGOs have at their disposal during times of crisis and, 

by doing so, to encourage better utilization of these organizations. 

Scope 

The scope of this study was bounded by three dimensions: 

1. Organizations. We looked only at FBOs and NGOs. We did not examine the performance of 

government agencies, such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). In those 

cases where there was interaction between an organization and the government, we examined 

the issue from the organization’s perspective. 

2. Unheralded. We looked only at organizations whose roles in the wake of the hurricanes may not 

be well known. For example, we did not examine the ARC, as much has already been written 

about it. It has produced its own after-action report, and its representatives have testified before 

Congress. In those cases where there was interaction between an organization and the ARC, we 

examined the issue from the organization’s perspective. 

3. Hurricanes Katrina and Rita Only. We did not look at the role of FBOs and other NGOs in 

disasters other than Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. However, the findings identified can apply to 

many events, particularly those that cover a large geographic area. 

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Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

Methodology 

The geographically dispersed, naturally distributed, sometimes nonhierarchical nature of these 

organizations—some of the characteristics that can contribute to their effectiveness in a disaster—also 

makes them difficult to research. There is no single source that can provide a comprehensive view of the 

contribution made by these organizations in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. In fact, even a 

year after the event, no single comprehensive database identifies all of the organizations that participated 

and what they did. This is particularly true of the smaller FBOs. 

Quantitative data simply do not exist for this subject matter. Therefore, our methodology was largely 

qualitative, augmented with limited quantitative data. 

Our approach included the following: 

• Literature search and review 

• Contact with 1,082 organizations 

• 252 phone interviews 

• 46 in-depth in-person interviews 

• Visits to New Orleans, Baton Rouge, and other affected areas 

• A conference where speakers, panels, and breakout sessions provided us with additional data and 

enabled us to validate initial findings 

• Surveys of 127 organizations 

Interviews 

The bulk of our data is drawn from 252 phone interviews and 46 individual in-person interviews 

conducted from February through June 2006. 

Telephone interviews were open ended: we did not seek specific answers to specific questions. Rather, in 

each interview, our team members encouraged interviewees to simply tell us their story. This approach 

was necessary; some interviewees were initially reluctant to speak with an interviewer who represented 

the government. Many of the caregivers were themselves traumatized and harmed by the events. Our 

dialogue was designed to reassure them and cause no additional emotional harm. Finally, it was important 

to explore the background and issues associated with this topic, and an “open topic” approach seemed to 

encourage the necessary type of dialogue we sought. 

Additionally, we interviewed 46 individuals in person. As a part of these interviews, members of our team 

visited the facilities of Operation Blessing, the Salvation Army, the Louisiana Family Assistance Center, 

and others. These interviews were invaluable in establishing relationships with those organizations on the 

ground. They helped deepen our understanding of the issues. For a complete list of all the participating 

individuals, please see Appendix D. 

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Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

Survey 

We sent our survey to 694 individuals and organizations. We received 153 responses from 127 

organizations. The survey asks binary questions (yes or no) about 41 relief and recovery activities that 

were performed by FBOs and NGOs after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. 

Complete documentation of the survey is provided in Appendix B. 

Conference 

On June 7, 2006, the Homeland Security Institute hosted a one-day conference entitled “Heralding 

Unheard Voices: The Role of Faith-Based and Non-Governmental Organizations During Disaster,” at the 

River Center in Baton Rouge, LA. The conference was open to any FBO or NGO that provided services 

during or after Hurricanes Katrina or Rita. A total of 233 attendees ranged from national directors of large 

organizations to first-time volunteers and included several DHS, FEMA, and state government 

representatives. 

The conference included plenary sessions with speakers and panels, as well as breakout sessions that 

allowed HSI to gather comments from attendees. 

Transcripts of speeches, and all other conference-related documents, are provided in Appendix B. 

FBO and NGO Distinction 

For the purposes of this study, FBOs are defined as organizations having a religious or faith-based 

affiliation; these are usually associated to some degree with a larger denomination. Other NGOs, referred 

to simply as “NGOs” for brevity’s sake, are defined as organizations that do not have such an orientation. 

For many FBOs and NGOs, participation in disaster response and recovery is not their primary role. 

According to John Berglund, the National Disaster Services Coordinator for the Salvation Army, when it 

comes to mass care, FEMA and the ARC are the two primary responsible agencies. They are followed by 

a sizeable list of federal agencies and then by the Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster. “And 

underneath all of those are all the faith-based organizations, and all other organizations that provide 

services,” states Berglund. 

However, he continues: “... Being a support agency, you support—you help where you can, when you 

can, how you can. And that’s where the Salvation Army fits in, that’s where the Southern Baptists fit in, 

that’s where the Mennonites fit in, the Adventists.... For us [FBOs and NGOs], disaster services isn’t 

even a core mission—it’s a service that we provide.”9

U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) teams visiting the Gulf Coast region in October 2005 

observed that “in areas where the American Red Cross did not provide services, the Salvation Army and 

smaller organizations—often local churches—were able to meet many of the charitable needs of hard-toreach communities.... Further, where the American Red Cross was able to establish shelters, the needs of 

victims sometimes exceeded the capacity of the American Red Cross.”10 In those areas, it was Berglund’s 

bottom tier (FBOs and NGOs) who mobilized to address the needs of their congregations and of the 

broader community. 

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Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

Assumptions 

Four assumptions, although not articulated formally, were initially present: 

1. FBOs and NGOs who responded to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita augmented government and 

American Red Cross response 

2. Their impact, though beneficial, was not significant, at least not compared to the impact of 

government and the American Red Cross 

3. Their contribution was limited to traditional areas of FBO and NGO service, such as mental 

health and spiritual services 

4. Their story could be told within the scope and scale of this project 

All four assumptions proved not to be true. 

Services 

The analysis is presented from the perspective of “services.” We asked the questions “What did the 

organization do?” and “What service or function did the organization provide?” 

FBOs and NGOs provide communities with a range of services. Examples are shelter, food, and medical 

care. We focused our research on those services performed most frequently by FBOs and NGOs. 

Disaster Child Care Ministry 

The Church of the Brethren denomination is an example of a faith-based organization that provides 

services during disasters. 

According to Roy Winter, Emergency Relief Director with the Church of the Brethren’s Disaster Child 

Care Ministry, volunteers seek to “create a safe and friendly environment to give children the freedom to 

act like children.” Volunteers give child victims individual attention and engage them in therapeutic play 

activities designed to relieve stress and calm fears stemming from the disaster. The Ministry also focuses 

on education and training for educators and parents on the effects of disasters on children.*

In response to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the Church of the Brethren mobilized 3,000 churches from 

across the nation to supply emergency child care volunteers through its Disaster Child Care Ministry. 

These volunteers established child care centers at numerous shelters along the Gulf Coast.†

Within each service, we examined several sub-functions. For example, within Shelter, we found two subfunctions: (1) Shelter Evacuees and (2) Shelter Relief Workers or Volunteers. 

 

*

 Disaster Service/Emergency Ministries, Church of the Brethren, “Disaster Child Care,” 

www.brethren.org/genbd/ersm/dcc.htm. 

†

 Roy Winter, Emergency Relief Director, Church of the Brethren Emergency Response/Service Ministries, new 

Windsor, MD, interview with Steve Bowen, April 18, 2006. 

10 
Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

We found that FBOs and NGOs performed at least ten major services and 33 sub-functions. They 

performed other services, but these were the more important and most frequent ones. One would expect 

FBOs and NGOs to do some of these, such as spiritual counseling. It makes sense that faith-based 

organizations would be engaged in spiritual counseling during and following a crisis. However, other 

services provided are quite unexpected. For example, 67 FBOs and NGOs out of 127 organizations 

surveyed provided for the warehousing of supplies. 

Those ten services are 

1. Shelter services 

2. Food services 

3. Medical services 

4. Personal hygiene services 

5. Mental health and spiritual support 

6. Physical reconstruction services 

7. Logistics management and services 

8. Transportation management and services 

9. Children’s services 

10. Case management services 

Organization of Findings 

In the following sections we present our findings related to each of the five research questions. These are 

significant cross-cutting themes that apply to many functional areas. 

Appendices A1–A10 present additional information on the findings specific to each of the services 

provided by FBOs and NGOs. 

The main body of this paper provides DHS personnel, principally decision makers and operators who may 

have to work with the FBO and NGO communities during a disaster, with key information. While the 

appendices contain findings valuable to that audience, we wrote them with the FBO and NGO 

communities in mind. We believe that the appendices may be particularly helpful to readers wishing to 

gain greater understanding of the role of FBOs and NGOs during and following disasters. 

11
Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

12 
Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

3. SIGNIFICANT IMPACT

The number of volunteer and non-profit organizations providing support to the 

Hurricane Katrina relief effort was truly extraordinary. Virtually every national, regional 

and local charitable organization in the U.S., and many from abroad, contributed aid to 

the victims of Hurricane Katrina. 

The White House, The Federal Response to Hurricane Katrina: Lessons Learned 11

Research Question 1 

Did FBOs and NGOs have a significant beneficial impact during and after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita? 

In discussions with government officials prior to the launch of this project, we found a general 

recognition that FBOs and NGOs played a role during and after the hurricanes. However, it was not clear 

how significant that role may have been. The prevailing opinion seemed to be that FBOs and NGOs 

augmented, in some small way, government services and the services of others who respond to disasters. 

We found just the opposite to be true. It was neighborhood congregations, local food banks, community 

outreach centers, the churches, mosques, synagogues, temples, and other community organizations—the 

local fabric of America—that appear to have carried the day to a great degree. 

Findings 

FBOs and NGOs had a significant beneficial impact in at least ten services areas. (See Appendices A1–

A10.) Through their efforts in these areas, they reduced suffering, facilitated restoration of infrastructure 

(mostly by housing relief workers and volunteers), and lessened the economic impact of the hurricanes by 

donating services and material resources. 

In particular, findings related to the scope, scale, focal point, and the lead or sole provider demonstrated 

the significant FBO/NGO impact. 

Scope. FBOs and NGOs provided services across the entire geographic region affected by the hurricanes. 

National organizations and denominations brought resources to the four states most affected by the 

hurricanes: Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Texas. Some of the larger national organizations and 

several denominations began staging materials and personnel in neighboring states prior to Hurricane 

Katrina’s landfall so that they would be ready to deploy into the disaster area once the hurricane had 

passed. Local FBOs and NGOs across the entire region also responded. Conversations with those 

organizations reveal that many did not anticipate the scope of disaster. However, once the need arose, 

they endeavored to meet it as best they could with the resources on hand and available to them through 

networks. 

13
Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

Victim Relief Ministries 

Victim Relief Ministries is an example of an FBO that made a significant impact following Hurricanes 

Katrina and Rita. 

The mission of Victim Relief Ministries is to “provide a system of faith-based assistance from highly 

trained local church volunteers of all denominations, reaching out to meet the physical, emotional and 

spiritual needs of victims of crime.”*

When Hurricane Katrina hit, Victim Relief Ministries mobilized volunteer Victim Chaplains and Crisis 

Responders and dispatched them to the disaster area. “Even though this was not a crime, we knew our 

chaplains needed to be there to help,” says Gene Grounds, President of Victim Relief Ministries. 

Those chaplains served a variety of spiritual functions. When many former residents of New Orleans’ 

Ninth Ward returned home for the first time to “look and leave,” they were accompanied by Victim Relief 

Chaplains. Victim Relief Chaplains were on duty in the Louisiana Family Assistance Center. There, they 

comforted the families of the deceased and encouraged those searching for missing loved ones. We saw 

one of their functions during our visit to New Orleans’ devastated Ninth Ward. The fire department 

believed they had found human remains that day in the wreckage of a building; they called for a Victim 

Relief Chaplain to be present as they removed the last bit of rubble. Had a body been found, the Chaplain 

would have said a brief prayer. That morning, remains were not found. But on many other occasions, they 

were. In those instances, Victim Relief Chaplains offered a nondenominational prayer. In fact, we 

included one Victim Relief Chaplain in each of our eight breakout groups at the Heralding Unheard 

Voices conference in case our questions reopened barely closed wounds. The Chaplains were there to 

provide strength and comfort to anyone who might need it. 

The relationships between Victim Relief Ministries and local police departments are unique. While many 

local police departments have chaplains on the force, often they minister to the spiritual needs of police 

officers and other responders; but the victim and the family of victims also need spiritual support during 

crises, and thus was born Victim Relief Ministries. 

And while the organization is small compared to some of the other national and international 

organizations, it has had a tremendous impact in providing support to those most in need in the Gulf 

Coast. 

Scale. Thousands of organizations provided tens of thousands of volunteer hours and hundreds of 

millions of dollars in resources. Organizations from all 50 states and the international community 

responded. Local FBOs, in particular, from across the nation, on their own accord, provided donations, 

material, and in many cases teams of volunteers. Some of these efforts were coordinated through national 

organizations or denominations. Often, staff or congregation members of one FBO would establish 

contact with someone they knew in a church or organization in the disaster area, and based on that contact 

would send donations or material or arrange for a team of volunteers to travel to the disaster area. 

 

*

 Victim Relief Ministries, “A Faith Based Organization with a Heart for Helping Victims,” 

www.victimrelief.org/about.htm. 

14 
Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

Focal point. FBOs and NGOs were central to the response and recovery effort. In some communities, 

FBOs and NGOs were the only organizations and agencies providing aid. In some cases, when 

government services returned to a community, they rallied around or used the local FBO or NGO as a 

focal point for services. 

Lead or sole provider. In many service areas, FBOs and NGOs did not augment government response. 

Rather, they took the lead, and government augmented their efforts. In some communities, they were the 

only ones to provide shelter, food, or medical services for days or even weeks. And today, in many 

communities, FBOs and NGOs are still providing recovery services. 

15
Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

16 
Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

4. SERVICES

Hurricane Katrina showed us faith-based organizations doing superb work and being 

way ahead of government. 

Jim Towey, Director of the White House Office for Faith-Based and 

Community Initiatives12

Research Question 2 

What are the services performed by FBOs and NGOs? 

We expected that the range of services provided by these organizations would be somewhat limited. The 

prevailing assumption was that FBOs and NGOs expanded upon existing services—such as spiritual 

counseling—and that they added a few emergency services, such as shelter, food, and water. 

Instead, we found a network of thousands of FBOs and NGOs with advanced technical capabilities, with 

armies of volunteers, with facilities, capabilities, and processes on a scale that is remarkable. For 

example, one church provided dialysis treatments for those desperately in need of this essential medical 

treatment. Operation Blessing’s medical clinics’ teams of doctors and nurses provided advanced medical 

care. Organizations provided a host of other services, such as warehousing and distribution of supplies, 

transportation of evacuees, relief workers and volunteers, case management so victims could register for 

aid, and, of course, shelter and food. 

Findings 

FBOs and NGOs provided services in at least ten service areas. 

Shelter. Hurricane Katrina destroyed 300,000 

homes and displaced 770,000 people. Evacuees 

needed shelter. Pop-up shelters—those not 

associated with the ARC or FEMA—opened their 

doors to evacuees. Relief workers and volunteers 

also needed shelter. Without them, recovery could 

not begin. Local FBOs and NGOs sheltered 

hundreds of thousands of evacuees, relief workers, 

and volunteers. (See Appendix A1.) 

Of the local organizations we surveyed, 79% 

provided shelter to either evacuees or to relief 

workers and volunteers, or both; 65% provided 

shelter to evacuees; 51% provided shelter to relief 

workers and volunteers. 

(Note: In this service as well as in subsequent 

ones, percentages associated with sub-functions 

exceed 100%. This reflects the fact that many 

organizations performed more than one subfunction in a service area.)

Survey Results: Shelter 

79% provided shelter to evacuees, relief workers 

and volunteers, or both 

65% provided shelter to evacuees 

51% provided shelter to relief workers and 

volunteers

17
Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

Food services. Organizations, like the Salvation 

Army and Southern Baptist Convention provided 

millions of meals. (See Appendix A2.) 

Of the organizations we surveyed, 85% provided 

some type of food service: 65% prepared meals 

that they served or that they provided to other 

organizations for serving; 69% served meals that 

they either prepared themselves or received from 

others; 43% distributed prepared food to other 

communities or organizations.

Survey Results: Food Services 

85% provided some type of food service 

65% prepared meals that they served or that they 

provided to other organizations for serving 

69% served meals that they either prepared 

themselves or received from others 

43% distributed prepared food to other 

communities or organizations 

Medical services. Medical services provided by 

FBOs and NGOs included a wide range of 

activities that were administered by both 

professional medical personnel and by 

organization staff and volunteers with varying 

degrees of training. (See Appendix A3.) 

Of the organizations we surveyed, 62% performed 

some type of medical service: 35% provided 

advanced medical care; 43% provided basic 

medical care or first aid; 30% assisted with 

medical prescriptions.

Survey Results: Medical Services 

62% performed some type of medical service 

35% provided advanced medical care 

43% provided basic medical care or first aid 

30% assisted with medical prescriptions 

18 
Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

Personal hygiene services. Personal hygiene is a 

fundamental challenge following a disaster. 

Evacuees, relief workers, and volunteers may be 

at risk from contaminated flood waters, debris, 

and damaged buildings. Evacuees may have fled 

their homes without basic toiletry articles. In mass 

shelters such as the Superdome, toilets may fail. 

Adequate numbers of toilets and the cleanliness of 

toilet facilities was an issue. While all 

organizations had toilet facilities of some kind, the 

issue of availability and cleanliness of those 

facilities was often cited. Shelter hygiene is 

closely linked to personal hygiene; shelters need 

to be kept clean. (See Appendix A4.) 

Of the organizations we surveyed, 88% provided 

some type of personal hygiene services; 80% 

assembled or distributed supply kits including 

toiletries and cleanup supplies; 50% provided 

laundry services; 55% provided showers and other 

hygiene services.

Survey Results: Personal Hygiene 

88% provided some type of personal hygiene 

service 

80% assembled or distributed supply kits 

including toiletries and cleanup supplies 

50% provided laundry services 

55% provided showers and other hygiene services 

Mental health and spiritual support. Mental 

health and spiritual support services were 

common efforts provided by members of the FBO 

and NGO community. (See Appendix A5.) 

Of the organizations we surveyed, 87% provided 

some form of mental or spiritual counseling and 

care services; 58% provided mental health 

services; 81% provided spiritual counseling and 

care services. 

Survey Results: Mental Health and Spiritual 

Support 

87% provided some form of mental or spiritual 

counseling and care services 

58% provided mental or spiritual counseling and 

care services 

81% provided spiritual counseling and care 

services 

Physical reconstruction services. “Physical 

reconstruction” refers to a broad set of actions 

performed by organizations to reconstitute private 

physical property, such as individual homes and 

community structures. (See Appendix A6.) 

Of the organizations we surveyed, 54% were 

involved in some form of physical reconstruction 

services; 43% removed debris or trees; 34% 

removed mud and cleaned up homes; 47% 

provided home repair services such as interior 

gutting or roof repair.

Survey Results: Physical Reconstruction 

Services 

54% were involved in some form of physical 

reconstruction services 

43% removed debris or trees 

34% removed mud or cleaned up homes 

47% provided home repair services such as 

interior gutting or roof repair 

19
Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

Logistics management and services. FBOs and 

NGOs acquired, organized, and delivered 

emergency supplies to the victims of Hurricanes 

Katrina and Rita. (See Appendix A7.) 

Of the organizations we surveyed, 80% provided 

some form of logistics management and services; 

53% conducted assessments of community needs; 

72% transported or distributed supplies; 53% 

warehoused supplies. 

Survey Results: Logistics Management and 

Services 

80% provided some form of logistics management 

and services 

53% conducted assessments of community needs 

72% transported or distributed supplies 

53% warehoused supplies 

Transportation management and services.

Following disasters, many people need ordinary 

and routine transportation. Routine transportation 

is essential to reducing human suffering and 

lessening the economic impact of the disaster: 

people need to return to normal life as soon as the 

situation may allow. However, this fundamental 

need is not accommodated in most emergency 

planning, which commonly focuses on 

evacuation. Organizations found that this was one 

of the more important services they could provide. 

(See Appendix A8.) 

Of the organizations we surveyed, 61% provided 

some form of transportation services; 42% 

shuttled evacuees to places such as government 

offices and the offices of service providers; 38% 

shuttled relief workers and volunteers; 37% 

evacuated and/or relocated evacuees. 

Survey Results: Transportation Management 

and Services 

61% provided some form of transportation 

management and services 

42% shuttled evacuees 

38% shuttled relief workers and volunteers 

37% evacuated or relocated evacuees 

Children’s services. FBOs and NGOs provided 

specialized care for children and for families with 

children following both hurricanes. (See 

Appendix A9.) 

Of the organizations we surveyed, 50% provided 

child care or educational services; 24% 

established a formal child care center or program; 

46% provided educational services. Shelters also 

provided recreational activities specifically for 

children. 

Survey Results: Children’s Services 

50% provided child care or educational services 

24% established a formal child care center or 

program 

46% provided educational services 

20 
Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

Case management and related services. Case 

management is formal assistance provided to 

individuals and families to gain health and human 

services to which they are entitled. This involves 

trained case workers familiar with local, state, 

federal, and charitable assistance programs. (See 

Appendix A10.) 

Of the organizations we surveyed, 92% provided 

some form of case management or related service; 

79% provided information to evacuees; 87% 

referred evacuees to others, such as the Salvation 

Army or FEMA, to obtain services and care; 63% 

assisted evacuees in completing forms and 

applications; 71% provided direct financial relief 

to evacuees. 

Survey Results: Case Management and 

Related Services 

92% provided some form of case management or 

related service 

79% provided information to evacuees 

87% provided referral services 

63% assisted evacuees in completing forms and 

applications 

71% provided direct financial relief to evacuees 

21
Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

22 
Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

5. LIMITATIONS AND CHALLENGES

Social science research has consistently shown that community residents are the true first 

responders in both disasters and terrorist attacks, but homeland security initiatives 

ignore the vital role the public plays in disaster response....Social science knowledge 

with respect to the value of grass-roots preparedness efforts, community-based 

organizations, and the role played by both pre-planned and emergent disaster volunteer 

groups was never used in developing planning schemes for extreme events. 

Kathleen Tierney, The Red Pill13

Research Question 3 

What are the limitations and challenges to FBOs and NGOs providing these services? 

Limitations and challenges fell into two broad groupings: (1) coordination and planning and (2) resources. 

Within Coordination and Planning, four specific limitations and challenges were often cited: 

(1) government planning, (2) services overlooked, (3) coordination and integration, and (4) access and 

credentialing. Likewise, within Resources, four specific limitations and challenges were often cited: 

(1) training and experience, (2) cost, (3) long-term routine needs, and (4) waste management and 

sanitation. 

Findings 

1. Coordination and Planning 

• Non-inclusive government planning. FBOs and NGOs, with a few exceptions, are not included 

in the majority of governments’ planning for disaster response and recovery. They are generally 

not included in exercises and training events that would make them more effective in a crisis, and 

rarely consulted about what resources, including information, would be most helpful to them. 

This is particularly true for local organizations. Planning was a major limitation and challenge in 

six functional areas: shelter, medical services, hygiene, transportation management and services, 

children’s services, and case management. 

• Overlooked service needs. Emergency plans do not address emergent needs such as pop-up 

shelters and routine transportation. The requirement for pop-up shelters to accommodate a mass 

of evacuees unable to reach government or ARC shelters is not addressed in government 

planning. Likewise, routine transportation of evacuees to help them resume normal lives as well 

as routine transportation of relief workers and volunteers appears to be overlooked and yet was a 

large-scale problem. 

23
Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

Routine Transportation 

First United Methodist Church of Monroe, LA, provided routine daily transportation for evacuees and 

ferried volunteers and relief workers. 

First United Methodist Church housed evacuees in 12 locations. This presented a significant 

transportation challenge: how do you move those evacuees, every day, to all the places to which they 

need to go? The church had buses, so it recruited volunteer drivers, creating a makeshift local bus 

network for the evacuees. 

Besides providing local bus transportation for evacuees, the church made one-day blitzes to the Gulf 

Coast, ferrying teams of 20 to 40 volunteers to Gretna and Port Sulfur, LA, where they engaged in 

physical reconstruction services.*

• Inadequate coordination and integration. Government authorities and others failed to 

coordinate adequately with local and national FBOs and NGOs, even when the FBOs and NGOs 

were providing the bulk of services in a community. Local and organizations, especially smaller 

organizations, are not integrated into emergency operations plans for their communities. 

Consequently, they found it difficult to operate efficiently. Coordination and integration were 

major limitations and challenges in four of the ten functional areas: shelter, medical services, 

physical reconstruction services, and logistics management and services. 

• Problems with access and credentialing. FBOs and NGOs, particularly local ones, had 

difficulty with physical access to disaster areas and associated activities. Without governmentissued credentials identifying them as serving in some official capacity, they found themselves 

blocked from delivering resources and services. This was particularly an issue for smaller FBOs 

and NGOs that were not recognized at law enforcement and military checkpoints. In addition, 

spiritual care providers were not allowed access to some shelters. Access and credentialing were 

major limitations and challenges in three functional areas: mental health and spiritual support, 

logistics management and services, and transportation management and services. 

2. Resources 

• Inadequate training and experience. The great geographic scale of destruction and the intensity 

of this disaster prompted many local organizations who had never served in this capacity before 

to take action. The challenge of the destruction of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita was so great that 

FBOs and NGOs not usually involved in disaster relief became shelter operators, builders, case 

managers, shelter providers, caregivers, food and medicine providers, etc. Their effectiveness 

improved quickly. However, their lack of initial training and experience proved to be a challenge. 

Many local organizations had little or no training. Those that had prior training fared much better 

initially than those who had none. Training and experience were limitations and challenges in 

three functional areas: shelter, medical services, and physical reconstruction services. 

 

*

 Rev. Terry Love, Associate Pastor, First United Methodist Church of Monroe, LA, phone interview with Richard 

Rowe, May 10, 2006. 

24 
Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

• Cost. There is a significant cost to providing emergency relief. Organizations that undertook such 

missions bore financial, physical, and human costs. Interviewees frequently mentioned volunteer 

fatigue and staff burnout. Cost—particularly the human cost of serving—was an issue in every 

functional area, especially sheltering. There is little quantitative data on the human cost impact to 

organizations of serving during and after a disaster. However, the human cost became apparent to 

interviewers during the data collection phase of the project: calls to organizations, particularly 

smaller ones, were often met with news that the staff who served during and after the hurricanes 

had since departed the organization. 

• Unanticipated needs for long-term routine services. The needs of evacuees following the 

initial response—particularly in an event such as Hurricane Katrina, where the effects linger for 

months or years—are not adequately anticipated by government and others. For example, the 

need for routine transportation for evacuees is not included in emergency planning. Long-term 

routine needs are overlooked or are inadequately addressed in six functional areas: shelter, mental 

health and spiritual support, physical reconstruction, transportation, children’s services, and case 

management. 

• Waste management and sanitation. Waste management and sanitation proved to be one of the 

most significant challenges for which organizations were unable to develop a mitigating best 

practice. After public and private waste management and sanitation services broke down, no other 

agency stepped in to solve this problem. None of the FBOs and NGOs was equipped to provide a 

solution. Debris and solid waste were limitations and challenges in four functional areas: shelter, 

medical services, personal hygiene, and physical reconstruction. 

These were significant impediments to FBOs and NGOs’ making an even greater beneficial impact than 

they did. FBOs and NGOs developed practices to work around some of these limitations and challenges. 

Their success in doing so varied greatly. Two challenges and limitations were not adequately resolved: 

(1) access and credentialing and (2) waste management and sanitation. 

All of these challenges and limitations are issues that fall within the generally accepted role of 

government and government agencies following a disaster. Interviewees conveyed an impression that if 

government could address these limitations and challenges, FBOs and NGOs’ beneficial impact would be 

heightened. 

25
Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

26 
Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

6. BEST PRACTICES

People and communities in crisis need ... Such ...help is ...the natural mode of operation 

of non-governmental groups, from non-profit organizations ...to congregations and 

ethnic associations. 

Mark Chaves and William Tsitsos, “Congregations and Social Services: What 

They Do, How They Do It, and With Whom” 14

Research Question 4 

What best practices did organizations develop related to those services? 

There is no universally accepted definition of a best practice. In some fields, such as medicine, law 

enforcement, and the military, there are mechanisms for evaluating lessons learned and identifying those 

practices that are best. No such mechanism exists in the FBO and NGO world with regard to disaster 

response and recovery. 

In this world, practices that have been adopted and seemed to work well are shared informally, often 

through conferences or journals and articles. Some practices flow down to the local level from the ARC, 

the Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster, the Salvation Army, and other national organizations. 

The ARC identifies practices to be used in its shelters and when organizations operate in conjunction with 

it. It disseminates those through classes and training, and it requires an organization wishing to be an 

ARC supported provider during a disaster to adhere to those practices. 

The purpose of this paper did not include evaluating ARC practices to see whether they were best. Rather, 

what we sought was to identify the practices local FBOs and NGOs, particularly those outside the ARC 

umbrella, adopted to deal with limitations and challenges. For the sake of brevity, we did not reiterate 

practices that are well established and already recognized. 

Findings 

We discovered best practices that reached across all functions as well as best practices that applied to just 

one function or a few functions. Best practices that apply broadly are cited below. 

• Specialization. Many FBOs and NGOs specialized in one or a few services. This proved highly 

effective, especially if the organization could partner with others in its community that were 

providing complementary services. Specialization optimizes the contributions of organizations 

during a disaster. The major denominations have chosen to specialize in certain aspects of 

disaster response and recovery. Specialization was a best practice noted in four functional areas: 

food, medical services, mental health and spiritual support, and physical reconstruction. 

• Partnering. Organizations partnered with one another to meet complementary needs. This was 

also highly effective. An example is an arrangement in which one FBO serves as the shelter while 

a community NGO prepares the meals and delivers them to the shelter. Partnering was a best 

practice noted in four functional areas: food, logistics management and services, children’s 

services, and case management. 

• Family unity. Shelters that strove to preserve family unity found that this practice had beneficial 

ramifications in shelter operations, medical services, mental health and spiritual support, and 

children’s services. This was also a best practice for facilitating care for those with special needs. 

27
Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

Special-Needs Victims 

Special-needs victims presented special challenges to FBOs and NGOs in all ten service areas. FBOs and 

NGOs developed best practices to assist them with special needs victims. However, in many cases, 

organizations lacked specific in-house expertise in the particular needs of these individuals. 

One example of an FBO that provided support for special-needs victims comes from Opelousas, LA. 

Reverend Dale Hensarling of the Louisiana Memorial United Methodist Church there resolved to address 

the needs of one special group of evacuees: those with kidney illnesses. The National Kidney Foundation 

recognized that some evacuees would need kidney dialysis treatment. The foundation provided 

Hensarling with a grant that enabled the church to establish a system (well before Katrina) that evacuated 

victims needing dialysis and family members from the devastated areas to Baton Rouge and Lafayette, 

then further north to Hensarling’s church to facilitate treatment at local medical facilities.*

Several elements made this approach successful. It preserved family units during evacuations. By keeping 

the family together, members could provide long-term care for the patient. Second, they planned before 

the crisis, demonstrating the need for FBOs and NGOs to anticipate problems. Third, the initiative was 

possible only through partnership with other organizations, both national and local, highlighting the 

importance of partnering. Fourth, this example highlights the power of specialization. By specializing in 

this specific niche, Louisiana Memorial United Methodist Church was able to serve a community that 

might not have been served—and thus might have perished—otherwise. 

 

*

 Reverend Dale Hensarling, Louisiana Memorial United Methodist Church, Opelousas, LA, phone interview with 

Richard Rowe, March 28, 2006. 

28 
Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

7. WHY WERE FBOS AND NGOS SO EFFECTIVE? 

Many of the charities responding to Katrina worked with each other to coordinate the 

delivery of a multitude of services, including providing food, shelter, and medical 

assistance. 

U.S. House of Representatives, A Failure of Initiative: Final Report of the Select 

Bipartisan Committee to Investigate the Preparation for and Response to 

Hurricane Katrina15

Research Question 5 

If they did have significant beneficial impact, why were they so effective?

FBOs and NGOs had a significantly beneficial impact and demonstrably proved their effectiveness in 

providing disaster relief services. 

Findings 

FBOs and NGOs were effective for three principal reasons. The first involves their nature or raison d’être. 

The mission of almost all of the more than 1,000 organizations contacted is “people.” These FBOs and 

NGOs are intended to be responsive to whatever people need. The second is their closeness to and 

familiarity with the communities they serve. The third involves their unique resources and capabilities. 

Organizations have, or can gain access to through networks, resources and capabilities directly applicable 

to the types of services needed following a disaster. Specific findings, grouped by the three areas, are 

discussed below. 

1. Mission 

• Exceptionally strong motivation. A theme that was often cited throughout the interviews and at 

the Heralding Unheard Voices Conference was that of “higher calling.” Organizations’ staff 

members and volunteers indicated that they served, sometimes at great personal physical, 

emotional, and financial cost, because they felt called to do so by a higher authority. Interviewees 

felt that this sense of higher calling on the part of staff and volunteers was an important factor in 

making their organizations more responsive to people in need, and more persistent in the face of 

adversity, than they would have been otherwise. 

• Unity of purpose. FBOs and NGOs are a disparate group with a broad range of racial, ethnic, 

religious, cultural, and regional characteristics. Despite those differences, this disparate group of 

organizations managed to achieve a noteworthy cohesion and unity of purpose under trying 

circumstances. Interviewees stressed that traditional barriers between organizations evaporated 

and organizations of differing purposes and characteristics worked well together. 

2. Local Focus 

• Community. Local organizations were often integrated into the community. They knew the local 

community—people, resources, organizations, etc.—enabling them to work more effectively than 

an organization unfamiliar with the local terrain. Also, this identification with the local 

community imbues the organization with dedication and steadfastness to serve its community in 

times of need. Many of those organizations interviewed that chose to remain and serve in 

29
Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

geographic areas the ARC and FEMA had difficulty reaching did so out of loyalty to their 

community and love of their neighbors. 

• Speed of response. Government and national organizations did not reach many areas for some 

time due to flood waters, damaged infrastructure, and overwhelming demand. In contrast, local 

organizations were already on the scene or close by. In addition, they were unhampered by 

bureaucratic restraints. The combination of local presence, independence from bureaucratic 

restraints, and smaller size enabled these organizations to act quickly. 

• Independence. Many organizations, particularly smaller local ones, successfully operated 

without government or ARC support or direction. The combination of independence from 

government and ARC direction and small size enabled organizations to be agile and immediately 

responsive to human need: leaders of small organizations made decisions, such as commitment of 

resources, often based on quick and informal discussions with boards of elders or similar boards 

and councils. 

• Standing capability. Many organizations provided day-to-day care for those in need before the 

disaster. They were already involved in community services of some type when the hurricanes 

struck and thus were able to adapt to the crisis conditions and surge their capacity to meet the 

increased need. Social service case managers became disaster case managers; food banks for the 

homeless and needy supplied pop-up shelters with food; and counselors addressed the needs of 

disaster victims. 

• Excess capacity. Churches and similar organizations that are designed for peak attendance over 

short periods have excess physical capacity at other times. Many have dining halls, basements, 

family life centers, or large meeting rooms that can serve as shelters. This excess physical 

capacity when coupled with the manpower available from volunteers to staff facilities proved a 

powerful force. 

3. Unique Resources 

• Beachhead. Those national organizations with links to local ones, such as the Southern Baptist 

Convention’s relationship to local Baptist churches, were able to use the local entity as a 

beachhead—a starting point from which to serve the community. These beachheads often became 

local points of distribution for services and material provided by the national organizations. They 

also served as shelters and feeding stations for the thousands of volunteers dispatched to the 

region by national organizations. 

• Small scale. Smaller organizations, particularly shelters, were responsive to evacuees, volunteers, 

and relief workers. Despite emphasis on large facilities and service providers in government 

planning, small-scale efforts were highly successful. Smaller shelters that were located in, or that 

popped up in, churches of all sizes and denominations, in boys’ and girls’ clubs, in recreation 

halls, and in schools run by local community volunteers were able to address various issues, 

including personal hygiene, quality feeding, personal mental and spiritual care, and family needs, 

more effectively than many larger shelters. These smaller shelters enabled evacuees to get back 

on their feet, become more self-sufficient earlier, and leave the shelter better equipped. Shelter 

operators noted that smaller facilities and the community atmosphere they promoted contributed 

to psychological well-being. 

30 
Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

• Support from networks and national organizations. Many organizations had local and national 

support networks to draw upon, at times surpassing the capabilities of government agencies. 

Locally, informal networks such as councils and alliances enabled local organizations to 

coordinate activities and share resources within their community. Also, most of the organizations 

interviewed are linked to larger national organizations, such as denominations. National 

organizations provided local organizations with access to resources such as donations, material, 

skilled relief workers, and volunteers well beyond what was available locally. Examples of 

national organizations that responded are the Salvation Army, Operation Blessing, Victim Relief, 

and Christ in Action. Examples of national disaster response organizations associated with 

denominations are Catholic Relief Services, Catholic Charities, several ministries of the Southern 

Baptist Convention, and Lutheran Disaster Response. 

• Volunteerism. The tens of thousands of volunteers who stopped their normal lives to do the 

extraordinary—to give of their time and energy—were a unique strength of FBOs and NGOs. 

They brought skills, energy, and compassion to the problem. These volunteers came from all 

over. For example, the Churches of Scientology Disaster Response provided over one thousand 

volunteers from all over the country who served in operating shelters, gave mental and spiritual 

care to evacuees as well as to caregivers and responders, and helped with logistical services and 

physical reconstruction services.16 While some volunteers may have had only limited training—

for example, college students who assisted with debris removal, mud-out, and cleaning—many 

others were highly skilled and prepared to respond to disasters. 

These 11 characteristics are not the exclusive domain of FBOs and NGOs. For example, government 

employees may have exceptionally strong motivation that sustains them in a disaster; government plans, 

such as the National Response Plan, promote unity of purpose; and local governments have a local focus. 

Rather, these 11 characteristics were cited by interviewees as contributing to their successes. It appears 

that it is the combination of these 11 characteristics that makes FBOs and NGOs uniquely suited to serve 

during and following a disaster. 

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Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

32 
Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

8. CONCLUSION

More than half of all congregations and many other faith-based organizations provide 

some form of human services. Congregational participation in providing human services 

is greater among worship communities that are large (and hence have more resources), 

are located in low-income neighborhoods, are theologically liberal, and are African 

American.17

The Urban Institute, Faith-Based Organizations in Community Development

Exploration and Discovery 

We found that FBOs and NGOs made an unexpectedly significant impact in response to Hurricanes 

Katrina and Rita. Many of the starting assumptions of the project—those that framed and inspired 

perceptions going into the project—proved to be inconsistent with the extraordinary roles that these 

organizations performed. 

FBOs’ and NGOs’ contributions to relief and recovery efforts during these disasters document the 

essential roles they performed. The common starting perceptions did not recognize or indicate the scope 

and scale of their efforts. As the research progressed, the discoveries became more and more meaningful. 

In conclusion, these organizations did so much more than is commonly understood within government 

and by the general public that the difference between the commonly accepted picture and the facts is 

staggering. 

Findings 

Many significant cross-cutting themes among our findings apply to service areas summarized below. We 

also identified findings specific to individual services; these are presented in appendices A1 through A10. 

Research Question 1: Did FBOs and NGOs have a significant beneficial impact during and 

after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita? 

Yes. FBOs and NGOs had a significant beneficial impact throughout Hurricanes Katrina and Rita relief 

efforts. 

They literally gave shelter in a storm. They made life-and-death differences in people’s lives. They gave 

food to the hungry and vulnerable. They reduced suffering, facilitated restoration of infrastructure (mostly 

by housing relief workers and volunteers), and lessened the economic impact of the hurricanes by 

donating services and material resources. 

They were central to the response and recovery effort. In many functional areas, they took the lead, and 

government augmented their efforts. In some communities, they were the only ones to provide shelter, 

food, or medical services for days or even weeks. And today, in many communities, FBOs and NGOs are 

still providing recovery services. 

33
Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

Research Question 2: What are the services provided by FBOs and NGOs? 

FBOs and NGOs provided assistance in at least ten areas: 

1. Shelter 

2. Food services 

3. Medical services 

4. Personal hygiene services 

5. Mental health and spiritual support 

6. Physical reconstruction services 

7. Logistics management and services 

8. Transportation management and services 

9. Children’s services 

10. Case management and related services 

These are described in greater detail in Appendices A1-A10. 

Research Question 3: What are the limitations and challenges to FBOs and NGOs’ 

performing these functions? 

Most organizations faced similar limitations and challenges. In general, these limitations and challenges 

were related either to coordination and planning or to resources. 

The coordination and planning limitations and challenges were these: 

• Inadequate government planning. FBOs and NGOs are not included in much of governments’ 

planning for disaster response and recovery. 

• Overlooked service needs. Some of the services needed following a disaster are overlooked in 

government planning. 

• Inadequate coordination and integration. Government authorities and others failed to 

coordinate adequately with local and national FBOs and NGOs, even when the FBOs and NGOs 

were providing the bulk of services in a community. 

• Problems with access and credentialing. FBOs and NGOs, particularly local ones, had 

difficulty with physical access to disaster areas. 

• Inadequate training and experience. Many local organizations that had never served during a 

disaster stepped up to take action. Their lack of initial training and experience proved to be a 

challenge. 

• Cost. Organizations that served incurred significant financial, physical, and human costs. 

• Unanticipated need for long-term routine services. The long-term routine needs of evacuees 

are not adequately anticipated by government and others. 

• Waste management and sanitation. Waste management and sanitation proved to be one of the 

most significant challenges for which organizations were unable to develop a mitigating best 

34 
Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

practice. After public and private waste management services broke down, no other agency 

stepped in to solve this problem. FBOs and NGOs cited this problem as a key challenge to their 

work and one that was beyond their capabilities to resolve. 

Research Question 4: What best practices did organizations develop related to those 

functions? 

Organizations adapted and developed practices to deal with limitations and challenges. Best practices 

reached across all functions or applied to just one or a few functions. The best practices that applied 

broadly included these: 

• Specialization. Specialization optimizes the contribution of organizations during a disaster. 

• Partnering. Organizations partnered with one another to meet complementary needs. 

• Preserving family unity. Shelters that strove to preserve family unity found that this practice had 

beneficial ramifications in shelter operations, medical services, mental health and spiritual 

support, and children’s services. 

Best practices that applied to just one or a few functions are discussed in Appendix A. 

Research Question 5: Why were they so effective? 

FBOs and other NGOs demonstrably proved their effectiveness in providing disaster relief services. They 

were effective for three broad reasons: 

• Their specific mission and strong motivation to be responsive to whatever people needed 

• Their closeness to and familiarity with the communities they served 

• Access, either directly or through networks, to unique resources and capabilities directly 

applicable to the types of services needed following a disaster 

Recommendations 

In day-to-day disasters, such as an apartment complex fire that harms dozens and requires a city to focus 

its humanitarian services on assisting those who were affected, the existing response and recovery 

structure works well. That structure includes concepts of mutual aid and support from neighboring 

communities, states, and, in more dire events, even the federal government. The agencies and 

organizations that respond every day are well practiced. 

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita exceeded the capacity of that structure. In that way, the hurricanes give us a 

glimpse into what may happen should we face another large-scale catastrophe, perhaps even one caused 

not by nature, but by those meaning us harm. 

In these larger events, governments and national agencies and organizations require time to mobilize, plus 

time to gather forces and supplies and move those to the disaster area. In contrast, the local FBOs and 

NGOs are already there on the ground, and those that are unaffected will endeavor—as best they may—to 

assist those in need. 

35
Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

Preparing FBOs and NGOs and enhancing their ability to provide the most immediate beneficial impact 

during and following a disaster seems prudent and appropriate, a critical component of improved national 

preparedness. 

In that context, we offer the following five recommendations. Across the ten service areas examined 

during this project, there could be dozens of recommendations, but these five are the most immediate and 

apply most broadly: 

1. Encourage and learn from FBO and NGO best practices. Governments and national 

agencies and organizations should identify best practices for FBOs and NGOs operating outside 

of the traditional emergency management structure while awaiting response by the ARC, 

FEMA, or others. For example, there are no standards or guidelines for shelters and for food 

preparation in an emergency. Procedures established by the ARC for operating an ARCaffiliated shelter may not be applicable if the ARC cannot reach the shelter or if the facility 

never anticipated that it would find itself in that role and thus has not gone through the ARC’s 

training or certification programs. In those cases, there should be guidelines and standards that 

help organizations. 

2. Address overlooked services. Three services are overlooked or not adequately addressed in 

government planning: routine transportation after the evacuation, children’s services, and popup shelters. Pop-up shelters are significant in the first few days or weeks until government can 

respond. Routine transportation and children’s services are particularly important in events that 

last for long periods. 

3. Include FBOs and NGOs, particularly local ones, in planning, coordination, integration, 

training and exercises, and information sharing. Government response is not coordinated 

with FBOs and NGOs, and these organizations are not provided with training that would greatly 

facilitate their ability to respond. Governments should investigate how to integrate FBOs and 

NGOs in coordinated response planning. 

4. Specific challenges. Governments should address three specific limitations and challenges for 

which FBOs and NGOs cannot develop mitigating best practices: 

a. Access and credentialing. Governments should recognize that FBOs and NGOs, 

particularly local ones, will require and should be allowed access to disaster areas. 

b. Long-term services. Hurricanes Katrina and Rita highlighted the long-term effects of 

catastrophes. Yet, government planning appears to focus on the near-term immediate 

consequences and impacts, such as evacuation. Governments should address the longterm consequences and plan with FBOs and NGOs to mobilize all available resources in 

future events. 

c. Waste management and sanitation. Governments should make restoration of waste 

management and sanitation services a priority. FBOs and NGOs do not have the means to 

dispose of debris and waste that accumulate during and following a disaster. This may be 

a health hazard, it interferes with mobility (transportation services and logistics services), 

and it lowers morale. 

5. Reconsider the appropriate balance between government and nongovernment 

responsibilities, and between local and higher levels, to provide good, quick, flexible 

response.

36 
Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

Moving Forward 

FBOs’ and NGOs’ contributions to and roles in disaster relief are significant and merit more extensive, 

focused study and attention. 

The findings of this research effort apply not only to hurricanes, but to any wide-scale disaster of 

significant scope. Almost every one of our major findings touches upon an area that is not well 

understood and requires additional work. Two areas, in particular, may be (1) a faith-based community 

primer and (2) inherent attributes. 

Faith-Based Community Primer 

The faith-based world is complicated. Denominations may be difficult to understand and there are many 

varieties, each with unique characteristics and qualities. Organizational structures and nomenclature are 

unique within each denomination. Furthermore, some organizations in the faith-based world are not 

hierarchal. There is no single comprehensive authority to interact with FBOs. 

In our conversations with DHS and FEMA officials, it became apparent that the faith-based world, with 

all of its varieties and dimensions, is difficult for government personnel to understand fully. While some 

within DHS and FEMA may have personal knowledge of one aspect of the faith-based world given their 

own affiliation and practices, the range of organizations is immense and the differences are not well 

understood. 

Recommendation: Produce a manual that maps out the faith-based world with regard to disaster response 

and gives DHS a reference by which to interact with that world. This may include, as well, creating and 

clearly disseminating a standard source of information for FBOs and NGOs to learn how best to deal with 

government entities in times of crisis. 

Inherent Attributes 

FBOs and NGOs have inherent attributes that make them uniquely suited to serve others following a 

disaster. If DHS had a better understanding of those attributes and how they come into play during a 

crisis, the government could encourage the groups in a way that would enhance a community’s resiliency. 

Recommendation: Produce an analysis of the inherent attributes of FBOs and NGOs with an emphasis 

on means by which government may encourage and support those organizations to serve in times of need. 

Epilogue 

We hope we have provided a glimpse into the world of FBOs and NGOs: a world of volunteers, of small 

local churches and large national denominations, of neighbors helping neighbors and also helping 

strangers, of downtown soup kitchens and outreach centers, and of those dedicated to serving others: good 

Samaritans all. 

In the midst of all the horrible things that went wrong in Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, theirs is the untold 

story that exemplifies the best of America and its people. 

We have been privileged to work on this project and begin to chronicle their experiences so that DHS and 

others may better understand these unheralded heroes. We salute them and thank them for their service to 

their nation. 

37
Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

38 
Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

APPENDIX A1. SHELTER SERVICES

Hurricane Katrina transformed thousands of people’s lives into a battle for survival—

and, for some, finding adequate shelter proved at least as difficult as finding something to 

eat or drink. 

The Select Bipartisan Committee to Investigate the Preparation for and Response to 

Hurricane Katrina, A Failure of Initiative: Final Report of the Select Bipartisan 

Committee to Investigate the Preparation for and Response to Hurricane Katrina18

The National Response Plan (NRP) addresses shelter under Emergency Support Function (ESF) #6: Mass 

Care, Housing, and Human Services. The NRP states that the ARC is the primary agency for mass care.19

The NRP defines mass care as including “overall coordination, shelter, feeding and other activities to 

support emergency needs of victims ...” According to the NRP, “Emergency shelter includes the use of preidentified shelter sites in existing structures, creation of temporary facilities or the temporary construction 

of shelters, and use of similar facilities outside the incident area, should evacuation be necessary.”20

Although the NRP assigns primary agency responsibility for sheltering to the ARC, a large number of 

shelters post-Katrina were pop-up shelters not associated with the ARC. Some of these shelters were local 

FBOs or NGOs that already provided shelter to disadvantaged populations. 

The following discussion of shelter services focuses on two sub-functions provided by FBOs and NGOs: 

1. Shelter evacuees 

2. Shelter volunteers and relief workers 

Discussion 

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, 300,000 homes were destroyed21 and 770,000 people were displaced.22

While families, friends, neighbors, and government agencies provided housing, tens of thousands of 

victims were left without shelter. 

Reporting from the national media and government after-action reports has focused on the distressing 

conditions of the “shelters of last resort,” such as the Superdome and the Convention Center.23

Meanwhile, many other evacuees found safety for their families, shelter from the storms and their 

aftermath, and a place to rest in smaller FBOs and NGOs. 

Local FBOs and NGOs sheltered hundreds of thousands of evacuees, relief workers, and volunteers. Of 

the 78 local FBOs and NGOs we surveyed, 79% (62) provided some form of shelter. 

• 65% (51) sheltered evacuees 

• 51% (40) sheltered relief workers or volunteers 

Pop-up Shelters 

In the first hours after disaster strikes, people desperately need a safe place with a roof over their heads 

where they can find refuge. Many FBOs and NGOs spontaneously opened to accept the heavy flow of 

evacuees from the Katrina-affected areas. These shelters popped up wherever they were needed. Unlike 

other shelters, typically they are not coordinated with the ARC and with FEMA. In some cases, the 

shelters’ operators had never intended to serve as a shelter, and so they were untrained and inexperienced. 

39
Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

Most of these pop-up shelters were established and operated by local FBOs and NGOs. Bill Lokey, the 

Federal Coordinating Officer for Hurricane Katrina, estimates that around Louisiana alone, 488 pop-up 

shelters—unaffiliated with the ARC—opened their doors at some point to house evacuees.24

Kip Holden, mayor of Baton Rouge, LA, added in a media interview that hundreds of pop-up shelters had 

been established across Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and Texas. Holden estimated that in 

Baton Rouge alone, in “pop-up shelters ... those are the ones established by the churches ... we’re 

looking at about 11,000 to 12,000 people.”25 Meanwhile, at the mass shelters established in Baton Rouge, 

Holden believed, the ARC was ministering to only 3,000 to 7,000 individuals.26

Relief Worker and Volunteer Shelter 

Government planning focuses on evacuees’ needs for shelter but pays little attention to the needs of relief 

workers and volunteers for shelter. Yet relief workers and volunteers were, and continue to be, critical to 

restoring the Gulf Coast. They need shelter each evening—a place to rest, eat, and prepare for the arduous 

work ahead of them the next day. 

In the hours, days, and weeks following the hurricanes, sheltering evacuees was a priority. But a gradual 

transition occurs as time passes: it becomes important to shelter relief workers and volunteers so that the 

longer-term process of recovery may be completed. 

The number of relief workers and volunteers who have responded since the hurricanes is staggering. 

Although a good accounting of the total number is unavailable, it is easily in the tens of thousands and 

continues to grow each month as additional relief workers and volunteers participate in the recovery 

effort. For example, Southern Baptist Relief alone has provided more than 6,000 volunteers, from 36 state 

conventions, who served in five states after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.27 Southern Baptist churches in 

the immediate area provided those volunteers with shelter. 

Pop-up Shelters 

Covenant House in New Orleans is an example of a pop-up shelter. The building’s maintenance 

supervisor kept it open as Hurricane Katrina approached. When the storm hit, the supervisor began 

bringing people who remained in New Orleans back to Covenant House and established a shelter for 

several days until they could be moved elsewhere.*

In contrast, some shelters kept evacuees for months at a time and provided a range of services. These 

longer-term shelters provided more permanent housing arrangements, along with a range of other 

services, from case management to education. At Mount Pilgrim Baptist Church in Baton Rouge, for 

example, the church sheltered 264 total evacuees and remained open from August 30 to November 29. In 

this three-month period, shelter coordinators and volunteers provided not only basics such as food and 

shelter, but also other long-term recovery aid.†

 

*

 Renee Blanche, Development Director, Covenant House, New Orleans, phone interview with Russell Miller, 

May 2, 2006. 

†

 Irma Miller, Administrative Assistant to the Pastor, Mount Pilgrim Baptist Church, Baton Rouge, LA, phone 

interview with Richard Rowe, March 30, 2006. 

40 
Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

Sub-function: Shelter Evacuees 

Local FBOs and NGOs played a critical role in providing shelter to evacuees. A large number of national 

and denominational organizations also responded by providing shelter.28

In Orange, TX, the Church of the Nazarene sits right off the Interstate that carried many evacuees from 

Louisiana. As a result, the church was strategically placed to attract many evacuees in need of temporary 

or longer-term shelter. The church sheltered 100 to 125 evacuees after Hurricane Katrina. 

The church had never served as a shelter before. Before the storm, it was not designated by the ARC as a 

shelter. Its staff had no formal shelter training. However, the church provided everything that the 

evacuees needed: food, water, homes for families to stay at for longer periods, transportation to medical 

treatment, and many of the other services discussed in this study.29

Collins (MS) United Methodist Church provided housing for 100 evacuees in its “family life center,” a 

common hall used by the church for various functions. Family life centers served as evacuee shelters for 

many churches. Such facilities are regular features of churches that host community events and gatherings 

and may be cleared and converted to shelters should the need arise. Moreover, at Collins United 

Methodist Church, the family life center also acted as a ready-made shelter for groups of volunteer 

workers who were essential to the rebuilding process in Mississippi. 

This church is also an example of interdenominational cooperation. When a group of Mennonite 

volunteers arrived in Collins, the Collins United Methodist Church offered them shelter. The Mennonites 

brought desperately needed heavy construction equipment with them, and from their base of operations at 

the church, they were able to play a tremendous role in community rebuilding and reconstruction.30

Some FBOs were also capable of providing a range of services in addition to sheltering evacuees. For 

example, at the First Christian Church in Tyler, TX, 150 to 250 individuals at any one time lived in the 

church’s family life center over the course of two and a half months. The shelter served meals; 

administered medical services with a staff of private, National Guard, and ARC doctors and nurses; 

provided clothing for evacuees, Internet services, and evacuee transportation with buses from the local 

school district; and helped evacuees buy cars and find new homes in their community.31

Christchurch Baptist Fellowship in Houston opened its doors to 450 evacuees. The church had little to no 

previous training, and shelter organizers had only a week’s worth of ARC training. However, the skills 

and compassion of those who worked in the shelter transformed the church into what several officials 

considered the best-operated shelter in Houston.32

FBOs with connections to national relief infrastructures, such as the United Methodist Church or 

Southern Baptist Convention, received supplies and support from their national organizations. 

Florida Boulevard Baptist Church in Baton Rouge, LA, is an example. Feeling compelled to help meet the 

needs of the waves of evacuees coming from southern Louisiana to Baton Rouge, church leaders quickly 

opened up their facilities to help shelter evacuees and began massive feeding operations. The church has a 

kitchen capable of feeding 15,000 people a day; however, organizers required a significant amount of 

resources to operate its shelter and supply food to its shelter population and evacuees from around the 

community. To meet this need, Florida Boulevard Baptist Church called on its connections with the 

Southern Baptist Convention, and not long after its shelter operations began, the Southern Baptist Feeding 

41
Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

Unit from Oklahoma arrived to prepare and serve meals. Thus, a critical need of the shelter was met 

through the shelter’s relationship with larger national relief infrastructures.33

Sub-function: Shelter Relief Workers and Volunteers 

Multitudes of volunteers traveled to the Gulf Coast to help in the relief and recovery efforts. These groups 

and individuals needed places to stay. Moreover, many first responders, such as the National Guard, used 

local church facilities for shelter while they were conducting relief operations. These groups and 

individuals presented many of the same logistical challenges to FBOs and NGOs in the Gulf Coast as 

evacuees did. 

National organizations such as the Southern Baptist Convention, the United Methodist Committee on 

Relief, and Psychiatrist Disaster Response sent thousands of volunteers to the region to provide relief and 

recovery services, often operating through their local church and NGO affiliates. 

Well-resourced national and international organizations had the experience and capabilities to establish 

shelters in areas that did not otherwise have space available. Christian World Embassy, an international 

FBO based in Conroe, TX, set up a camp for volunteer workers in New Orleans in the first week after 

Hurricane Katrina. Operating from two sites, it is a primary distribution center for relief supplies in 

New Orleans and has since housed more than 15,000 volunteers. Its facilities allowed 1,000 to 2,000 

volunteers to sleep at its camps. Using these sites as home bases, Christian World Embassy volunteers 

have worked to restore churches, homes, and public spaces around New Orleans.34

In Waynesboro, MS, Calvary Baptist Church opened as a shelter for evacuees on the day Katrina hit land. 

However, the church could maintain this operation for only the first 24 hours after the storm. The church 

shifted its mission to supporting other evacuee shelters in its community by collecting goods for 

distribution to shelters in need. Calvary Baptist Church again adapted its mission when, at the request of a 

congregation member and the state homeland security representatives, it provided two National Guard 

units with beds, showering and cleaning facilities, and meals.35

Findings 

• Significant impact. Local and national FBOs and NGOs sheltered tens of thousands of evacuees, 

relief workers, and volunteers. 

• Relief workers and volunteers. Overall, shelters found it much easier to house relief workers 

and volunteers than to house evacuees. The workers were not in the shelter during the day and did 

not need many of the services evacuees required. Also, they usually had definite arrival and 

departure dates that made it easier for the shelter to plan. 

• Focus of community support. Local FBOs and NGOs received a variety of donated goods and 

services from people living in their immediate area who sought to render aid in any way that they 

could. These donations often flowed to the nearest shelter. 

• Shelter autonomy. Many shelters found autonomy from ARC and government rules to be 

beneficial because it allowed them to set their own appropriate procedures, avoid seemingly 

cumbersome policies, and cooperatively govern the shelter as operators and evacuees themselves 

saw necessary. 

42 
Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

• Utilities. All shelters require basic utility services. Without potable water, ventilation, waste 

removal, and safe and sanitary conditions, shelters cannot be maintained. Shelters depend upon 

local government to meet many of these needs.36

• Excess capacity. FBOs are structured to accommodate peak numbers, typically on the weekends, 

and thus have excess capacity during much of the week. This excess physical capacity provides 

them with the space required to serve as a shelter. 

Limitations and Challenges 

• Functions overlooked. Pop-up shelters not associated with the ARC were established by FBOs 

and NGOs and sheltered tens of thousands of evacuees. Relief and recovery efforts depend, in 

part, upon a community’s capability to shelter relief workers and volunteers. Relief workers’ and 

volunteers’ shelter needs should be included in planning for disasters. 

• Coordination and integration. Agencies and organizations supporting ESF-6 failed to 

adequately coordinate with and integrate many of the FBOs and NGOs that provided shelter. 

FBO and NGO shelter activities need to be integrated into local and state disaster plans. 

• Shelter costs. The cost of providing shelter is significant. Housing dozens, hundreds, or even 

thousands of people puts wear and tear on organization property in addition to the costs 

associated with maintaining a working shelter, and it could affect the organization’s future 

viability. FBOs and NGOs beforehand should determine whether they have the capabilities and 

ability to recover from the financial and physical burdens of sheltering. 

• Volunteer and staff fatigue. In addition to the financial and physical cost of sheltering, there is a 

tremendous human cost. Operating a shelter takes a tremendous toll on staff and volunteers. For 

example, North Eunice Baptist Mission, Eunice, LA, sheltered Hurricane Katrina evacuees for 

three weeks and Hurricane Rita evacuees for two weeks. Eventually, staff exhaustion forced the 

shelter to close and convert to a feeding station.37

• Communication. Advisories and information from authorities were often unreliable and 

sporadic. As a result, FBO and NGO shelters experienced difficulty in receiving accurate 

information and thus could not disseminate information to evacuees. 

• Open-door policy. Shelters often faced problems in registering residents’ arrivals and departures. 

ARC-designated shelters were required to keep their doors open 24 hours a day, and evacuees 

were free to leave at any time. Operators of these shelters found it difficult to keep an accurate 

roster of residents. 

• Waste management and sanitation. Shelters in areas where public services were disrupted did 

not have the means to dispose of solid waste. This adversely impacted the shelters’ operations, 

personal hygiene, and the morale of the evacuees. 

• Planning. Government planning did not include many of the organizations that provided shelter, 

particularly those that were pop-up shelters. 

• Training and experience. Many organizations had no training and no previous experience 

serving as a shelter. This was particularly true of the pop-up shelters. 

43
Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

Best Practices 

• Resident identification. The Beech Street First Baptist Church partnered with the local school 

district to produce identification cards. Residents were required to display the cards when 

entering and exiting the church shelter. Not only were these cards helpful in identifying who had 

access to the church’s shelter, they were used by local businesses that employed evacuees.38

• Teams. To help break up the responsibilities around the shelter among the staff, FBOs and NGOs 

established work details that served as the meals team, security team, sanitation team, etc. These 

teams reduced staff fatigue and enhanced the orderliness of the shelter.39

• Record keeping. For a variety of reasons, good record keeping is important. FBOs such as 

St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Brenham, TX, kept detailed, accurate records of every evacuee 

they sheltered and of all church costs associated with housing these individuals.40

• Planning. Organizations should plan beforehand whether they will be able to house evacuees, 

volunteers, relief workers, or all three. As one church representative at the conference said, “You 

have to have a plan when 150 people in a bus pull up into your parking lot looking for a place to 

stay and you didn’t know they were headed your way!”41

• Evacuee employment. Employing evacuees directed their energy in a productive pursuit and was 

effective in helping to curb evacuee frustration that could have translated into security problems. 

• Rules and guidelines. At New Wine Baptist Church in New Orleans, which housed 800 

evacuees, shelter organizers set clear guidelines, rules, and expectations for the evacuees. Among 

these was zero tolerance for alcohol, drugs, or smoking, along with a lights-out curfew that 

required evacuees to be in the shelter and in bed by a certain time each night or else they would 

be locked out for the night. With so many people depending on the church for their own safety, 

organizers believed that the ability to establish these rules was vital. 

• Family unity. Shelters found it beneficial to preserve family unity by keeping families together. 

This way, family members could provide child care for their own children. This lessened the 

burden on shelter operators. 

44 
Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

APPENDIX A2. FOOD SERVICES

[The Salvation Army] loaded meals on 72 mobile canteens, each capable of providing 

5,000 hot meals per day, and two 54-foot mobile kitchens, each capable of providing 

20,000 hot meals per day. 

U.S. House of Representatives, A Failure of Initiative: Final Report of the Select 

Bipartisan Committee to Investigate the Preparation for and Response to 

Hurricane Katrina 42

[Operation Blessing International’s] own mobile kitchen has made its maiden voyage to 

Slidell, La., where it’s set to begin preparing thousands of meals daily for local hurricane 

victims. In this overlooked disaster-stricken area, feeding and relief activities were 

urgently needed, and Operation Blessing is answering this Louisiana town’s dire need 

for help. 

Operation Blessing International website43

The two quotes above refer to a function that the NRP calls “feeding.” In the NRP, feeding falls under 

ESF #6, “Mass Care, Housing, and Human Services.” According to the NRP, “feeding” is “provided to 

victims through a combination of fixed sites, mobile feeding units, and bulk distribution of food.” 44 The 

NRP identifies the ARC as the “primary agency for mass care under ESF #6 ...” 45

In our analysis of food services, we did not look at bulk supply, transport, and distribution. (We do 

address distribution in the section on logistics management and services.) In this section, we focus on the 

two feeding sub-functions that are closest to the point of service: 

• Preparation of meals 

• Serving of meals 

Discussion 

Immediately following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, large numbers of Americans suffered from a lack of 

food and water. As local, state, and federal governments mounted their relief efforts, the FBO and NGO 

communities mobilized and provided water and hundreds of thousands of meals each day. 

Of 127 organizations surveyed, 85% (108) indicated that they performed some type of food service. 

• 65% (83) prepared meals 

• 69% (87) served prepared food 

• 43% (55) distributed prepared food to other communities or organizations46

Not only did evacuees need food and water, but the thousands of relief workers and volunteers serving in 

the region also needed daily meals. Without that, the response and recovery effort would have slowed or 

stalled. 

Like Salvation Army and Operation Blessing, mentioned above, the Southern Baptist Convention and the 

Texas Baptist Men provided food services. These organizations specialize in food service following 

disasters. They provide an example of a denomination specializing effectively in one aspect of disaster 

relief. 

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Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

Partnering was a particularly important corollary to specialization. FBOs and NGOs worked well 

together. For example, the Southern Baptists and the ARC partnered to provide food. The ARC provided 

the food supplies while the Southern Baptists provided the manpower—that is, cooks, drivers and helpers,

and the mobile kitchens. The Southern Baptist Convention’s mobile kitchens produced meals, which the 

ARC then sent to “feeding stations” using vehicles designed for hot meal transport.47

The Texas Baptist Men 

The Texas Baptist Men began operations in support of Hurricane Katrina victims on August 31, 2005, 

two days after the hurricane made landfall. Units from across Texas responded within the state and in 

Louisiana to serve emergency meals to evacuees.* In disasters such as this, the Texas Baptist Men 

respond only upon invitation by the Southern Baptist Convention, the Baptist North American Mission 

Board, a particular church, the ARC, or another group. This invitation-only policy assures the Texas 

Baptist Men that they will have a partner upon arrival and that the group will not expend resources and 

effort where its services are not needed.† When Katrina struck, the Texas Baptist Men had 13 mobile 

kitchens based throughout the state of Texas. By mid-September 2005, the Southern Baptists had more 

than 30 mobile kitchens operating in the disaster zone and had already served eight million meals. 

Sub-function: Prepare Meals 

One of the main functions of the FBO and NGO community was to use donated bulk food to prepare hot 

meals for evacuees, relief worker, and volunteers. 

Many shelters used several strategies throughout the post-hurricane period. River of Praise Church in 

Tomball, TX, provides a good example. Early in the response period, the church relied on donated meals 

from restaurants. As businesses returned to regular retail operations, volunteers from partner churches 

filled the void by preparing food at home and delivering it to the shelter. Finally, as volunteers returned to 

their normal lives, River of Praise and the surrounding shelters turned to the broader community for 

prepared meals. They launched an effort called “dinner nights.” Through this initiative, the local 

community prepared meals to lessen the burden on shelters.48

Local FBO and NGO shelters did not rely on one uniform model to prepare meals. Different 

organizations provided food services in different ways. 

Congregation Meal Preparation 

Some FBO shelters, such as Tills Total Ministry, which housed 12 evacuees in the home of the pastor, 

depended on congregants to prepare food in their own homes for subsequent distribution to the evacuees. 

 

*

 John Hall, “Texas Baptist Men Teams Move Into Louisiana.” Texas Baptist Men website, August 31, 2005, 

http://www.bgct.org/texasbaptists/Page.aspx?&pid=900&srcid=789. 

†

 Gary B. Smith, Volunteer Coordinator for Disaster Relief, Texas Baptist Men, phone interview with Russell 

Miller, May 11, 2006. 

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Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

This model was frequently used in small-scale facilities.49 This approach distributes the burden of 

sheltering among many individuals. It does, however, require an active congregation willing to support 

the evacuees over the long term. 

We also noted that congregations filled in until the ARC could establish a local meal program. For 

example, the congregation at North Orange Baptist Church contributed meals for three or four days to the 

church’s 300 evacuees until the ARC established its food supply network and could deliver meals.50

Shelter Meal Preparation 

Many FBOs and NGOs have kitchen facilities with excess capacity. Those facilities used their onsite 

kitchen facilities to cook meals. For example, New Wine Baptist Church in New Orleans prepared food 

for the 200 to 250 evacuees who resided at its shelter at any given time and for others who came in just 

for the meals. Over two and one-half months, New Wine Baptist Church provided 15,000 meals.51

At other shelters, evacuees prepared their own meals. At Union Springs Baptist Church in Converse, LA, 

evacuees prepared their own meals in the church’s kitchen. When an experienced caterer arrived as an 

evacuee and offered to direct kitchen operations, this approach became even more productive.52 At 

Christway Church in Bentley, LA, evacuees asked to cook for themselves so they would be less of a 

burden on the facility staff.53 This scheme decreased the need for volunteer labor and gave the evacuees a 

meaningful role in shelter operations. 

Partner Meal Preparation 

Shelters also partnered with other organizations that prepared meals. By outsourcing some or all of the 

meal preparation responsibilities, the shelter could focus its resources and labor on other aspects of 

sheltering, while its partner could specialize in and gain economies in food preparation. 

Madison United Methodist Church in Madison, MS, formed an agreement with two neighboring United 

Methodist churches soon after Hurricane Katrina struck: Madison United Methodist Church would serve 

as the shelter, but the other churches would support its sheltering effort through various efforts such as 

food services.54

Poplar Springs Drive Baptist Church in Meridian, MS, could not open as a shelter following Hurricane 

Katrina because the church was under renovation. The church instead brought in generators and gas to run 

its kitchen in support of other shelters in the community. The church provided meals to Poplar Springs 

Drive United Methodist Church and to Trinity Episcopal Church.55

Mass Meal Preparation 

Small FBOs as well as large disaster response organizations provided large-scale food production for 

distribution to other centers, usually to shelters. 

Christian Life Church in Orange Beach, AL, is an example of a smaller organization that prepared meals. 

Three days after Hurricane Katrina, Christian Life Church sent a team to Biloxi, MS. This effort 

eventually grew as Christian Life Church partnered with others to feed 6,000 individuals per day.56

Professional disaster response organizations have significant expertise in mass feeding. Operation 

Blessing set up a kitchen in Slidell, LA, that served 6,000 hot meals per week for a number of weeks and 

still operates walk-in kitchens in St. Bernard Parish and City Park, New Orleans. It also moved a large 

47
Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

mobile kitchen to Metairie, LA, where it served 17,000 meals per week. Volunteers transported these 

meals, and meals from the other kitchens, into stricken areas.57

Sub-function: Serve Meals 

After FBOs and NGOs prepared meals using one or more of the approaches detailed above, they had to 

serve those meals to shelter residents, resident and nonresident evacuees, and relief workers and 

volunteers. 

Rusk Church of Christ in Smith, TX, housed 120 of the 300 total evacuees in the town. However, all of 

the town’s evacuees ate their meals at the church’s large dining facility.58 Christchurch Baptist 

Fellowship in Houston fed as many as 650 individuals at a time, serving both present and former residents 

of its shelter.59 In addition to serving meals to those at its own facility, shelter coordinators at Antioch 

Baptist Church in Farmerville, LA, fed people at the local recreation center and provided food to evacuees 

who were living in the state park nearby.60

Findings 

• Significant impact. FBOs and NGOs provided millions of meals to evacuees, relief workers, and 

volunteers. Without their efforts, not only would evacuees have suffered further, but it is likely 

that relief and recovery work would have been slowed. 

Limitations and Challenges 

• Evacuee movement. Evacuees may not have remained at one shelter continuously. This 

movement complicated shelters’ efforts to prepare appropriate amounts of food. 

• Resident identification. Shelters had trouble distinguishing between shelter residents and 

nonresidents. Shelters could plan for residents, but not knowing how many nonresidents would 

show up for meals made planning difficult. 

Best Practices 

• Specialization. Specialization enabled organizations with limited resources to concentrate on 

those tasks that were within their capabilities. For example, organizations that lacked the capacity 

to provide all of the services of a shelter could have an impact by feeding evacuees in someone 

else’s shelter, or they could serve as a shelter but receive food from a partner organization that 

specialized in preparing meals. 

• Partnering. Burden sharing through partnerships was common and useful. It was particularly 

effective in those cases where the organizations knew each other before the event and thus had 

understanding of each other’s roles and capabilities. 

• At-home preparation. When bulk food and mass food services networks were incomplete or 

insufficient, local FBOs’ congregations prepared meals. Already connected to the FBO through 

church ties, such associations operated efficiently on short notice. 

• Evacuee participation. As with other functions, enlisting the services of evacuees to assist with 

food preparation and serving decreased the burden on FBO staff and volunteers. It also improved 

evacuee morale. 

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Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

APPENDIX A3. MEDICAL SERVICES

Medical care and evacuations suffered from a lack of advance preparations, inadequate 

communications, and difficulties coordinating efforts. 

U.S. House of Representatives, A Failure of Initiative: Final Report of the Select 

Bipartisan Committee to Investigate the Preparation for and Response to 

Hurricane Katrina 61

FEMA defines “emergency medical services” as “personnel, facilities, and equipment required to ensure 

proper medical care for the sick and injured from the time of injury to the time of final disposition, 

including medical disposition within a hospital, temporary medical facility, or special care facility, release 

from site, or declared dead.”62

Medical services provided by FBOs and NGOs included a wide range of activities that were administered 

by both medical professionals and by organization staff and volunteers with varying degrees of training. 

We noted three sub-functions that fall within medical services: 

1. Advanced medical care 

2. Basic medical care or first aid 

3. Prescription medication service 

Discussion 

Evacuees arrived on the doorsteps of FBOs and NGOs not just looking for food and shelter but, in many 

cases, requiring medical care as well. 

In the hours immediately following the hurricanes, many of the primarily local FBOs and NGOs were 

thrust into the role of providing for injured evacuees. Volunteers and staff performed basic medical care 

for minor needs. Advanced medical care was administered by doctors or nurses, many of whom were 

members of the local organization. Once able to reach the disaster area, national and large organizations 

were able to bring specialized and advanced medical care to the area. 

The lack of prescription medications presented issues. The FBO and NGO community worked with 

doctors, pharmacists, and the private sector to secure the medications necessary for those in need. Another 

medical service provided was assistance to special-needs patients. 

Of 127 organizations surveyed, 62% (79) performed some type of medical service. 

• 35% (45) provided advanced medical care 

• 43% (54) provided basic medical care or first aid 

• 30% (38) provided assistance with medical prescriptions 

49
Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

First Baptist Church of Montgomery, Texas 

When 400 evacuees from the Superdome arrived at the First Baptist Church in Montgomery, TX, the 

church community faced a number of medical challenges. Basic medical care was provided by church 

members and some local nurse volunteers. Those with more serious ailments were transported to the local 

hospital. Even with rooms and space at a premium, staff and volunteers from the church community 

separated the elderly and other special-needs evacuees so that they could receive more attentive care. The 

members of First Baptist Church provided these medical services for six weeks.*

Sub-function: Advanced Medical Care 

Local doctors, nurses, and dentists either volunteered their services at their local church or shelter or 

opened their offices to evacuees requiring medical attention. National organizations brought in medical 

professionals from around the country. 

When Katrina struck, Broadmoor Baptist Church of Madison, MS, established a medical clinic that was 

staffed by local doctors and registered nurses. The church took in 150 Katrina evacuees, many of whom 

had varying ailments. The doctors and nurses initially worked around the clock to tend to their immediate 

needs; eventually this cadre coordinated their schedules to ensure that the church had a medical 

professional on site at all times.63

At the other end of the FBO spectrum are organizations such as Operation Blessing, a nondenominational 

international relief and development organization. Operation Blessing operated free medical clinics 

throughout New Orleans. These clinics were staffed with volunteer doctors and registered nurses who 

treated walk-in patients, coordinating with city and state health departments. Operation Blessing also 

maintained a free dental clinic in St. Bernard Parish.64 

Sub-function: Basic Medical Care or First Aid 

Those FBOs and NGOs that were not fortunate enough to have professional medical personnel working at 

their facility provided basic medical care to their victims to the best of their ability. 

Faith Presbyterian Church in Brookhaven, MS, tended to the less serious first-aid needs of their evacuees 

using church medical supplies. Additionally, Faith Presbyterian Church agreed to serve as a postoperation recovery center for the local hospital. While the hospital did send a few nurses to staff the postoperation recovery center, these professionals were significantly augmented by church staff and 

volunteers.65

Sub-function: Prescription Medication 

Of the numerous medical challenges that fell to the FBO and NGO community, assisting evacuees in 

getting prescription medications was among the most demanding. 

 

*

 Donna Haney, Pastor’s Assistant, First Baptist Church of Montgomery, TX, phone interview with Steve Bowen, 

March 29, 2006. 

50 
Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

God’s Storehouse in Amite, LA, provided shelter, food, clothing, and hygiene products to evacuees of the 

hurricanes. Like many FBOs and NGOs, the church did not anticipate the need for prescription drugs. The 

church reached an agreement with local pharmacies to help evacuees get prescriptions filled.66

Findings 

• Significant impact. Almost all FBOs and NGOs that served as shelters found themselves 

providing basic medical care or first aid. In so doing, they cared for those who may have 

otherwise sought medical attention at already overburdened hospitals. Large national 

organizations, such as Operation Blessing, brought advanced medical care teams to the region; 

these provided advanced medical care to thousands of patients. 

• Wide range of services. Organizations provided basic medical care, advanced medical care, 

access to prescription medication, and care for those with special needs. The availability and 

degree of service ranged widely from one organization to the next. 

• Gap-fillers. Many FBOs and NGOs were able to provide immediate basic medical care and did 

so for days or weeks until more advanced care services could reach their area. 

Limitations and Challenges 

• Communications. FBO and NGO shelters were hampered by a lack of prioritized 

communications ability with the local hospital to facilitate transportation of injured victims. 

• Liability insurance. A number of conference attendees mentioned that some liability insurances 

will not cover doctors and nurses outside their clinical setting and therefore made many medical 

professionals reluctant to staff FBO or NGO shelters.67

• Coordination and integration. Medical services within many communities were not well 

coordinated for days. In day-to-day operations, emergency medical services, local hospitals, and 

local governments coordinate emergency medical care for large-scale events. However, in the 

aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, those service providers were, in some cases, gone or destroyed, 

or they were so overwhelmed they could not coordinate care. In those instances, FBOs and NGOs 

with medical capabilities set out on their own to provide care. 

• “Getting plugged in.” Some doctors and nurses could not get themselves plugged into the 

system in order to help. A conference member from the Islamic Center of Baton Rouge stated that 

he knew doctors and nurses who wanted to volunteer their services but didn’t know whom to call 

or where to show up.68

• Training and expertise. Lack of training and expertise was an issue. In some instances, church 

staff and volunteers could provide little more for the injured than transportation to the inevitably 

overcrowded local hospital. 

• Waste management and sanitation. The facilities used by FBOs and NGOs, especially after 

days of sheltering hundreds of evacuees, were no longer clean or sanitary for medical purposes. 

• Prescription medication. The lack of access to prescription medication was a nearly universal 

issue. Two concerns are (1) finding an operating and cooperating pharmacy and (2) locating a 

doctor to prescribe medication. 

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Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

• Medical records. The inability to access records made providing medical care problematic. A 

large number of conference attendees cited this as a serious impediment, especially for evacuees 

requiring prescription drugs.69 Many evacuees did not have their prescriptions or an empty pill 

container with them. Without records indicating that they were authorized to receive the 

prescription, this became a problem for many. 

Best Practices 

• Specialization. Those FBOs and NGOs, particularly larger, national organizations, that 

specialized in medical care brought significant resources and capabilities to the area. 

• Mobile medical units. The mobile medical units operated by FBOs and NGOs were outstanding 

assets, particularly in the crucial first week of the recovery. 

• Customer databases. Larger pharmacies, such as Walgreens, had customer databases with 

prescription information so that evacuees without prescriptions on hand and unsure of their 

medication specifics could receive proper medication. 

• Anticipate injuries. Hurricanes Katrina and Rita proved that in an evacuation, people will arrive 

at the shelters with a wide range of injuries. Shelters that adopted this mindset were better 

prepared to deal with medical issues. 

• Know your congregants. St. James Parish, LA, established a list of key individuals, including 

anyone with medical training.70 Organizations that knew their volunteers or congregations well, 

particularly those with resource lists, were able to quickly draw upon the right talents. 

• Family unity. Preserving family unity in the shelters was helpful in cases where a family member 

was injured or ill or had a special need. Other family members were able to provide basic care 

and comfort to that person. 

• Interdenominational cooperation. Pastors Resource Council Compassion is an 

interdenominational cooperative network of more than 500 churches and ministries that formed in 

the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. It facilitated 5,952 medical encounters using 

primarily mobile medical units.71

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Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

APPENDIX A4. PERSONAL HYGIENE SERVICES

One of Louisiana’s greatest shortages was portable toilets, which were requested for the 

Superdome but never arrived there, as more than 20,000 people were forced to reside 

inside the Dome without working plumbing for nearly a week. 

Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, Hurricane Katrina: 

A Nation Still Unprepared 72

Personal hygiene is a fundamental challenge following a disaster. Evacuees may be at risk from 

contaminated flood waters. Volunteers and relief workers may be at risk from debris and damaged 

buildings. Evacuees may have fled their homes without basic toiletry articles. In mass shelters such as the 

Superdome, toilets may fail. 

Shelter hygiene is closely linked to personal hygiene, and so it is included in this section. Shelters need to 

be kept clean. The challenge is that often shelters are not equipped to accommodate large numbers of 

people over long periods. 

We looked at these sub-functions within personal hygiene: 

1. Toilets 

2. Toiletries 

3. Shower facilities 

4. Laundry services 

Discussion 

Of the 127 FBOs and NGOs surveyed, 88% (112) provided some type of personal hygiene services. 

• 80% (102) assembled or distributed supply kits, including toiletries and cleanup supplies 

• 50% (63) provided laundry services 

• 55% (70) provided showers or other hygiene services 

Personal hygiene is directly related to several other functions. Shelters need to be kept clean and hygienic. 

Food needs to be prepared in a clean, uncontaminated environment. Without the ability to clean and 

disinfect themselves, evacuees face disease and discomfort. Personal hygiene is related to a person’s 

sense of well-being. It is a factor in physical reconstruction services; relief workers and volunteers need 

the means to remove and clean contaminated materials and waste from their bodies and clothing. 

Following the hurricanes, hygiene was a particularly important issue for shelters. The issue was a major 

one: large numbers of people were crowded into places not intended for long-term habitation. 

Smaller Is Better 

However, when it comes to shelters, from the perspective of hygiene, smaller is better. 

The success of the FBO shelter coordinators in creating hospitable and hygienic conditions at smaller 

shelters contrasts markedly with the conditions at large shelters such as the Superdome. The unsanitary 

and contaminated conditions reported at mass shelters were not evident anywhere at FBO shelters. 

53
Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

The hygiene conditions at the FBO shelters were far better. Outside inspections concur with this 

assessment. A member of an ARC inspection team, Dr. Hilarie H. Cranmer, wrote, “[i]n a little over four 

days, our multidisciplinary and interagency teams assessed more than 200 shelters housing nearly 30,000 

people. Amazingly, in a majority of cases, the basic public health needs were being met.”73

Representatives from local and county health authorities also monitored some shelters. Pinecroft Baptist 

Church in Caddo, LA, for example, indicated that a local health inspector frequently visited the shelter 

housing 30 to 40 people to assess sanitation conditions.74

The benefit of smaller shelters from a hygiene perspective contradicts current emergency preparedness 

thinking that leans toward use of larger shelters, such as stadiums and armories, provided by 

governments. 

Case Study 

In New Orleans, Wayne and Paula Roaten helped establish sanitation services at the First Church of God, 

which was damaged by the storm. The couple used their backgrounds in the construction and public 

health fields, respectively, and in missionary work abroad to establish a work camp at the church. 

Mr. Roaten submitted calls to the national Church of God network for trailers for the site and then worked 

to connect these to existing power and sewage systems. The first volunteers, in addition to repairing the 

church, established a bathroom–laundry house, complete with air conditioning and insulation, in a 

building shell that donations had provided for the site. These early sanitation measures facilitated the use 

of the site to house many volunteers. 

Sub-function: Assemble and Distribute Toiletry Supplies 

Toiletries were sorely needed by many evacuees who did not bring such supplies with them when they 

fled their homes. It was also important to provide basic items to make them more comfortable under their 

difficult circumstances.75

One example of a systematic approach to supplying hygiene products is the Nazarene Disaster Response’s 

Crisis Care Kits. Nazarene Disaster Response is a denominationally supported network of disaster 

volunteers. As part of its mission, Nazarene churches throughout the country assemble small kits 

containing toiletries and basic medicines. These are stored centrally in Pennsylvania in a distribution 

center from which they can be shipped rapidly when needed. Nazarene Disaster Response shipped 

100,000 kits from this center to the relief areas it managed in the towns of Slidell and Pearl River, LA.76

Many organizations drew upon local community donations for hygiene products. For example, Linwood 

Baptist Mission in Shreveport, LA, was self-reliant, supplying all the needs, including toiletries, for an 

average of 60 evacuees for three weeks and received no help from FEMA or the ARC.77 God’s 

Storehouse, an FBO based in Amite, LA, had a series of logistics sites containing various supplies, 

including hygiene products, from which evacuees, upon showing their identification to the site staff, 

could draw upon.78

Toiletry supplies, whether supplied by a larger logistics network or locally from the shelter’s surrounding 

community, were vital to the maintenance of healthy living conditions at shelters. 

54 
Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

Sub-function: Toilet Facilities 

Conditions at the Superdome demonstrate the need for both adequate and clean toilet facilities. In the 

Senate investigation of the response to Katrina, inhabitants recalled being surrounded by human 

excrement and a horrible stench exacerbated by a lack of fresh air.79 The House’s report reiterated these 

concerns and described similar conditions at the Convention Center.80 By September 1, the national press 

was reporting these horrendous conditions. The Los Angeles Times reported filthy conditions, in which 

evacuees relieved themselves on the ground where children slept, and “people had wrapped plastic bags 

on their feet to escape the urine and wastewater seeping from piles of trash.”81

Under these conditions, and in a facility lacking showers and laundry facilities for thousands, health 

problems were a serious threat. 

Even at FBOs’ facilities that may have an adequate number of toilet facilities, their cleanliness was an 

additional issue that FBO shelter coordinators needed to address. 

Sub-function: Showers 

The need for adequate shower facilities became a sheltering concern in the FBO and NGO communities. 

In some cases, flood waters had contaminated evacuees as they escaped, and they needed to bathe 

themselves immediately. Over the longer term, adequate shower facilities were a necessity for relief 

workers and volunteers who repeatedly exposed themselves to potentially hazardous environments and 

needed to clean themselves. 

Some locations did have adequate shower facilities to address the needs of evacuees. Shelter coordinators 

for Opelousas Family Worship Center in Opelousas, LA, for example, housed some families at the 

facility’s “guest minister” suites. These onsite apartments not only provided adequate toilet and shower 

facilities for the evacuees, but also ensured family and individual privacy.82

Other shelters developed alternative strategies to provide for the showering needs of evacuees: 

• Central South Presbytery, a regional FBO in Natchez, MS, purchased building shells and 

plumbing materials and converted rooms into showers. This solution generated capacity that other 

neighboring shelters used throughout the Gulf Coast.83

• Other FBO shelters also created their own shower facilities. Christway Church in Bentley, LA—a 

small church with an average Sunday congregation of only 50 people—decided to open a small 

shelter. To accommodate evacuees, it hired a plumber to install a shower in the Church’s 

baptistery. Pleasant Hill Baptist Church in DeRidder, LA (which housed 250 to 300 people over 

15 days84), and First Baptist Church in St. Francisville, LA (which housed 57 people after the 

disasters85), both installed shower facilities for their evacuees. 

• Other shelters brought in mobile showering units. This option typically required partnering with a 

large organization that had such resources. Christus Victor Lutheran Church in Ocean Springs, 

MS, partnered with the Christian Appalachian Project, which sent three shower trailers that 

remained in the region for six months.86 Tapp United Methodist Church sheltered 187 evacuees. 

The church partnered with the local Army depot to set up hazmat showers for the evacuees’ 

regular use.87

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Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

• Lastly, some shelters decided that the best way to serve the needs of evacuees was to transport 

people to other, more suitable shower facilities. Some shelters, such as Lifting Up This Temple 

Unto God Full Gospel Church in Baton Rouge, LA, existed on compounds with multiple 

structures, at which the shelter facility was separate from the shower facilities. Shelter 

coordinators transported its 36 evacuees to their separate daycare center for showers every day. 

Rusk Church of Christ in Smith, TX, cooperated with the local school district to arrange 

convenient times, after school hours, for the 120 evacuees at Rusk to use the school’s gym 

showers.88 In Texarkana, AR, Sugar Hill United Methodist Church also used local public schools 

as the shower location for the approximately 70 evacuees housed there.89 In Houston, the YMCA 

partnered with St. Peter Claver Catholic Church to bring some of its 3,000 to 4,000 residents to 

the facility for showers.90

These examples demonstrate that even facilities not originally intended as shelters, such as schools and 

recreation facilities, can be utilized to serve that purpose with the proper support. 

It is also important to note not only that evacuees required showering facilities, but that the thousands of 

relief workers and volunteers who responded to the Gulf to help with recovery also needed hygienic 

living conditions and facilities. 

In March 2006, Dr. George Garrison, professor at Kent State University in Ohio, led a caravan of 400 

students and staff to Mississippi on a volunteer mission he had organized to provide labor for recovery 

services. They arrived at a “tent village” that Navy SeaBees had constructed originally for evacuees in 

Pass Christian. Garrison pulled several of his teams off home rebuilding duty to construct a permanent 

shower facility at the tent site for his group and all subsequent groups to use. This was a valuable 

contribution to facilitate ongoing relief.91

Shower facilities, existing or built onsite, in mobile units, or offsite at a partner facility, were an 

indispensable asset to every shelter and respite. 

Sub-function: Laundry Services 

Another challenge for shelters was their ability to provide laundry services for evacuees. Some shelters 

were very creative in their approach to this. 

Several FBO shelters acquired washing machines and dryers to use onsite. Madison United Methodist 

Church in Madison, MS—with the help of two other churches in its community—purchased washing and 

drying machines for its shelter.92

Other shelters outsourced laundry services, either to partner organizations or to individuals in the 

congregation. Christchurch Baptist Fellowship, which housed 450 evacuees, partnered with neighboring 

churches for a variety of tasks, one of which was laundry services.93

Fairview Baptist Church’s congregation performed laundry services for the evacuees. The group of 

churches of which Fairview is a member sheltered a total of 3,500 evacuees. For two months, Fairview 

and its partners operated a laundry system. Evacuees bagged their dirty clothes and then volunteers from 

the various congregations took the laundry home to clean.94

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Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

Waste Management 

The principal unsolved hygiene challenge for our sample of FBOs and NGOs was solid waste disposal. 

After public and private waste management services broke down, no other agency stepped in to solve this 

problem. Moreover, none of the FBOs or NGOs was equipped to provide backup services. This is a 

serious problem: human waste, garbage, and debris are havens for disease, rodents, insects, and 

environmental risks. 

Triumph Church in Nederland, TX, for example, ran a feeding program for thousands of people at several 

sites. Yet shelter coordinators could not find a service to remove their trash.*

Waste management was also a problem at St. Anthony’s Catholic Church in East Baton Rouge, LA, 

which by prearranged agreement became an alternate site for a New Orleans nursing home. St. Anthony’s 

desperately needed sanitation services, especially dumpsters for all the waste that the shelter was 

producing and the furniture that had to be discarded (and was eventually destroyed). In the end, the 

church paid $10,000 for its garbage bill.†

No FBO or NGO shelters encountered in this research found a solution to the challenge of solid waste 

disposal when normal service had broken down. Though this challenge affected only certain members of 

our sample, it was a major challenge for them because these organizations did not have the resources to 

cope with trash removal, sewage, or other forms of waste. 

Findings 

• Hygiene is critical. It minimizes the spread of bacteria and viruses and promotes comfort, 

personal dignity, and mental well-being. Adequate and clean toilets, showers, and laundry 

services are key to operating an effective shelter. 

• Smaller is better. Smaller facilities were better able to maintain cleanliness and provide for basic 

sanitation and hygiene. 

Limitations and Challenges 

• Plan ahead. Shelter plans for disaster typically focus on the need for beds. The accompanying 

need for adequate shower facilities is not sufficiently addressed. For example, Dr. Garrison noted 

that FEMA withdrew its shower trailer upon the departure of hurricane survivors instead of 

leaving it for the incoming relief volunteers.95

• Waste management and sanitation. Organizations do not have the physical means to remove 

the large volumes of waste produced by tens, hundreds, or thousands of evacuees, relief workers, 

and volunteers. 

 

*

 Jerry Parsons, Lead Pastor, Triumph Church, Nederland, TX, phone interview with Russell Miller, April 11, 2006. 

†

 Alice Reine, Secretary, St. Anthony’s Catholic Church, East Baton Rouge, LA, phone interview with Russell 

Miller, March 29, 2006. 

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Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

Best Practices 

• Schedules. Creating schedules for showers and laundry use maximizes the capacity of limited 

facilities. Smyrna Church in Rapides, LA, encouraged evacuees to create schedules to manage the 

use of shower and laundry facilities.96

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Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

APPENDIX A5. MENTAL HEALTH AND SPIRITUAL 

SUPPORT

Compared to 2003, over twice as many people in New Orleans have trouble sleeping, 

keeping their mind on track and feeling sad. Most troubling is that one-fifth or more 

report feeling this way five to seven days in the previous week ... the person experiences 

this symptom nearly every day. 

Susan E. Howell and Jeanne S. Hurlbert, et al., “The 2006 Citizen Recovery Survey: 

New Orleans and Jefferson Parish”97

The NRP addresses mental health services in ESF #6. Mental health services involve “supporting various 

services impacting individuals and households, including a coordinated system to address victims’ 

incident-related recovery efforts through crisis counseling and other supportive services.”98 Also, 

“Supporting immediate, short-term assistance for individuals, households, and groups dealing with the 

anxieties, stress, and trauma associated with a disaster, act of terrorism, and/or incident of mass criminal 

violence.”99

Spiritual counseling is much more difficult to define as a service, given the wide variety of traditions, 

denominations, beliefs, and methods of delivery among the faith-based community. Moreover, the NRP 

does not provide a common working definition for spiritual support. Nevertheless, such efforts are 

important. 

Following a disaster, FBOs help people deal with loss and restore their hope through traditional faithbased services, such as group prayer, and through counseling and support that call upon the supernatural 

power of whatever God they may believe in to heal them and help them through the crisis. 

Mental health and spiritual support services were a common service provided by members of the FBO 

and NGO community. 

Discussion 

Why offer mental health services and spiritual care? Isn’t it more important to get a roof over evacuees’ 

heads, or find them a job, than to dwell on a traumatic experience? 

The answer is that mental health and spiritual support are desperately needed following a disaster. 

“People recognize us as chaplains and ask us to pray with them and for them. Even those who may not 

have had strong spiritual beliefs before the disaster seek the comfort of prayer,” says Gene Grounds of 

Victim Relief. 

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita damaged not only physical structures, but the lives of hundreds of thousands 

of people. Losing a home, a job, or a loved one to a disaster on the scale of these storms can leave 

individuals in a serious state of trauma, stress, or shock. 

One survey, conducted by Louisiana State University in the first few months after Hurricanes Katrina and 

Rita, states that “in terms of psychological effects, 53 percent of respondents reported feeling depressed 

as [a] result of the hurricanes, and 39 percent reported feeling angry. Only 7 percent had sought 

psychological counseling.”100 In February 2006, an Urban Institute survey asked respondents to list the 

top three social and health needs in their city or neighborhood. Thirty-six percent ranked mental health 

services, including counseling, among the top three community needs in New Orleans.101

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Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

According to Spirituality in Patient Care by Dr. Harold Koenig, “96% of Americans believe in God, over 

90% pray, nearly 70% are church members and over 40% have attended church, synagogue or temple 

within the past seven days.”102

To meet these needs, FBOs and NGOs provided a wide range of mental health and spiritual care services 

to evacuees and to others who had been affected by the storms. 

Of the 127 organizations surveyed, 87% (111) indicated providing some form of mental or spiritual care 

services. 

• 58% (74) provided mental health services 

• 81% (103) provided spiritual counseling 

Sub-function: Mental Health Services 

Mental health services involve counseling, crisis intervention, or special-needs treatment. Mental health 

workers can provide short-term crisis counseling, which involves helping “people responding normally to 

an abnormal experience.”103 That is— 

...assisting disaster survivors in understanding their current situation and reactions, 

mitigating additional stress, assisting survivors in reviewing their options, promoting the 

use of or development of coping strategies, providing emotional support, and 

encouraging linkages with other individuals and agencies who may help survivors 

recover to their pre-disaster level of functioning.104

Over the longer term, mental health counseling involves “formal mental health services such as 

medications, office-based therapy, diagnostic services, psychiatric treatment or substance abuse 

treatment.”105

The Family Tree, an NGO based in Lafayette, LA, provides counseling services daily. The organization is 

contracted to the State of Louisiana to offer mental health services, and in its response to Hurricanes 

Katrina and Rita, the organization sent clinicians to special-needs shelters to diagnose and assess mental 

health patient evacuees. Mental health counseling was offered to families, children, and individuals. 

Mental health is the Family Tree’s niche in disaster response, and, as a result, the organization was able to 

simply expand its operations, rather than attempt to begin providing an entirely new service. For example, 

the Family Tree used its know-how to expand its operations to set up educational workshops for children 

to facilitate crisis coping.106

Many FBOs also provided mental health professionals to encourage psychological healing and recovery 

from the storms. One such shelter was run by Bethel Istrouma African Methodist Episcopal Church, 

where some of the 151 evacuees sheltered at the church were “walking in a daze.” The church partnered 

with Dr. Deborah Thomas, professor of rehabilitation psychology at Langston University Rehabilitation 

Department in Oklahoma. Dr. Thomas found support at her university and eventually traveled to Bethel 

Istrouma African Methodist Episcopal Church three times with a team of mental health experts to provide 

care. Dr. Thomas relocated those patients who were experiencing the most extreme of mental health 

problems to rehabilitation centers outside the area.107

Options for Independence, an NGO based in Houma, LA, provided mental health counseling for 

evacuees. Options for Independence went to many of the shelters around Louisiana, where it assisted with 

the emotional health of evacuees in one-on-one and group sessions. The organization continues to provide 

60 
Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

education for groups of individuals still dealing with the psychological consequences of Hurricanes 

Katrina and Rita. Currently, Options for Independence is holding seminars on post-crisis trauma and 

providing information to communities and families on emotional recovery.108

Sub-function: Spiritual Support Services 

FBOs added a unique dimension to the relief efforts, one that was not addressed by government and 

secular organizations. They played a major role in the psychological healing process for many of those 

impacted by the storms. 

Evacuees stressed the importance of faith and religion in the immediate aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina 

and Rita. A survey of adult evacuees who had traveled to Houston after Katrina, conducted by the 

Washington Post in conjunction with the Kaiser Family Foundation and Harvard University in September 

2005, found that 92% of respondents believed that religion was important to them after the hurricane. 

Even more telling, 81% of these respondents said that the evacuation had actually strengthened their 

religious faith.109

One local FBO, Mendenhall United Methodist Church, in Mendenhall, MS, sent ministers to work in 

local churches in affected areas and offer regular spiritual support to relief efforts.110

Churches of Scientology Disaster Response focused on treatment of mentally and spiritually traumatized 

victims and burned-out responders. Typically, the organization partners with local first responders to 

assist them, those they are working with, other caregivers, and victims during and after disasters. For 

example, following Hurricane Katrina, the group partnered with government and community leaders in 

Vermilion Parish, LA, to establish a shelter where they provided many services, including organizational 

skill and spiritual assists to evacuees traumatized by the disaster. Using this shelter as one of the bases, 

they worked with evacuees at multiple locations in Louisiana and Mississippi, paying particular attention 

not only to those victimized by the disaster but to the first responder and care-giver population.111

In some cases, there was a blurring between mental health counseling and spiritual counseling. For 

example, at the Resurrection Life Glory House Ministries in Baton Rouge, shelter operators performed 

their regular ministry with evacuees to provide a form of psychological healing through faith while they 

brought in secular mental health and grief counselors to tend to those needing mental health support.112

Findings 

• Spiritual care significant. Surveys since Hurricane Katrina have underscored the fact that many 

people look to God during times of extreme crisis. The experiences of Hurricanes Katrina and 

Rita demonstrate that spiritual care is an important component of providing for those harmed by a 

disaster. FBOs provided these necessary services following the hurricanes. 

• Holistic approach. Psychological mental health is a function of many of the other services that 

FBOs and NGOs provided. Providing an evacuee with clear information, clean housing, and 

regular meals along with a sense of dignity supports psychological well-being. 

• Common experience. Evacuees responded to those people who had shared their experiences. 

Psychological healing outreach, whether spiritual or secular, was well received when counselors 

or mental health professionals had been through what evacuees had been through. 

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Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

• Higher level of trust. Conference attendees stated that evacuees were more likely to share their 

experiences with members of the faith-based community because there was a higher level of trust 

with members of FBOs.113

Limitations and Challenges 

• Provide for providers. Representatives from both FBOs and NGOs repeatedly spoke of a need 

to “provide for the providers”114 and to find a way to address the psychological health of care 

providers who may not be used to dealing with tragedy on a massive scale. Organizations found 

that it was important to take care of their volunteers. For example, it is important to ensure that 

shelter workers take breaks and get enough sleep. Too often, those who were trying to help 

evacuees became exhausted both physically and mentally and eventually lost all effectiveness in 

helping hurricane survivors.115

• Access and credentialing. Some FBOs in our sample took issue with what they felt was an 

unwillingness of the ARC to allow FBOs to see to the spiritual health of those impacted by the 

storm. Several FBO representatives complained that the ARC refused to allow FBOs to 

administer spiritual counseling at ARC shelters.116

Best Practices 

• Specialization. Mental health and spiritual support are both highly specialized functions. Those 

organizations, such as Victim Relief Ministries, that specialized in this function were much better 

equipped to deal with the unique aspects of it. 

• Family unity. Shelter operators believed that those shelters that made an effort to preserve family 

unity benefited in many ways, including mental health and spiritual support. Family members had 

fewer problems when the preexistent family structure was maintained. 

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Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

APPENDIX A6. PHYSICAL RECONSTRUCTION SERVICES

The storm surge of Katrina struck the Mississippi coastline with such ferocity that entire 

coastal communities were obliterated, some left with little more than the foundations 

upon which homes, businesses, government facilities, and other historical buildings once 

stood. 

National Hurricane Center Katrina Report117

“Physical reconstruction” refers to a broad set of actions to reconstitute private physical property, such as 

individual homes and places of worship. It involves clearing debris and removing trees so that families 

may return to their homes to assess the damage or gather belongings. Reconstruction requires crews of 

volunteers to remove mud and clean the home. And it includes very basic home repair such as gutting wet 

drywall or patching roofs. 

The rebuilding of communities—home by home—is a critical function that continues to engage 

organizations to this day. While reconstruction involves all those functions and more, we chose to limit 

our focus to three specific aspects, all of which occur early in the recovery phase: 

1. Debris and tree removal 

2. Mud removal and cleanup 

3. Home repair, including gutting and roof repair 

Physical reconstruction is carried out in phases by organizations of varying size and specialization. 

Following the disaster, debris must be removed from the streets and then from around the home or 

building so that neighborhoods may be accessed. Next, if it is safe to enter the home, crews remove debris 

from inside the house. This includes everything from furniture and refrigerators to wet carpets and 

clothes. Also, if there are trees or other objects, such as telephone poles, leaning on the building, they 

have to be cut away to reduce the risk to workers and the risk of further harm to the structure. The next 

step is mud removal and cleanup. In this phase, crews shovel the mud out of the home and begin the 

cleaning process. Crews then remove sheetrock or drywall that has been soaked in the flood waters. This 

is called gutting and is critical to reducing health hazards such as mold. Finally, they may do minor 

repairs such as patching the roof to stop further rain damage. 

These are not necessarily discrete sequential steps. Each home is different. Some or all of these steps may 

be performed, and their order can vary. If all of these steps are done, the homeowner is left with the shell 

of a building: bare two-by-four studs for walls, concrete floors, and a roof. 

Following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, smaller local FBOs and NGOs cleared debris, removed trees, and 

gutted homes. Larger FBOs and NGOs have the physical resources (such as tools, trucks, and 

warehouses), personnel with advanced vocational training, and a volunteer force that enabled them to 

tackle the larger physical reconstruction projects. 

One particularly effective strategy that some FBOs and NGOs followed was that of establishing 

beachheads in the local community. Organizations restored local places of worship first to provide a base 

from which to conduct neighborhood projects. 

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Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

Of the 127 organizations surveyed, 54% (68) were involved in physical reconstruction services. 

• 43% conducted debris or tree removal 

• 34% conducted mud removal and cleanup 

• 47% provided home repair services such as gutting or roof repair 

Case Study 

The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), an NGO, is involved in 

almost every aspect of the enormous physical reconstruction effort facing New Orleans. The 

organization’s approach consists of mudding out the home and then either a reconstruction effort or 

demolition and construction of a new home. 

ACORN has partnered with Louisiana State University and Cornell University engineers to determine 

which homes are suitable for reconstruction and which need to be demolished.*

Sub-function: Debris and Tree Removal 

“Debris clearing” refers to the efforts of thousands of volunteers to remove wreckage. The size and force 

of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita left gigantic debris fields and hundred of thousands of downed trees in 

their wake. Tree clearing was typically conducted by FBO chainsaw gangs. 

Debris and tree removal were functions that most FBOs and NGOs, particularly the local churches, could 

organize fairly easily. Chainsaws are relatively simple to operate, and many volunteers already owned 

one. 

Many local volunteers gravitated to the local church or NGO that, in many cases, was already conducting 

cleanup. FBOs and NGOs made good use of local high school and university student volunteers for such 

manual labor. One conference member noted that Louisiana State University students made up a large 

portion of the workforce.118

Christus Victor Lutheran Church of Ocean Springs, MS, is one FBO that removed debris and trees. The 

church’s volunteers cleared over 1,000 property lots of debris. Anyone could request assistance with 

debris and tree removal. The request would be routed to the church’s case management center, which 

administered the construction crews and assigned volunteer coordinators to manage the workers.119

Sub-function: Structure Mudding Out and Cleanup 

FBOs and NGOs mudded out thousands of homes in the areas affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. 

This was an important precursor to rebuilding a damaged home. Flooding contamination causes a type of 

mold that can be very harmful if inhaled. Therefore, structures had to be first cleaned and then allowed to 

dry in order to eliminate this risk and allow the homeowner to take the next steps in the process.120

 

*

 Martin M. Ellissetche, External Relations, Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, 

New Orleans, phone interview with Russell Miller, April 10, 2006. 

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Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

Tommy Gillon, Disaster Coordinator for Fairview Baptist Church in Columbus, MS, organized 

congregants for such services into two 30-person details to the Gulf Coast each week. These teams have 

cleaned yards, cut trees, removed sheet rock, and repaired roofs. Thus far, they have mudded out 

42 homes and continue their work. 

Fairview Baptist Church bought and staged bulldozers and other heavy equipment down in the Gulf Coast 

to continue and expand the church’s mud removal and cleanup efforts, spending over $185,000 on this 

equipment.121

Christus Victor Lutheran Church of Ocean Springs, MS, mudded out and cleaned between 1,300 and 

1,500 homes.122

The national organization Catholic Charities embarked on a physical reconstruction program called 

Operation Helping Hands, coordinated through the Archdiocese of New Orleans. In New Orleans, 

Operation Helping Hands recruited 3,286 volunteers who have gutted 107 homes for elderly, uninsured, 

or under-insured residents. On average, Catholic Charities sends 170 volunteers out for similar physical 

reconstruction projects every day.123

Sub-function: Home Repair 

After a home is mudded out, work crews gut the house and perform other physical reconstruction 

services, such as roof repair. 

Friends Disaster Service of Lisbon, OH, has specialized in disaster physical reconstruction services since 

1974.124 This organization provides roof work, drywall, and other construction capabilities. The Friends 

Disaster network transported teams of 30 workers and their equipment down to the affected areas.125

Habitat for Humanity is an internationally recognized organization that focuses on new home 

construction.126 That organization has launched Operation Home Delivery to provide new homes for 

Katrina and Rita victims. The Habitat for Humanity office operating in Americus, GA, has been 

responsible for this mission and has been active in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. Because 

Habitat for Humanity is structured towards new home construction, it has partnered with Church World 

Service, an international FBO that specializes in home repair.127 Together, these two large organizations 

are building and repairing thousands of homes throughout the Gulf Coast.128

Findings 

• Significant impact. FBOs and NGOs have provided tens of thousands of volunteer hours for 

physical reconstruction services on thousands of homes. 

• Local organizations. The local church or shelter in a community often had the best information 

as to what needed to be accomplished there. 

• Training and experience. Many of the national denominations conduct internal advanced 

training toward their specialization. This is particularly true of FBOs and NGOs engaged in 

physical reconstruction. 

• Student volunteers. College and high school student volunteers composed a significant 

workforce to assist in the physical reconstruction efforts. 

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Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

Limitations and Challenges 

• Coordination and integration. In many communities, there was no central authority with 

comprehensive knowledge of the jobs that needed completion and the local teams capable of 

doing the work. Hence, there was no (or extremely limited) coordination of efforts other than by 

the individual organization conducting the work. 

• Waste management and sanitation. Lack of city services, particularly debris and garbage 

pickup, was a significant challenge. Often, FBO and NGO volunteer teams would spend a day 

cleaning a street or park only to see their collected pile of debris sit for weeks before it was 

picked up. 

Best Practices 

• Specialization. National denominations have specialized in physical reconstruction services. A 

number of conference members also mentioned that it was helpful to know that they could count 

on these particular denominations to provide these services.129

• Assess first. Sending personnel to survey the job site before assigning an entire crew allowed 

FBO and NGO decision makers to ensure the proper assignment of personnel and equipment. 

• Skilled volunteers. The FBO and NGO community, particularly the larger organizations, have 

successfully drawn on an abundance of volunteers, many of whom have basic construction skills. 

• Beachheads. Both a practical and a symbolic gesture, repairing the local church created a staging 

and coordination area for the community recovery effort and represented a visible icon for the 

community to rally around.130

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Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

APPENDIX A7. LOGISTICS MANAGEMENT AND 

SERVICES

The whole challenge was to get it where it needs to be when it needs to be there.131

Conference participant, Breakout Group Two, Heralding Unheard Voices Conference, 

June 7, 2006. 

FEMA defines “resource management” as “those actions taken by government to: identify sources and 

obtain resources needed to support disaster response activities; coordinate the supply, allocation, 

distribution, and delivery of resources so that they arrive where and when most needed; and maintain 

accountability for the resources used.”132

We defined “logistics management and services” as the efforts by FBOs and NGOs to acquire, organize, 

and deliver emergency supplies to the victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. 

Three aspects of logistics management and services are 

1. Assessing the community’s needs 

2. Transporting and distributing supplies 

3. Warehousing supplies 

Discussion 

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita forced many evacuees to abandon their homes and possessions with little 

more than what they could carry. Few evacuees anticipated that days would become weeks that would 

turn into months before they could return home or move on to a new life and a new place to live. Many 

arrived at FBO and NGO shelters with nothing beyond the clothes on their back. They needed everything 

from food and water to shoes, clothes, and toiletries. 

Organizations faced four broad challenges in addressing evacuees’ needs: 

• Lack of resources. The level of preparedness varied greatly throughout the FBO and NGO 

communities. Local organizations in particular lacked resources such as food, water, and clothing. 

Few had access to warehouses. Small organizations had limited capabilities for transporting and 

distributing supplies. 

• Overwhelming response. When supplies did begin arriving from other parts of the country, they 

arrived in overwhelming numbers. This created a new, unexpected challenge: how to manage, 

particularly how to transport and distribute, those supplies. 

• Duration. The combined disasters caused another significant challenge for the FBO and NGO 

communities: they found themselves providing material resources for evacuees not just over the 

short term, but for much longer than anticipated. 

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Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

• Change over time. What evacuees needed changed over time. As one conference attendee put it, 

“Needs go in stages. As time goes on evacuees have different needs. By the time that supplies 

arrive, they are on their second or third need.”133

Of the 127 organizations we surveyed, 80% provided at least one form of logistics management and 

services: 

• 53% conducted assessments 

• 72% transported or distributed supplies 

• 53% warehoused supplies 

Sub-function: Assess Community Logistics Needs 

FBOs and NGOs examined the requirements of their communities, then looked at their capabilities and 

resources and decided how best to acquire, organize, and distribute the required supplies. 

The Southern Baptist Convention used church members trained specifically in disaster response to assess 

community needs. 

For example, of the 105 Southern Baptist Convention churches in the Mobile Baptist Association, 103 

were adversely affected by Hurricane Katrina. Within hours of the storm, Davis and Charles Matthews 

were in the field doing damage and needs assessments. Both of them are Southern Baptist Convention 

Disaster Relief “Blue Caps.” Their initial assessment allowed the Southern Baptist Convention to target 

the right supplies to the areas needing that specific support.134

Sub-function: Transport and Distribute Supplies 

FBOs and NGOs managed transportation and distribution of supplies. They delivered food, water, ice, 

clothing, and many other vital commodities that sustained thousands of hurricane evacuees. 

First Baptist Church of Ellisville, MS, was typical of many local FBOs that converted their facilities into 

a distribution center. First Baptist Church volunteered itself to be the central distribution point for its 

community and partnered with local FBOs and NGOs to coordinate transport and distribution of the 

supplies. Church vehicles, both First Baptist’s own vehicles and vehicles from partner churches and 

shelters, ferried supplies to and from the church.135

Case Study 

Organizations approached these challenges in a variety of ways. In general, smaller FBO and NGO 

facilities opened up as distribution points while the larger organizations used their manpower and assets 

for transportation of supplies. 

Triumph Church of Nederland, TX, is an example of an FBO that played a significant role in the 

management of logistics in its community. The church had made preparations for disaster but did not 

anticipate that it would play this particular role. 

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Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

Instead of sheltering evacuees, Triumph Church became the logistics distribution hub for the Nederland 

area, providing for hundreds of staff and volunteers who managed those logistics. The church had access 

to a warehouse, supplied church distribution points, and managed transportation. 

Triumph Church received round-the-clock truckloads of supplies. The church facilitated distribution of 

two cargo planes and 100 truckloads (at 40,000 pounds each) of supplies, mostly food. Church staff and 

volunteers organized these supplies and sent them to one of three distribution points in their community. 

The church partnered with a network of regional faith-based organizations, including PRC Compassion 

and Operation Blessing. 

Additionally, Triumph set up three “meals on wheels” to transport food to other shelters and to those who 

could not reach the distribution points.* In total, Triumph Church served 120,000 hot meals and 

distributed 80,000 bags of groceries during the recovery period. The pastor estimated that the church fed 

between 3,000 and 4,000 people a day. 

Some of the larger FBOs, such as UMCOR, provided and staged supplies and set aside vehicles for 

transportation of those supplies to hurricane victims.136 UMCOR’s system involved a variety of “kits” 

that were prepackaged for delivery to those in need. UMCOR collected specific types of donatio

then assembled medical, bedding, healt

137

ns and 

h, school, and other types of kits, which were staged for 

transportation when disaster strikes.

, 

y 

 churches of all denominations and organizing nearly 5,000 volunteers, they 

made a significant impact.

aller 

f 

don’t reach the 

recipients who most urgently need those supplies, and people suffer needlessly. 

Organizations used their own or others’ facilities for warehousing. 

elters 

received supplies from across the country shortly thereafter. The next step was to identify and coordinate 

 

An example of a larger FBO that addressed the transportation of emergency supplies is Convoy of Hope

which has a fleet of 18-wheeler tractor-trailer trucks that are preloaded with supplies in preparation for 

both disaster response and community outreach missions.138 During Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, truck 

drivers were linked to the Convoy of Hope headquarters, where they could get real-time updates. Convo

of Hope’s truck drivers were able to chase the tail of the storm all the way into the disaster area. Using 

relationships with over 13,000

139

Sub-function: Warehousing 

As supplies arrive near the disaster area, they have to be transferred from larger vehicles to a warehouse 

for temporary storage. In the warehouse, they are sorted according to needs and then loaded onto sm

vehicles for delivery to distribution points. This receiving, sorting, maintaining, and distribution o

supplies is a significant function: if not done properly, perishables spoil, supplies 

New Hope Baptist Church of Baton Rouge, LA, dedicated itself to warehousing supplies for other sh

and distribution points. Its pastor networked with the Fourth District Baptist Association to procure

supplies for the warehouse. The pastor also took the initiative to get a warehouse certification and 

*

 Jerry Parsons, Lead Pastor, Triumph Church of Nederland, TX, phone interview with Russell Miller, April 11, 

2006. 

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with shelters that could serve as his distribution points. His preexisting relationships with other churches 

in his district facilitated this coordination.140

Effective warehousing proved to be a vital component of success for FBOs and NGOs large and small. 

The relatively small and ad hoc warehouses like the one run by New Hope Baptist Church served as 

suppliers to shelter distribution points. 

These warehouses were usually stocked from local donations or from the churches’ national 

denominations. Meanwhile, established and typically larger warehouses run by national organizations 

facilitated efficient loading of the hundreds of trucks that moved supplies into the disaster areas. 

Findings 

• Limits. A number of local churches emphasized that if a church is understaffed, it should refrain 

from providing both logistics and shelter services. The impact of trying to do both overwhelmed 

some organizations. 

• Media. Public-service announcements over radio and television, as well as the Internet, identified 

the types of supplies that were required and the location of distribution points. 

• Equipment. Warehouses and distribution points required appropriate equipment. Forklifts and 

motorized dollies were necessary for moving large amounts of supplies. Fuel for these essential 

equipment was also an issue. In cases where equipment was unavailable, volunteers unloaded the 

trucks by hand. However, this was slow and fatiguing. 

• Lengthy storage. Lengthy storage of supplies, especially perishables, was a problem. One 

conference member stated that the ideal situation would be that upon arrival of the trucks, 

volunteers are ready to unload and distribute the supplies.141

Limitations and Challenges 

• Large footprint. Smaller, mostly local FBO-operated, pop-up warehouses found they did not 

have adequate space. Many of these were not really warehouses at all, but rather the church’s 

family life center or a gymnasium that had been adapted for this purpose. Operators did not 

anticipate the large volume of material they would need to accommodate. 

• Truck access. Access and parking for the numerous vehicles that moved in and out of facilities 

presented problems. Many of the larger organizations used 18-wheelers to transport their 

supplies. However, these large trucks couldn’t access very rural areas or regions where the 

storm’s damage had degraded roadways. As a result, many truckloads of supplies were left on the 

highways surrounding the affected areas. 

• Right timing. Supplies rarely kept up with the changing needs of the evacuees. Organizations 

had little control over the rate at which they received supplies and the types of supplies they 

received. The changing needs of evacuees coupled with the lag in the supply line resulted in 

supplies chasing need. 

• Coordination and integration. In some cases, truckloads of supplies reached their intended 

destination, but the church or shelter had been damaged by the storms, or evacuated, or both. 

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• Shortage of volunteers. Often there were not enough volunteers to unload truckloads. Unloading 

18-wheelers by hand was a laborious and time-consuming effort.142

• Access and credentialing. Smaller FBOs and NGOs were unable to reach affected areas because 

of law enforcement roadblocks. Larger organizations had prearranged agreements and were 

allowed to pass through these control points.143 Smaller organizations were forced to turn around. 

Conference members agreed almost unanimously that credentialing was one of the biggest 

impediments to their logistics operations.144

Best Practices 

• Needs timelines. Many FBOs and NGOs created needs timelines that corresponded to the 

changing needs of evacuees. These timelines allowed the organizations to advise those who 

wanted to donate to their organization as to what would likely be needed by the time the 

donations arrived. 

• Assessment. Teams sent in ahead of supplies communicated with, and directed, trucks filled with 

supplies. This proved to be an effective tactic for getting the right supplies into the affected areas 

quickly after the storms. 

• Partnering. Because warehouse space, vehicles, and fuel were all precious commodities 

following the disaster, partnering with other organizations proved particularly effective. For 

example, Save the Children, an NGO, was able to enlist the services of a local truck-driving 

school to drive its truckloads of supplies down to the Gulf Coast.145

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Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

APPENDIX A8. TRANSPORTATION MANAGEMENT AND 

SERVICES

The Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development, whose Secretary had 

personally accepted departmental responsibility under the state’s emergency operations 

plan to arrange for transportation for evacuation in emergencies, had done nothing to 

prepare for that responsibility prior to Katrina.146

Senate Committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs. 

Hurricane Katrina: A Nation Still Unprepared

Transportation management is defined in the NRP as “transportation prioritizing, ordering, sourcing, and 

acquisition; time-phasing plans; fleet management; and movement coordination and tracking.”147 This 

definition describes a strategic function, from the perspective of the federal government or other 

authorities, and is directed at managing “fleets” of transportation assets. 

The quote above from the Senate Committee report focuses on a specific transportation requirement: 

emergency evacuation of residents. 

However, a whole class of transportation activities is not reflected in either of the applications above. 

Following disasters, people need “routine” transportation: 

• Evacuees need to find housing, find employment, and go to doctors’ offices and to other service 

providers. They need to file claims and meet with case workers and visit the local school and 

enroll their children. Evacuees have to buy groceries and household supplies, and they do other 

things aimed at leading them back to a more normal life. 

• Volunteers and relief workers need transportation to and from worksites. 

• Evacuees need to be relocated. 

While one may consider these needs “routine,” they are essential to eliminating human suffering and 

lessening the economic impact of disaster: people need to return to as regular a life as the situation may 

allow. Routine transportation is a key component of that. 

Many evacuees did not have personal vehicles, and public transportation was disrupted. Consequently, for 

days, weeks, or even months, FBOs and NGOs, particularly those sheltering evacuees or providing 

temporary housing for volunteers and relief workers, found that one of the important services they needed 

to provide was routine transportation. 

This aspect of transportation—the non-emergency routine movement of people over long periods so that 

they may rebuild their lives—is not sufficiently addressed in emergency management doctrine and 

government plans. Most references to transportation focus exclusively on evacuation. 

However, evacuation is just the first link in a chain of transportation services that have to be provided 

throughout the response and recovery phases. 

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The sub-functions were 

1. Evacuee shuttles 

2. Volunteer and relief worker shuttles 

3. Relocation of evacuees 

Discussion 

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita caused massive transportation problems. The transportation infrastructure 

was gone, degraded, or overburdened. Gasoline was in short supply. Nevertheless, thousands of evacuees 

without their own means of transportation needed to reach service providers. They needed transportation 

to reach shower facilities or to get food. They needed to go to banks, insurance companies, doctors’ 

offices, FEMA locations, and other offices necessary to start their personal recovery. 

Many Hurricane Katrina victims who evacuated to western Louisiana and eastern Texas had to be 

uprooted again when Rita came ashore. Some FBO shelters had the dual problem of evacuating 

themselves—their staff and volunteers—and the hundreds of Hurricane Katrina victims they had taken in. 

When FBOs and NGOs couldn’t transport their evacuees in their own organization’s vehicles, they 

subsidized train, plane, or bus fares, bought gas tokens, and even assisted some evacuees in buying used 

vehicles. 

At the same time, a massive influx of volunteers needed daily transportation. 

The FBO and NGO community improvised. They partnered with local officials and each other to pool 

vehicle resources, they recruited drivers from their congregations and volunteers, and some congregants 

volunteered their own personal vehicles to shuttle evacuees and workers. 

Of the 127 organizations surveyed, 61% provided at least one form of transportation services. 

• 42% shuttled evacuees 

• 38% shuttled volunteers and relief workers 

• 37% evacuated and/or relocated evacuees 

Sub-function: Evacuee Shuttles 

FBOs and NGOs that operated shelters faced the difficulties of providing daily transportation for 

evacuees to numerous places. Over the course of weeks and months, this became a significant challenge, 

consuming a significant amount of many sheltering organizations’ time and resources. 

First Baptist Church in Jonesboro, AR, sheltered 180 to 200 hurricane victims in its family life center. 

Shortly after accepting the evacuees, the pastor recognized that the guests’ major need was to “get their 

lives back together.” For many without transportation, this meant finding a way to get to and from 

different government offices. The government center in Jonesboro included offices of the Internal 

Revenue Service (IRS), FEMA, the U.S. Postal Service, the ARC, the Salvation Army, and other service 

providers. First Baptist Church set up routine scheduled trips, using its own vehicles, to transport shelter 

residents to this government center.148

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Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

Baskin Baptist Church of Baskin, LA, also set up a daily shuttle service. It posted a schedule of vehicles 

that would leave for doctors’ offices, showering facilities, the hospital, and other locations at prearranged 

times. Initially, it was a scramble to get everyone where they needed to be; however, once established, the 

scheduled shuttle service became reliable.149

Sub-function: Volunteer and Relief Worker Shuttles 

The devastation of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita motivated Americans from across the country to travel to 

the affected areas and lend a hand. Thousands volunteered through their local church, a larger FBO, or an 

NGO. Others acted independently. 

Many needed daily routine transportation to and from worksites. In some cases, those worksites were at 

considerable distance from wherever the volunteers and relief workers rested at night. 

Others needed transportation to a “beachhead,” a place established in the ravaged area and used as a 

forward base of operations. Most often these beachheads were organizations’ facilities. The volunteers 

and relief workers would work from those forward locations for several days or a week or two and then 

need transportation back away from the disaster area. 

Dave and Patty Baldwin are the disaster coordinators for First Baptist Church in Vicksburg, MS. First 

Baptist Church housed 246 people in the church’s family life center. As evacuees were able to move out 

of the shelter, Dave and Patty looked for another way to assist in the recovery. 

First Baptist Church partnered with First Southern Baptist Church of Pearlington, MS. The church in 

Pearlington had been destroyed by the storm and then repaired, enabling it to serve as a forward operating 

base for the recovery effort. 

Dave and Patty Baldwin organized transportation for groups of volunteers down to the coast. They set up 

a schedule and provided shuttle service to move the volunteers between the two Mississippi towns. 

Volunteers would arrive at the recently repaired First Southern Baptist Church of Pearlington and be put 

to work on any number of jobs in the local area.150

In contrast to smaller organizations such as First Baptist Church of Vicksburg, larger FBOs and NGOs 

began a massive, well-coordinated movement of personnel and equipment almost immediately. 

Operation Blessing moved hundreds of volunteers to a staging point in Ocala, FL, as the storms were 

approaching. After the storms passed, Operation Blessing moved the volunteers into Louisiana and set up 

mobile kitchens and other services throughout the state. For example, Operation Blessing transported 200 

to 300 volunteers to Slidell, LA, where they were housed. From this facility, Operation Blessing 

volunteers were able to provide services throughout the area.151

These large-scale movements of volunteers were coordinated by the parent organization and often 

involved using the organization’s own vehicles. 

Sub-function: Evacuate or Relocate Victims 

Some members of the FBO and NGO communities evacuated victims from danger or transported them, 

once safely evacuated, to different areas. 

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This sub-function took many forms: organizations coordinated movement for evacuees, drove evacuees to 

their new location, provided them with the financial resources (such as bus tickets), provided them with 

fuel, repaired vehicles, or, in one case, even gave them vehicles. 

For example, Beech Street First Baptist Church in Texarkana, AR, took in 200 evacuees and provided for 

all of their daily requirements. While many of the evacuees would stay at the Beech Street shelter for 

months, many others just needed a place to stay for a couple nights while on their way to reach friends or 

family. For these victims who didn’t have their own vehicles, the staff and volunteers of Beech Street 

purchased bus tickets.152

Faith Family Church in Victoria, TX, assisted its evacuees by repairing vehicles so the evacuees could get 

back on the road. The church’s staff and volunteers even bought fixer-upper vehicles from local lots, 

repaired the vehicles, and gave them to evacuees free of charge.153

Findings 

• Significant impact. Organizations provided much of the transportation needed by evacuees, 

relief workers, and volunteers. 

• Routine transportation. Evacuees, volunteers, and relief workers need routine transportation 

during the recovery phase. In the case of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, this need persisted for 

months. The frequency and number of trips needed by evacuees was surprising. 

• Overlooked in planning. It appears that the requirement for routine transportation is largely 

absent from government planning guidance. 

• “Shelter” means “transportation” too. Many of the organizations we interviewed that provided 

shelter did not realize that they would also need to provide transportation. Yet the two go hand in 

hand. Many smaller organizations did not anticipate how much time and effort would be devoted 

to this service. 

• Multiple trips to service providers. Evacuees will need to make multiple trips to the same 

service providers. Once these service providers have been identified, regularly scheduled shuttle 

service to them is beneficial. 

Limitations and Challenges 

• Credentialing and access. Access to and from the disaster area for FBOs and NGOs transporting 

volunteers and relief workers was an issue. Law enforcement and military checkpoints did not 

recognize the smaller FBOs and NGOs. Lacking an official credential that identified them as 

having legitimate reason to be in the disaster area, they were, on occasion, blocked from 

providing services. 

• Scarcity of fuel. All local transportation depends on gasoline and diesel fuel. Yet these were in 

critically short supply. 

• Limited number of vehicles. Typically, smaller organizations do not have fleets of vehicles and 

do not have access to vehicles such as school buses. Consequently, they frequently found the 

demand for their own limited vehicles overwhelming. In some instances, organizations’ members 

donated the use of their personal vehicles for transportation. 

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Best Practices 

• Co-locate shelter services. Shelters that could provide meals, shower facilities, and other 

services all at one location saved a considerable amount of time, money, and effort by not having 

to run daily shuttles. 

• Co-locate service providers. Ferrying shelter residents to many stops for services was a huge 

transportation burden. Co-locating government services such as FEMA, the ARC, the Salvation 

Army, and the IRS greatly reduced the transportation burden for organizations sheltering 

evacuees. 

• Create a regular bus schedule. Many organizations established a regular bus schedule. This 

approach worked well. Shelter residents could count on it. 

• Schedule regular trips. Many organizations have established regularly scheduled trips to the 

affected areas so that volunteers could work on specific projects. Volunteers signed up for trips 

that fit their schedules and specific jobs that took advantage of their expertise. 

• “Beachheads” facilitate movement. Using one location within a community or a neighborhood 

from which services volunteers and relief workers could sortie to provide services worked well. 

Among other things, it reduced the transportation burden for the host shelter. 

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Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

APPENDIX A9. CHILDREN’S SERVICES

Creating safe spaces for children is critically important after a crisis such as Hurricane 

Katrina. Children have lost homes, pets, belongings and sometimes even family members 

and friends. We know from our years of dealing with emergencies around the world that 

schools, child care centers and after-school programs provide services essential to a 

return to normalcy and, ultimately, recovery. 

Jeanne-Aimee De Marrais, Team Leader for Katrina Response, Save the Children154

Faith-based organizations natural constituency includes children, as shown by nurseries, 

Sunday school rooms and youth centers. In addition, many FBO house day care centers 

and schools in their facilities for the outside community. This prepares them to serve 

families during a crisis. 

Reverend John Boyles, President, Faith Prepared Network155

As Jeanne-Aimee De Marrais points out in the quote above, providing for children following a hurricane 

is an important function. However, it appears to be largely overlooked or minimized in disaster planning. 

Yet the scope of this function is immense. 

For example, the special care required by children is not addressed in the NRP. Two ESFs within the 

NRP might be expected to address services for children: ESF #6 (Mass Care, Housing, and Human 

Services) and ESF #14 (Long-Term Community Recovery and Mitigation). Yet neither ESF addresses 

children’s services. 

In contrast, FBOs and NGOs recognized this critical need and provided specialized care for children and 

for families with children following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. 

We created a new definition (absent in the NRP) to describe the actual range of children’s services 

provided after the hurricanes by FBOs and NGOs. We define children’s services as including the 

following sub-functions: 

• Child care services 

• Recreational activities 

• Educational services 

Discussion 

As we drove past row after row of homes destroyed by the surge of flood water in the Ninth Ward of 

New Orleans, Victim Relief Chaplain Gene Grounds explained, “Every house you see here is a family in 

crisis. The youngest of those families—children—are especially hard hit by the disaster.”156

Without the benefits of maturity and perspective, children are a vulnerable population who could be 

further traumatized without proper care and attention. 

The scope of this problem was, and in some ways remains, extensive. According to one estimate, 

Hurricane Katrina displaced 189,000 children. Approximately 110,000 still had not returned to their 

normal homes nine months after the storm. Louisiana State University estimated that 30% of affected 

children show “symptoms of depression or post-traumatic stress disorder.”157

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So what are the specialized needs of children during and following a disaster? 

Like adults, children need basic services such as shelter, food, and medical care. However, when 

providing for children after disasters, some additional needs and considerations are worth noting: 

• Emotional trauma. The chaos of an evacuation; loss of friends, family, and pets; destruction of 

homes and property; removal from familiar surroundings; separation from community structure; 

and disruption to routine are examples of factors that may be particularly traumatic to children. 

• Physical environment. Debris, fast-moving storm water, unsanitary conditions, crowded 

shelters, and unfamiliarity with their surroundings are special challenges children face. In the 

aftermath of a disaster, the world is a more dangerous place for children. 

• Shelter environment. Unsupervised children in the unfamiliar environment of a temporary 

shelter are a challenge. Shelter operators stressed to us the importance of providing programs to 

occupy children. Participants at the Heralding Unheard Voices conference told us that shelterorchestrated children’s programs contributed to the smooth functioning of the shelter and 

facilitated the long-term recovery of the evacuees.158

• Parental absences. Evacuees who are parents of children face a recovery challenge: who takes 

care of their children while they look for housing and employment, meet with case managers to 

apply for aid, return to their homes to salvage what little is left, and do the myriad of other tasks 

required to return their lives to something more normal? By providing volunteers and staff to care 

for children, FBOs and NGOs gave adult evacuees the time they needed to address their future 

long-term recovery.159

FBOs and NGOs offered services that addressed the above needs. Of the 127 organizations we surveyed, 

50% (64) provided child care and/or educational services for children. 

• 24% (31) established a formal child care program160

• 46% (58) provided education services 

Sub-function: Child Care Services 

“Child care services” refers to tending to children who are evacuees. It may be a restatement of the 

obvious, but children need supervision. This is particularly so in the aftermath of a hurricane, for the 

factors cited above. 

All three sub-functions contain a component of supervision. Both recreational activities and educational 

services are carried out in a controlled environment. But supervision is the principal purpose of child care 

services. 

Before the hurricane, this supervision may have come from parents, grandparents or siblings, child care 

centers, a neighbor, a school or associated program, or the social structure of the neighborhood. Evacuees 

sheltering in a facility in a new community may not have access to familiar social services and traditional 

support networks for a long time. Accordingly, the shelter or some other organization must make 

provision for child care. 

Organizations may provide child care within their own shelter, may rely upon congregants to provide 

baby sitting, or may partner with an offsite organization that provides child care services. For example, at 

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Christchurch Baptist Fellowship in Houston, volunteers from the congregation ran a daily child care 

center in the church for the children of evacuees associated with that shelter.161

Most FBOs routinely provide baby sitting and child care during worship services. They are at an 

advantage since they have an established child care program and resources (trained volunteers, rooms set 

up for children, etc.). 

During the long-term recovery phase, two other services emerged: pre-existing child care centers 

reopened and “summer camps” were established. 

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita destroyed or caused child care centers in the region to be closed. For 

example, Covenant House acts as a homeless shelter for children and young adults. It has 21 sites in 

North America, including one in New Orleans. Covenant House staff closed that shelter and evacuated to 

Houston during Hurricane Katrina. 

When the staff returned, Renee Blanche, Development Director of the Covenant House in New Orleans, 

was struck by the immediate urgent need for child care services. “There are few such centers in 

New Orleans, and Covenant House has a long waiting list for its child care services,” she told us. “It is 

important to evacuees as they return to their community to restart their lives.”162

Preserving Family Unity 

Interviewees stressed that keeping families together was important. Families provided supervision of 

children and assisted family members with special needs. 

A strategy many shelters used was to house families in separate rooms or areas. This ensured a degree of 

privacy for the family and helped guarantee that it would continue as a functional unit in which parents 

and other adults could supervise the children as they normally would at home. Shelter coordinators at 

Crossroads Church in Plattenville, LA, for example, used the facility’s onsite classrooms to house 

families. Shelters that could subdivide their facility into rooms were able to preserve family care, the 

traditional mechanism for supervising children.*

Other organizations, such as Save the Children, established initiatives to rebuild child care centers in the 

Gulf Coast states.163

A longer-term approach that brought the children out of the shelters for periods of time was to create 

“summer camps.” For example, University Presbyterian Church in Baton Rouge, LA, in cooperation with 

Habitat for Humanity and FEMA, worked in late spring 2006 to establish summer day camps for evacuee 

children at FEMA trailer parks.164

Sub-function: Recreational Services 

Some FBO and NGO shelters provided children-oriented recreational activities. Generally, the programs 

were simple activities with the added goals of distracting children from their families’ troubles and 

 

*

 Carolyn Dugas, Secretary and Financial Officer, Crossroads Church, Plattenville, LA, phone interview, April 13, 

2006. 

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improving their quality of life. Shelter coordinators indicated that these programs not only improved the 

children’s spirits, but also reduced stress in families and among shelter residents. 

The East Texas Baptist Encampment in Newton, TX, which housed 476 evacuees, devoted substantial 

resources to children’s recreation. Coordinators designated some buildings for children’s services. The 

East Texas Baptist Encampment partnered with other organizations, such as the Texas State Troopers, 

Army Corps of Engineers, ARC, Habitat for Humanity, the Salvation Army, Texas Baptist Men (which 

cooked most of the food), and FEMA (which established a computer center in one building).165

Dr. George Garrison, a Kent State University professor who led that institution’s food drive and spring 

break rebuilding program, used an informal network of friends from across the country to organize 

Christmas gifts for evacuee children.166 Christmas celebrations were also important to the 125 children at 

Bethel Istrouma African Methodist Episcopal Church in Baton Rouge, LA. Pastor Marjorie Cobb-Thomas 

coordinated with FEMA Community Relations Directors to organize “Christmas in the Country,” a series 

of outings and gift-giving services that were very meaningful to the children. Pastor Cobb-Thomas 

indicated that this event and others, such as Mother’s Day festivities, were crucial to maintaining the 

morale and hope of the evacuee population.167

Sub-function: Educational Services 

Forty-six percent of organizations provided education services to children, such as classes and tutoring 

onsite, facilitating cooperation with local school districts to enroll evacuees, and providing evacuees with 

school supplies. Educational services helped normalize children’s lives, and it freed parents to undertake 

other tasks. 

St. Margaret Mary Church in Slidell, LA, participated in onsite education by offering its facility as a 

school for a nearby church that Hurricane Katrina had destroyed. Using a flex schedule, the school split 

the day in half to teach St. Margaret Mary students in the morning and the other church’s students in the 

afternoon, thus accommodating both groups for the entire 2005-2006 academic year. This solution was 

possible only by using the destroyed church’s teachers and administrators, who shared facilities with their 

St. Margaret Mary counterparts.168

The F. H. Dunn Resurrection Center, a Christian community center within New Hope Church in 

New Orleans, runs programs dedicated to helping victims of Katrina recover. One of its programs is an 

after-school tutoring and counseling service for children.169 The Church of Scientology volunteers also 

tutored children.170

If the local school district was intact and functioning, the preferred solution among FBO shelters was to 

register the children in local schools. As part of this mission, shelter coordinators frequently organized 

transportation for the children from the shelters to the schools. The school system of Houston, for 

example, sent representatives to the Christchurch Baptist Fellowship shelter to register students. Local 

representatives interviewed all the parents at the shelter about their children to gather information and 

ensure placement at the correct class level.171

Transportation to and from school was a task performed by some FBOs. Lifting Up This Temple Unto 

God Full Gospel Church in Baton Rouge, LA, arranged for a dozen evacuee children to attend local 

schools. The church transported them to and from school every day until the shelter coordinators 

convinced school administrators to extend the bus route to the shelter.172 Other FBOs throughout the 

region also encouraged school districts to extend local bus routes. 

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School supplies were an issue for some evacuee children. At Kingwood United Methodist Church in 

Kingwood, TX, 35 of the 150 individuals were of school age. In total, school materials were a significant 

expense. Consequently, the church started an “adopt a child” program in which a family from the 

congregation could supply each evacuee child with school supplies, books, and school clothes.173

Many larger FBOs and NGOs also provided school materials. For example, Christian World Embassy, an 

international disaster relief organization, provided supplies to schools throughout New Orleans and 

provided backpacks filled with additional personal supplies to their students.174

Findings 

• Family unity. Shelter operators found it beneficial to families to have them live together in one 

room within the shelter. 

• Preexisting capabilities. Some FBOs perform children’s services as an everyday function, such 

as operating day care centers, children’s programs during services, or full-service schools. This 

gave them expertise, organization, and resources directly applicable to disaster relief children 

services. For example, Beech Street First Baptist Church in Texarkana, AR, leveraged its existing 

supplies from the church’s day-care nursery to run a disaster nursery for evacuees.175

• Classrooms. Facilities are particularly well suited to child care if they already include 

classrooms. 

• Time for recovery activities. Child care services, recreation activities, and school classes release 

parents from child care responsibilities for at least some of the day, allowing them to focus on 

long-term recovery needs. 

• Long-term housing for children. Shelters should make finding long-term housing for families 

with children their first priority. Children need a stable living environment to readjust, which 

means getting them out of a shelter as soon as possible.176

• Net benefit of recreation. Children’s recreation activities created a sense of normalcy for 

children, freed parents for long-term recovery activities, and contributed to the smooth operation 

of shelters. Those organizations that ran programs for children indicated that the benefits far 

outweighed the costs of conducting them. 

Limitations and Challenges 

• Long-term evacuation and school enrollment. FBOs and NGOs found themselves doing 

something unprecedented: facilitating children’s reintegration into a different educational system. 

Previous recent evacuations did not displace individuals for long enough to warrant enrollment in 

a different school district. 

• Expectant mothers and newborns. Interviewees told us that expectant mothers and newborns 

required specialized care.177 There was a general sentiment from our sample that baby-specific 

goods were in short supply, though Save the Children specialized in shipping these to the disaster 

region in bulk.178 The USA Shoutout Shelter in Baton Rouge coped with the challenge of 

expectant mothers and newborns by using volunteers to care specifically for infants and pregnant 

women.179

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• Family reunification. Rapid and chaotic evacuation of New Orleans separated children from 

their families, causing difficulty in reuniting them and caring for the children.180

Best Practices 

• Return to local established schools. Sending children to local school districts, as opposed to 

schooling them in the shelter, was beneficial to the shelter. It did, however, create the need for 

transportation services from the FBOs to the schools by FBO staff or volunteers. 

• Close relationship with school district administration. Close communication among the 

district administrators, the shelters, and evacuee parents is ideal. 

• Rapid enrollment. It is important to get children into local schools as soon as possible.181 As the 

evacuee students had a relatively high chance, compared to previous evacuations, of actually 

remaining in the municipalities in which they sheltered, enrolling them in schools as early as 

possible to minimize disruptive transitions was a favorable practice. 

• Home sheltering. Shelter coordinators believed that evacuees placed in homes with families 

recovered faster and had fewer side effects than those in group shelters. They indicated that the 

beneficial effect of home sheltering was particularly noticeable with regard to children.182

• Tutoring or mentoring. While we found only a few examples of organizations offering tutoring 

or mentoring, those we did find offered that they felt this was highly successful for the children 

and beneficial to the shelter. 

• Partnering. Partnering with other organizations for classes, tutoring or mentoring, transportation 

to and from school, recreation activities, or child care served parents and children well and 

facilitated shelter operations. 

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APPENDIX A10. CASE MANAGEMENT AND RELATED 

SERVICES

The applications, forms, and understanding of the criteria required for each service can 

be intimidating. Survivors often have a tough time knowing their rights and whom to 

trust. Case managers reach out to people having a hard time finding their way around 

the system—people who may not drive a car, who may have vision handicaps, who may 

not read and write. The case manager comes from the community and is intimately 

acquainted with available resources. 

United Methodist Committee on Relief 183

The Department of Health and Human Services defines case management services as “... arrangement, 

coordination, and monitoring of services to meet the needs of individuals and families.”184 The Case 

Management Society of America describes healthcare case management as “a collaborative process of 

assessment, planning, facilitation and advocacy for options and services to meet an individual’s health 

needs through communication and available resources to promote quality cost-effective outcomes.”185

Case management is formal assistance provided to individuals and families to gain them health and 

human services to which they are entitled. This involves trained case workers familiar with local, state, 

and federal assistance programs. 

Fundamentally, some aspects of case management come down to properly filling out forms or 

applications and getting them into the appropriate system. FEMA forms, ARC forms, applications for 

new driver’s licenses, changes in address forms, requests for state or federal assistance, insurance claims, 

registrations for school, and unemployment claims are just a few examples of the overwhelming sea of 

paper an evacuee has to navigate. And each of these forms or applications requires some understanding of 

how that particular agency operates and how to get the claim or the application into the system. 

The sub-functions analyzed are 

1. Providing information 

2. Referral services 

3. Form and application assistance 

4. Financial relief 

FBOs and NGOs provided case management and related services. Some FBOs and NGOs already 

specialized in case management before the hurricanes hit. The Salvation Army had to greatly expand its 

regular case management services in response to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Other organizations that 

normally perform similar functions as a social service for the underprivileged in non-disaster periods also 

had to expand their service to include other aspects of case management. Finally, some organizations, 

particularly those offering shelter for the first time, found themselves providing case management 

services for the first time out of necessity. 

Shelter coordinators and other members of the FBO and NGO community indicated that case 

management was an area for which they were least prepared.186

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Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

Of 127 FBOs and NGOs, 92% (117) provided some form of case management and/or related service: 

• 79% provided information 

• 87% referred evacuees to others to obtain services and care 

• 63% assisted evacuees in completing forms and applications 

• 71% provided direct financial relief to evacuees 

Sub-function: Provide Information 

Evacuees desperately need information in order to return their lives to normalcy. Organizations made best 

efforts to provide reliable information to the evacuee population in various ways, including making 

computers and the Internet available for use and providing phone banks, television, and, as needed, 

personal counseling sessions. 

Information was in high demand at many shelters. Organizations became information managers, 

communicators, and advisors. They attempted to supply the evacuees with accurate information on 

government aid and on the overall recovery process. Many facilities made use of computers and the 

Internet to provide information and register evacuees with FEMA. The necessity of Internet access was 

frequently mentioned by interviewees. 

Case Study 

The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) is well established in the case management world. 

It has run specialized case management training for its members for the past 13 years and has designed 

training for others. 

UMCOR describes its own brand of case management as “face to face,” “supportive,” and “empowering.” 

The goal is to enable people to again become self-sufficient. 

According to UMCOR, the case manager evaluates the client’s needs, reviews what relief the client has 

already received, and determines whether the client has registered for FEMA assistance. The UMCOR 

case manager then provides information about what’s needed to proceed further. The final stage puts the 

client on the path to returning to a normal life by referring him or her to the appropriate assistance 

services, acting as an advocate for the client’s interests if necessary, and finally offering direct assistance 

with bills if the client requires it. Ultimately, the client family and the case worker jointly decide when the 

process is complete and the family can operate independently of aid once again.*

Pastor Joe Ratcliff at the First Baptist Church in St. Francisville, LA, described how volunteers at his 

church established computer stations in the shelter. These volunteers worked with 57 residents of the 

shelter to register them online with government agencies. Upon learning of this service, hundreds of 

shelter non-residents came to First Baptist Church for help.187

 

*

 United Methodist Committee on Relief, “National Case Management Questions & Answers,” October 2005, 

http://new.gbgm-umc.org/umcor/newsroom/releases/archives05/?search=case%20 management&C= 1470&I=1996. 

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Pastor Joe Landrum at Madison (MS)United Methodist Church noted that computer stations allowed 

evacuees to fill out forms, locate lost family members through databases, and view satellite imagery of 

their property to perform initial damage assessments. Computers and the large-screen television 

broadcasting cable news 24 hours a day were partly successful in providing evacuees with needed 

information.188

Sub-function: Referral Services 

Organizations connected evacuees with FEMA or other service providers. In some cases, FBOs and 

NGOs brought in outside professionals to address evacuees’ needs. 

Many organizations that operated shelters found that the best way to facilitate contact between evacuees 

and the federal bureaucracy was to bring into the shelter representatives from relevant service providers. 

For example, Madison United Methodist Church brought in FEMA representatives who met with the 

shelter’s 96 evacuees and assisted them in filling out the required forms.189 Similar instances took place at 

other shelters, such as at North Orange Baptist Church in Orange, TX.190 There, FEMA representatives 

explained federal policies to evacuees and assisted them in registering with the appropriate authorities. 

Organizations served as a liaison between evacuees and social service agencies. Jim Colbert from the 

USA Shoutout Shelter, which housed 135 evacuees, described how his group coordinated with authorities 

and service providers to get Social Security payments, food stamps, and other aid to evacuees.191

Other shelters chose to transport the evacuees to the necessary facilities. The Church of the Nazarene in 

Orange, TX, which housed 100 to 125 evacuees, transported residents to offices to register for food 

stamps and FEMA aid.192

Sub-function: Form and Application Assistance 

A crucial step in the recovery process involves one’s registration with the ARC, FEMA, other 

government agencies, and other service providers for relief services. Some organizations assisted 

evacuees in this process. 

It is critical to register for aid quickly. Some shelters provided Internet facilities and volunteer assistance. 

For example, Hope Alive Community Worship Center in Broussard, LA, had an Internet area set up at the 

shelter for evacuees to use.193

However, organizations needed guidance from authorities in order to help their evacuees. Unfortunately, 

they were often unable to reach government offices and other agencies. Shelter coordinators at 

Washington Baptist Church in Natchez, LA, were unable to provide evacuees with needed information 

such as how to go about obtaining welfare and Social Security checks.194

Establishing telephone contact was a persistent problem in obtaining information. Though some 

organizations, such as Options for Independence in Houma, LA, made use of phone banks to serve 

evacuees, many organizations expressed their high frustration at the inability to contact FEMA or the 

ARC via telephone. Rose Cusic, Managing Consultant at USA Shoutout Shelters, notes that the telephone 

networks were so overwhelmed that the only time evacuees could get through on the phone was late at 

night or very early in the morning, forcing them to rely on computers with Internet access. 

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Sub-function: Financial Relief 

Local congregations, organization partners, individual donors, and denominational organizations provided 

funds for local organizations to give to evacuees or use to support evacuees. 

Immanuel Baptist Church in Hattiesburg, MS, collected and distributed funds. Students from Dillard 

University provided each evacuee family at Praise Temple Full Gospel Baptist Cathedral, Shreveport, LA, 

with a monetary contribution.195 Trinity Baptist Church in Port Arthur, TX, received a $10,000 donation 

from another church and used some of those funds to buy gas and food cards for the evacuees in their 

care.196

Contributions came from all over the country. Immanuel Baptist Church received financial contributions 

from a church in California and partnered with several churches in Georgia through the Southern Baptist 

Convention.197 Reverend Judy Tefteller of Kingwood United Methodist Church in Kingwood, TX, noted 

the generous community donations of nearly $100,000 in collections designated for Katrina victims.198

Many individuals and organizations felt that contributing to grass-roots organizations was preferable to 

contributing to a general fund at larger, national organizations. By contributing to a church on the ground, 

for example, an individual, company, FBO, or NGO had more control over the destination of its money 

and could view directly the impact of its funding. 

Findings 

• Timely accurate information. Providing evacuees with accurate, timely, and needed information 

is not only useful to evacuees, but also reduces anxiety. Lack of accurate information from 

government representatives and some service providers was a common problem. 

• Inflexibility. Case managers were frustrated with the inflexibility of government and other 

support institutions. Local organizations that provided case management services felt that 

government and others failed to recognize that they were dealing with extraordinary 

circumstances and that ordinary practices were not sufficient to meet these needs. 

• Know your congregation. Knowing the composition, particularly the skill sets, of a 

congregation helped FBOs provide services. Organizations with a good understanding of their 

congregations or volunteers were able to mobilize the proper personnel who could provide 

specific assistance, such as legal advice, related to various aspects of case management. 

• Information tools. Computers and Internet access were invaluable. Having these resources 

established at a potential shelter beforehand facilitates case management. 

Limitations and Challenges 

• Impact of nonresidency. Evacuees who left their home state faced an additional challenge. 

Parkway Baptist Church is located in Natchez, MS, just across the state line from Louisiana. The 

church transported 832 evacuees to a family service center in Louisiana to apply for help. After 

long waits, the state officials at the center informed the evacuees that they were ineligible for aid 

from Louisiana because they resided in a Mississippi shelter and were therefore Mississippi 

residents. 

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Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

• Illegal aliens. Illegal aliens need help but don’t have Social Security numbers. FEMA required 

identification, such as Social Security numbers, to register with the government. Since illegal 

aliens do not have Social Security numbers, they had difficulty getting aid. 

• Identification. Identification issues also existed for citizen evacuees who had not brought or had 

lost their identification. 

• Inaccurate information. Inaccurate information was a consistent problem. Pastor Richard 

Jennings at the River of Praise Church in Tomball, TX, noted how evacuees in the community 

heard five different instructions regarding where they could receive FEMA vouchers. One of 

those announcements named River of Praise Church, even though it had no involvement with the 

voucher process.199

• Computer literacy. Though using computers and online applications expedited the process of 

applying for assistance, many evacuees were not familiar with computers. 

Best Practices 

• Planning. Organizations’ leadership could benefit from deciding how to use funds before a 

disaster strikes. They might also benefit from establishing an agreement with a professional 

accountant to manage finances in the event of a disaster, which would resolve accountability 

issues. 

• Computer mentors. Judy Hawkins of Christchurch Baptist Fellowship in Houston emphasized 

the importance of having computer-literate volunteers on hand to operate the computers.200 At the 

Heralding Unheard Voices conference, one participant noted how one of the evacuees helped 

solve this problem when he approached the shelter coordinators and offered his computer skills. 

By obtaining a computer and wireless Internet connection for this individual, the shelter 

coordinators enabled him to work all day online to register the other shelter residents.201

• Partnering. Using partners was a common theme. A local bank in Kingwood, TX, gave all the 

evacuees at Kingwood United Methodist Church a bank account, a required aspect of their FEMA 

application, but for which many lacked their old information.202

• Daily briefings. Holding daily meetings to give evacuees accurate information and inform them 

of the overall government aid process was also a helpful step.203

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Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

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APPENDIX B. CONFERENCE MATERIAL

This appendix contains all the conference materials used for our research. 

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APPENDIX B1. CONFERENCE INVITATION

 

Homeland 

Security 

Institute 

2900 South Quincy Street, Arlington, VA 22206 

YOU HAVE BEEN CORDIALLY INVITED TO ATTEND AN UPCOMING CONFERENCE

Date: Wednesday, June 7, 2006 

Location: Baton Rouge River Center 

275 South River Road 

Baton Rouge, LA 70802 

(225) 389-3030 

http://brrivercenter.com 

Title: Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of Faith-Based and Non-Governmental Organizations 

During Disaster 

Faith-based and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) such as yours provide capabilities and resources for the 

community. During times of crisis, those capabilities and resources are critical; you make a difference. Your 

community is more resilient thanks to your organization's efforts. Yet the role of your organization - particularly if it 

is small and not affiliated with a larger denomination or national organization - may not be well understood outside 

of the NGO community. This conference is an attempt to focus on your organization and on how you contribute to 

your community's resilience. 

Sponsor: This project is sponsored by Homeland Security Institute. 

Organizers: Who are we? The Homeland Security Institute (HSI) is the Department of Homeland Security's think 

tank; the proper name is Federally Funded Research and Development Center. (Just to dispel any fears, we are not 

part of any investigation or inquiry; truly the intent is to herald the role of unsung heroes in our nation's response 

and recovery world - organizations like yours.) 

Agenda: The agenda is attached. We have two speakers and a panel session. However, most of the time is reserved 

for breakout sessions so that we may hear what you have to say. CAPT Leroy Gilbert, U.S. Navy, (Ret.) former 

chaplain of the US Coast Guard, will provide the keynote address. Mr. Ken Thompson, Director of External Affairs 

at the Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism, will provide the afternoon address. 

Breakout Sessions: There are two sessions scheduled. Each breakout group will be 30-40 people and will be 

facilitated by staff from HSI and by one of the panelists. Here's what we're looking for from those sessions: (1) What 

did your organization learn during recent disasters that you didn't anticipate? What worked exceptionally well for 

you? (2) What would you like to be able to do to be better prepared for future disasters? 

Registration: Each attendee must complete the attached registration form and return it to us no later than 

Wednesday, May 24, 2006. Please feel free to extend this invitation to other faith-based or non-governmental 

organizations that you feel should be invited. 

Nearest Hotel: Sheraton Baton Rouge Convention Center Hotel 

102 France Street 

Baton Rouge, LA 70802 

(225) 242-2662 

We look forward to your attendance. Thank you. 

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Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

APPENDIX B2. CONFERENCE AGENDA

Heralding Unheard Voices: 

The Role of Faith-Based and Non-Governmental Organizations During 

Disaster 

Wednesday, June 7, 2006 

Baton Rouge River Center 

275 South River Road 

Baton Rouge, LA 70802 

(225) 389-3030 

8:00 – 9:00 am Registration Level 2, Concessions 

9:00 – 9:15 am Welcome/Purposes: Pete Hull Level 1, Exhibition Hall 2 

9:15 – 9:45 am 

Speaker: CAPT Leroy Gilbert, Chaplain Corps, 

U.S. Navy (Ret.) Level 1, Exhibition Hall 2 

9:45 – 9:55 am Break Level 2, Refreshments 

9:55 – 11:45 am Group Breakout Level 2, Mtg. Rooms 1-7 

11:45 – 1:00 pm Lunch Level 2, Concessions 

1:00 – 1:30 pm Speaker: Ken Thompson, MIPT Level 1, Exhibition Hall 2 

1:35 – 2:50 pm Group Breakout Level 2, Mtg. Rooms 1-7 

2:50 – 3:05 pm Break Level 2, Refreshments 

3:05 – 4:30 pm Panel Discussion Level 1, Exhibition Hall 2 

4:30 – 4:45 pm Closing Remarks: Pete Hull Level 1, Exhibition Hall 2 

4:45 – 5:00 pm 

Closing Statement: CAPT Leroy Gilbert, 

Chaplain Corps, U.S. Navy (Ret.) Level 1, Exhibition Hall 2 

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APPENDIX B3. PANELISTS’ BIOGRAPHIES

CAPT Leroy Gilbert, Chaplain Corps, U.S. Navy (Ret.): Dr. Gilbert served as a Chaplain in the 

United States Navy Chaplain Corps. He was assigned to all three of the sea services: Navy, Marine Corps, 

and Coast Guard. He retired from Navy with the rank of Navy Captain. He was assigned to several key 

leadership, administrative, and pastoral positions, including the Chaplain of the United States Coast 

Guard. Dr. Gilbert has a wealth of experiences and training in disaster ministry. He coordinated Joint 

Services chaplains’ emergency response team at the Pentagon and Ground Zero in the aftermath of 9/11. 

He also provided or facilitated pastoral care and humanitarian leadership in several critical incidents, 

including: Egypt Air 990, John F. Kennedy, Jr. tragedy, TWA 800. Dr. Gilbert assisted in the research, 

writing, and implementation of the Coast Guard Incident Management National Interagency Incident 

Management System (NIIMS) and the Coast Guard Incident Command System Manual (ICS) in regards 

to chaplain services. 

Kenneth G. Thompson: As Director of External Affairs for the Oklahoma City National Memorial 

Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism, Ken Thompson is responsible for education, outreach and 

assisting the Institute in its mission to prevent and deter terrorism or mitigate its effects. As a family 

member, Ken has first-hand experience of the effects of terrorism in our world today. His mother was the 

last person identified in the Oklahoma City Bombing. Ken waited alongside his brother and sister for 43 

days for the rescue teams to find their mother. Since April 19, 1995, Ken has been an active participant in 

the planning, establishment and construction of the Oklahoma City National Memorial, the Museum, and 

the Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism. Ken’s activities have included co-chairing the Oklahoma 

City National Memorial Family, Survivor & Rescue Worker Conscience Committee, serving as a board 

member of the Oklahoma City National Memorial, and serving as a founding member of the Institute’s 

advisory committee. Following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Ken volunteered time in New 

York and was instrumental in guiding New York City leaders through a process for family members and 

survivors to begin dealing with the long-term effects of the tragedy. 

Bill Bollier: As the Executive Director of the Louisiana Strategic Medical Assistance & Response Team 

(SMART), Bill has served in the emergency services arena for over 20 years. He started with the 

Shreveport Fire Department in 1983 as a Firefighter and Emergency Medical Technician - Paramedic. In 

1994, Billy left the Shreveport Fire Department and worked for Jackson Parish until December of 2003, 

first as Director of the parish Emergency Medical Services and also served as Director of the Office of 

Emergency Preparedness. He serves on several Boards and Committees and was appointed by Governor 

Blanco to the LERN Committee in 2005, was appointed by Governor Foster to the State-Wide Regional 

Trauma Task Force in June 2003, and was also asked to serve on a pre-hospital and hospital-based 

Weapons of Mass Destruction training planning committee by the LA Department of Health and 

Hospitals in 2002. Billy continues to educate himself in pertinent emergency services topics, and is a 

certified instructor in several emergency services disciplines. Under the direction of Dr. Criese, Secretary 

of the Department of Health and Hospitals for the state of Louisiana, Bill worked as the Operations Chief 

in the Superdome during Hurricane Katrina, and also served as the federal liaison between the military 

and the state for all medical evacuations and removal of special needs patients from August 30th thru Sept 

3rd of 2005. 

CAPT Wilbur Douglass III, Chaplain Corps, U.S. Navy: Chaplain Wilburt Douglass III has served 

with commands from all three sea services. As the Area Chaplain for Commander, U.S Atlantic 

Area/Fifth Coast Guard District from 1997-2002, Chaplain Douglass III led 29 chaplains over six weeks 

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at Ground Zero in New York City. There he provided spiritual care and support to Coast Guard personnel, 

family members of the victims, and to emergency and rescue personnel responding to the terrorist attacks 

on the World Trade Center. For his work he was awarded the Legion of Merit. Currently, as the Chaplain 

of the U.S. Coast Guard, he is directly responsible for the oversight and care of 37 active duty and 11 

reserve Navy chaplains serving in various U.S. Coast Guard commands. 

Jody L. Herrington: Jody Herrington serves as the Disaster Relief Manager for Operation Blessing 

International. In her capacity as Disaster Relief Manager, Jody manages a variety of services that includes 

a cash grant program (since Katrina, 267 grants exceeding 4.5 million dollars to 215 faith-based and nonprofit organizations); a fleet of 18 tractors and 65 trailers that transport resources and medical supplies; a 

command center that serves as a base for volunteer coordination (to date Operation Blessing has provided 

2,303 volunteers totaling over 111,256 hours of Katrina relief volunteer service); free medical and dental 

services; and an innovative project with the City of New Orleans to fight mosquitoes that can carry West 

Nile Virus, Encephalitis and other diseases. Jody brings years of experience working with churches, nonprofits, and international ministries. During Hurricane Katrina, she served an active role at the New 

Orleans Emergency Operations Center with the Mass Care Committee, FEMA Voluntary Agency 

Liaisons, Greater New Orleans Disaster Relief Partnership, as well as partnerships with hundreds of 

pastors across the Gulf Coast. 

Dr. Ernest L. Johnson: Dr. Ernest Johnson is President of the Louisiana State Conference of the 

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and serves as a member of the 

NAACP’s National Resolutions Committee from Region VI. He has over 29 years professional, 

leadership and management experience in a number of high-level legal, financial, educational, civic and 

public policy positions. Beyond his legal career, Mr. Johnson, an ordained Minister, has achieved 

distinction in numerous other educational and civic endeavors. He served for one year as vice-chairman of 

the Governor’s Blue Ribbon Committee for Grambling State University, which resulted in significant 

operational and educational improvements, and has served as an adjunct professor at Southern University 

Law School since 1984. Following Hurricane Katrina, Dr. Johnson served as a vital link with FEMA. 

Among other efforts to aid evacuees, he encouraged the establishment of shelter committees which gave 

the evacuees a voice in their treatment. 

Rev. Daniel K. Soliday: Reverend Dan Soliday currently serves as the Coordinator for Nazarene 

Compassionate Ministries, USA/Canada for the Church of the Nazarene and as the CEO and President of 

Domestic Operations for Nazarene Compassionate Ministries, Inc. NCM, Inc. is an intermediary 

organization working to Create Awareness, Develop Resources and Build Capacity within 182 

USA/Canada faith-based and grassroots non-profit organizations and more than 40 NGOs outside the 

USA. NCM, Inc. also manages the denomination’s disaster response organization, Nazarene Disaster 

Response. Supported by a survey, Nazarene Disaster Response has raised over $4.5 million in direct 

financial assistance for Hurricane Katrina and more than $18 million in total financial, volunteerism and 

in-kind contributions. Dan is deeply involved in the start-up and continuing development of faith-based 

non-profit organizations and community-based collaborative initiatives. He has served as training 

facilitator, speaker/preacher and consultant for various church & faith-based entities to assist them in 

carrying out their mission of social transformation, compassion, and justice within their local context. 

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APPENDIX B4. KEYNOTE SPEECH (1) 

Reflections on Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and Grassroots 

Faith-based Organizations (FBOs) Response to 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina 

By Rev. Leroy Gilbert, Ph.D. 

Introduction 

My proudest moment as an American happened during one of the worst events in our nation’s history. A 

few hours after the terrorists had flown a plane in the Pentagon, I was on the scene providing crisis 

ministry and chaplaincy leadership. After a few hours of being at the site, I paused and noticed how the 

various rescue workers were working together in complete harmony. As the emergency rescue workers 

emerged from the hole caused by the intruding plane at the Pentagon, they were all covered with white 

ashes and dark dust. No one could recognize the ethnicity of the rescue workers. They all were of one 

accord, working together in perfect harmony. For that moment in time, I beheld, I saw, I experienced the 

fulfillment of a prophecy by Martin Luther King, Jr. of a colorless society, where people would not be 

judged by “the pigmentation of their skin but by the content of their character.” On that fatal and fateful 

day (9/11, 2001), a crisis brought Americans together as one people with singleness of purpose. It was the 

worst of time but the finest moment in our American history. 

I have heard the song, “America the Beautiful” several times but it never touched me like it did on that 

fateful night. As the rescue workers were working together, putting out fires, bringing body parts out of 

the building, looking for survivors doing what was necessary to stabilize the situation, I could hear in the 

distant background a recording of “America the Beautiful.” America in the darkest, most tragic time of 

our history truly looked beautiful because of the soul of the people in the aftermath of 9/11. 

What also made this event one of the finest moments in our history was how charities, non-governmental 

organizations (NGOs) and faith-based organizations (FBOs) responded to 9/11. In a matter of a few 

hours, charitable relief organizations had mobilized their resources and set up a support city at the 

Pentagon. Rescue workers, volunteers, military personnel had a place to get a hot meal, relax, receive 

counseling, debriefing, spiritual nourishment, and a reprieve during their arduous tasks at the Pentagon. 

In New York where the terrorists attacked the Twin Towers, there was a synergy between local 

government and non-governmental organizations, charities and the faith-based community in the rescue 

and recovery operations. Before 9/11, the Coast Guard Chaplains had received critical incident training 

and certification courses from various relief organizations. Because of this collaboration with other relief 

organizations, we were able to get immediate access and the required badges to function at Ground Zero 

and the Family Assistance Center. 

The services, support, and funds that charitable organizations, non-governmental organizations, and the 

faith-based institutions provided to our nation during and after the attack at the Pentagon and in New 

York demonstrated how resourceful and helpful such organizations can be in disaster management. 

Some people try to make a comparison between the relief operation of 9/11 with the relief operation of 

Hurricane Katrina. My intention is not to make such an analogy but to draw from lessons learned from 

9/11 and Hurricane Katrina because both catastrophes have compelled faith-based organizations and nongovernmental agencies to redefine their roles in major disasters. While the invasion of 9/11 was 

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catastrophic, both in Washington, DC, and New York City, the damage was isolated to small areas of the 

cities. Conversely, Hurricane Katrina destroyed major Gulf Coast cities and flattened 150 miles of 

coastline, and more than 1.1 million persons were displaced and dispersed throughout the country. In fact, 

80% of New Orleans was under water, and whole towns in southeastern Louisiana ceased to exist. 

Hurricane Katrina was the most destructive natural disaster in U.S. history. It was unprecedented, we 

have nothing to compare to this catastrophic hurricane. 

Americans responded to Hurricane Katrina in unprecedented ways. Scholars, researchers, and 

governmental agencies are still gathering data, analyzing information to discern lessons learned from this 

disaster. The Federal Government knows a lot about the works of non-governmental agencies that are 

approved or affiliated with the federal, state, local agencies. However, little is known about the role and 

effectiveness of grassroots faith-based organizations that provided incalculable services to victims of 

Hurricane Katrina. 

Definition of Grassroots Organizations 

Before we go further, I want to establish a working definition for grassroots faith-based organizations. 

Robert L. Woodson, in his landmark book, “The Triumphs of Joseph: How Today’s Community Healers 

Are Reviving Our Streets and Neighborhoods,” provides an operational definition of grassroots faithbased organizations (FBOs). Grassroots FBO is a religious congregation (church, mosque, synagogue, or 

temple), an organization, program, or project sponsored/hosted by a religious group. Woodson indicates 

that grassroots organizations are small neighborhood non-profit organizations located in the same “zip 

code,” as the people they serve. They have a firsthand knowledge of the problems they live with and a 

personal stake in the success of their solutions. Grassroots organizations, according to Woodson, provide 

not only authority and structure, but also the love that is necessary for an individual to undergo healing 

growth, and development. Grassroots FBOs not only provide needed services but do so in an environment 

of care and mutual support. 

The Focus of the Conference 

Do you know the name of the man from New Orleans who saved nearly 100 people during the great flood 

of 1927? Few people know his name and his courageous, heroic, life saving, humanitarian efforts have 

pathetically gone unnoticed. His name is Mr. Samuel White. This African-American man in his early 30’s 

worked in the stockyard of a railroad company on Franklin Avenue in New Orleans. 

The storm of 1927 took many by surprise. Fourteen inches of rain fell on the city on Good Friday, 

April 15. To make matters worse, lightning struck the main power cables of several drainage plants. 

White, whose home was on railroad property well above street level in the Edgewood area, noticed the 

rising floodwaters, so he built a wooden raft by lashing together several beams. He made several trips into 

low-lying areas, rescuing family after family, taking them to his home and, when it was full, to empty 

boxcars. 

According to a story in the Times-Picayune, on Tuesday, April 19, 1927, his wife, the former Marguerite 

Rochon, cared for and fed the victims, including sick children, while taking care of her own four children. 

Mary White Jones, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. White reflecting on her parents’ heroic rescue mission 

remarked, “My father never said a word to us about what he did, but my mother used to talk about it all 

the time.” Although Mr. Smith did not expect recognition or honors, his daughter said, “They always give 

people a medal or document or something, but my father never received any kind of formal recognition.” 

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Rear Admiral Stephen Rachon, USCG, a native of New Orleans, has been trying to get people to 

recognize the contributions of this unsung hero. Mr. Smith did what he did not for recognition, honor or 

fame. He did not even know that he was doing something extraordinary; he was just an ordinary person 

trying to do what he could to save lives and provide support for those in a desperate situation. 

Homeland Security Institute and I are concerned that the great works done by grassroots individuals and 

organizations may go unnoticed. Therefore, the purpose of this conference is to highlight and to learn 

more about how grassroots FBOs, locally and nationally, made a difference in the aftermath of Hurricane 

Katrina. One of the things we hope to accomplish in this conference is to identify and articulate the role of 

the grassroots faith-based organizations in disaster relief. The Homeland Security Institute has 

interviewed hundreds of grassroots faith-based organizations to learn of their involvement and ministries 

to the victims of Hurricane Katrina. We are learning something everyday about the unsung grassroots 

FBOs who provided invaluable services in the aftermath of Katrina, and continue to do so. 

The data gathered so far reveals a particular role that grassroots organizations played in the aftermath of 

Katrina: these organizations stepped-in to provide for “unmet needs.” When the government (federal, 

state, local) or national emergency organizations failed to act expeditiously or could not provide the 

essential services for victims of Katrina, grassroots faith-based organizations saw what needed to be done 

and acted according to the needs of the people. 

Many studies have been conducted regarding the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in order to discern 

lessons learned for the purpose of improving administrative and operational effectiveness in the future. 

The primary focus of these studies has been similar to an autopsy. The examiners are basically interested 

in discovering the causes of death, who may be blamed, what went wrong. We approach this conference 

not as researchers, examiners or investigators but as reporters to hear, interview, learn, and report the 

unsung courageous work of grassroots FBOs and NGOs during and after the worst natural catastrophe 

that our country has ever known. 

The Root Causes of Problems Before and After Katrina 

Lessons learned from 9/11 and previous disasters revealed a need to have a more coordinated system 

between governmental agencies at every level and with humanitarian organizations. After Hurricane 

Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast, the President of the United States, on September 15, 2005, 

acknowledged from Jackson Square in New Orleans, that “the system, at every level of government, was 

not well-coordinated ... and the Federal Government will learn the lessons of Hurricane Katrina.” Some 

of the root causes of the delivery services problems in the Gulf Coast region after Katrina and Rita may 

be found in the National Response Plan (NRP). The U.S. government’s National Response Plan provides 

a single comprehensive framework for the federal response to domestic incidents, such as natural 

disasters and terrorist attacks. The plan provides the structure and mechanism for the coordination of 

federal support and localities. Major cabinet and other federal agencies are signatories of this plan, along 

with the American Red Cross and the National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (National 

VOAD). The plan incorporates and replaces several previous plans, which were originally signed in 1992. 

One of the ways the plan changed the Federal Response Plan was by not naming charities active in 

disaster relief other than the American Red Cross, but instead incorporated them under the umbrella 

organization, National VOAD. 

The NRP plan designates 15 Emergencies Support Functions, each identifying a specific disaster response 

need as well as organizations that have key roles in helping meet those needs. The 6th Emergency 

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Support Function is most relevant to charities involved in disaster relief. This function creates a working 

group of key federal agencies and charitable organizations to address: 

• Mass care, including sheltering, feeding, and emergency first aid; 

• Housing, both short-and long-term, and 

• Human services, such as counseling, processing of benefits, and identifying support for persons 

with special needs. 

Under the Emergency Support Function 6 with FEMA, the American Red Cross is the only charity to 

serve as a primary agency. The plan gives the American Red Cross responsibility for coordinating federal 

mass care assistance in support of state and local efforts. The American Red Cross also has 

responsibilities under the Emergency Support Functions, such as providing counseling services and 

working with the Federal Government to distribute ice and water. The National VOAD, a membership 

organization composed of approximately 40 charities that provide services following disasters, is 

designated as a support agency under Emergency Support Function 6, but it does not provide direct 

services to victims. Rather, National VOAD is responsible for sharing information with its members 

organizations regarding the severity of the disaster, needs identified, and actions taken to address these 

needs. 

When the GAO team visited the Gulf Coast in October 2005, the team had an opportunity to observe and 

assess how the Emergency Support Functions 6 worked before, during, and after Hurricane Katrina. The 

GAO team found great successes in the plan and many areas that require improvement and modifications. 

The team observed that the American Red Cross did not provide relief in certain areas because of safety 

policies; and thus, other charities, faith-based organizations helped to meet the needs of those areas. 

The American Red Cross in consultation with the American Society for Civil Engineers and FEMA, 

developed policies intended to protect the safety of service providers and victims following a disaster. 

These policies include not establishing shelters in areas that may become flooded during a disaster or in 

structures that strong winds may compromise. However, as observed in the Gulf Coast, victims often 

remained in areas where the American Red Cross would not establish shelters. The GAO team assessed 

that where the American Red Cross was able to establish shelters, the needs of the victims sometimes 

exceeded the capacity of the American Red Cross. The GAO team further observed that smaller charities, 

such as the local church organizations, filled many of the needs for volunteer services that the American 

Red Cross did not meet. 

Grassroots Response 

During Hurricane Katrina, grassroots religious organizations found avenues to provide direct resources, 

help, support to victims with or without going through well established relief organizations. Religious 

organizations never involved in relief efforts began to develop strategies of involvement largely because 

of the actions or inaction of the Federal Government and responsible relief agencies. 

In the Washington Post, Tuesday, April 11, 2006 section A6, there was article entitled, “Red Cross to 

Announce Disaster Response Changes.” The article quotes volunteers who rushed to the Gulf Coast to 

care for Katrina evacuees. One upset volunteer stated, “His team accomplished its mission in spite of—

not because of that charity.” The American Red Cross admitted that mistakes were made and they are 

working on rectifying those mistakes. The Federal Government also admitted mistakes and is determined 

to correct problem areas. However, some of these observed and acknowledged mistakes caused some 

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distrust and compelled grassroots religious organizations to circumvent established charities and 

governmental agencies to provide direct, needed, and immediate help to the evacuees. 

Direct and Indirect Help from Grassroots Organizations 

During the first few days after Katrina, our nation was shocked and horrified by the actions or inaction of 

our Federal Government. We stood in awe and wondered why could not the greatest nation on earth 

rescue the evacuees at the New Orleans Superdome expeditiously. The news media indicated that people 

were without water; children were being molested; people did not have toilet facilities, and it was 

extremely hot, and overcrowded at the Superdome. People of goodwill all over America were moved to 

do something to help. Everyone wanted to help the hurricane victims, to rescue them from the 

Superdome, to provide food, clothing, shelter, counseling, support, or whatever was needed. People 

responded in two primary ways. They either contributed funds to charitable organizations and/or 

volunteered their services as workers in the Gulf Coast. 

Contributions 

The American Institute of Philanthropy reported that in a little more than 3 months, charities raised more 

than $2.5 billion of charitable aid for victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Individuals, organizations, 

businesses, churches, governmental agencies, and charities are still giving and raising funds for the 

hurricane victims. 

Charitable organizations have incredible resources and funds that are available or could be raised for 

emergencies. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) reported that for 2002, 501(c)(3) organizations, which 

include charities, had total assets of over $1.7 trillion. In 2004, the Internal Revenue Service recognized 

820,000 charities, accounting for about 90 percent of 501(c)3 organizations. One of the lessons learned 

from the Federal Government is the importance of integrating and synchronizing the nation’s homeland 

security policies, strategies, and plan not only across federal, state, and local government, but also across 

private sector, non-governmental agencies, faith-based groups, communities, and individual citizens. 

Mobilizing Resources 

Although churches gave millions to charitable organizations and denominational relief funds, numerous 

religious institutions and Non-governmental Organizations felt the urgency and need to do more. 

Congregations throughout America asked and answered their own question, “What can we do to help.” 

Churches converged on the Gulf Coast with truck loads of supplies, food, water, clothing, blankets, etc. 

Trained and untrained volunteers came in the region to provide whatever help that was needed. 

Some denominational congregations and independent congregations made direct connections with their 

affiliated churches in the Gulf Coast region to assess need, damage, and arrange support. Numerous 

churches across the country managed to develop a connection with local churches in the Gulf Coast for 

the purpose of providing direct services, support, care, and funds to the victims of Hurricanes Katrina and 

Rita. In fact, some African American pastors donated a portion of their salaries to pay colleagues in the 

storm areas whose congregations were destroyed. 

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Lessons Learned from Katrina From a Faith-Based Perspective 

1. The Limitation of the Federal Government 

In their report regarding Lessons Learned from Katrina, Homeland Security acknowledged that “Our 

current system for homeland security does not provide the necessary framework to manage the challenges 

posed by 21st Century catastrophic threats.” But to be clear, Homeland Security stressed that “it is 

unrealistic to think that even the strongest framework can perfectly anticipate and overcome all challenges 

in a crisis.” The Federal Government cannot provide for most of the needs of victims of catastrophic 

incidents. Non-governmental organizations, the private sector, individuals, volunteers, and the faith-based 

community are essential partners to federal, state, and local agencies in providing short and long term 

services to victim of natural disaster. Nevertheless, how this partnership will be collaborated in the future 

is a matter for further discussions. Some religious groups do not want to engage in a partnership with the 

government; however, they have a mission and zeal to be of service to those victimized by a natural 

disaster, such as Katrina. Whereas these organizations may be a liability in certain restricted areas of the 

disaster zone, they may be of great service in areas not served by certified relief organizations. 

2. When Plans Don’t Work 

National Incident Management System (NIMS) and the National Response Plan (NRP) are designed to 

coordinate resources to meet the needs of local and state governments based upon their requests for 

assistance. The report from Homeland Security on Lessons Learned from Katrina indicated some flaws in 

this framework. The framework in NIMS and NRP does not address the conditions of a catastrophic event 

with large scale competing needs, insufficient resources, and the absence of functioning local 

governments. Consequently, these limitations, according to Homeland Security, proved to be major 

inhibitors to the effective marshalling of federal, state, and local resources to respond to Katrina. 

Melvin Holden, Mayor-President of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, noted that, the National Response Plan’s 

Mission Assignment process proved to be far too bureaucratic to support the response to a catastrophe. He 

noted that, “requirements for paper work and form completions hindered immediate action and 

deployment of people and materials to assist in rescue and recovery efforts.” When bureaucracy delays 

the federal, state, and local agencies from responding immediately to major catastrophes, it is almost with 

certainty that non-governmental organizations, faith-based organizations, volunteers, and the private 

sector will feel compelled to mobilize their resources to mitigate the impact of the disaster. Just as the 

government realizes that better coordination between agencies is imperative. It is equally imperative for 

non-governmental organizations and the faith-based organizations to establish better coordination 

between each other and with the federal, state, local agencies. 

3. Unscripted, Unpredictable Contingency Plan 

Homeland Security reported that one of the lessons learned from Katrina revealed that the primary 

reasons why the response to Katrina did not go as planned is that key decision-makers at all levels simply 

were not familiar with the National Response Plans (NRP). The NRP was relatively new to many at the 

federal, state, and local levels before the events of Hurricane Katrina. The NRP itself provides only the 

“base plan” outlining the overall elements of a response: Federal departments and agencies were required 

to develop supporting operational plans and standard operating procedures (SOPs) to integrate their 

activities into the national response. Homeland Security discovered that in almost all cases, the integrating 

SOPs were either non-existent or still under development when Hurricane Katrina hit. Consequently, 

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some of the specific procedures and processes of the NRP were not properly implemented, and Federal 

partners had to operate without any prescribed guidelines or chains of command. 

The American Red Cross and the National VOAD are included in the NRP under function 6. If the federal 

agencies were not familiar with the NRP, it may explain why there was a lack of coordination between 

non-governmental organizations and various faith-based groups. Because of the unpredictable nature of 

hurricanes there will always be a need for grassroots organizations that are not connected to the American 

Red Cross or the National VOAD. Local churches and volunteers just pitching in doing what is needed to 

care for victims of catastrophic storms must be included in the state and local NRP. 

4. Short-Term and Long-Term Strategies 

When a disaster occurs, it draws media attention, public outcry, compassion, and an influx of financial 

aid. In the first three months after Hurricane Katrina struck over 2.5 billion dollars were raised for the 

relief efforts. After the media and public attention and government funding have disappeared, the victims 

of the disaster are left to deal with months, years or lifetimes of hardship and uncertainty. 

There are charitable organizations that deal primarily with short-term needs and others deal with longterm services. Short term needs involve but are not limited to emergency assistance, rescue, 

transportation, shelter, food, clothing, medical assistance, etc. Long-term needs include but are not limited 

to rebuilding housing, or new accommodations, jobs, education, health services, counseling, and financial 

assistance. Non-governmental organizations and faith-based organizations responded to the immediate 

needs of victims of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and continue to solicit funds and volunteer services for 

those who still need help. 

In cities where the evacuees have migrated, the local churches, especially, have been tremendously 

instrumental in helping evacuees of the hurricane to receive the help, support, and care they need. 

Parishioners have not only opened up their wallets but also their hearts and homes to individuals who lost 

everything in the storms. It is a biblical concept that those who serve others in distress are serving God. 

May those who have shown and are still lending a helping hand to the evacuees—find comfort in 

Hebrews 6:10 (NIV), “God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him 

as you have helped his people and continue to help them.” 

5. Hurricane Katrina Is Not An Anomaly 

The year 2005 was the worst recorded hurricane season in the history of the North Atlantic and the year 

2006 North Atlantic hurricane season is forecasted to be also catastrophic. If the weather forecast for the 

2006 North Atlantic hurricane season bears out to be true, the grassroots faith-based response to 

Hurricane Katrina as being first responders may prove to be the role of local faith-based organizations 

rather than an exception to the rule. 

Allow me to pose a hypothetical situation for your deliberation. Florida has been hit nearly twice as often 

as any other state as long as records have been kept. Residents in Florida know what to do. But what 

would happen if a major hurricane struck New York City? As you know hurricane alley is from the North 

Carolina southward to Texas. But hurricanes move more quickly and become very difficult to predict 

when they head north of the Carolinas. In a likely scenario, experts say there might only be hours of 

warning. History reveals that New York and the Northeast have been hit hard before, and with little 

warning. Scientists say the next major hurricane to strike the city of New York is a question of when, not if. 

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Here lies the challenge for FBOs. When a hurricane hits a populated area unexpectedly or quickly, there 

is going to be mass chaos, especially, if the city does not have a viable natural disaster response plan. 

Even before governmental agencies can respond appropriately to the needs of the people, there is work 

that needs to be done immediately. This is where local FBOs are most effective, responding to immediate, 

emergency needs such as providing food, shelter, clothing, emotional and spiritual support, and referral 

services. This is what FBOs and NGOs did during Hurricane Katrina that made a tremendous difference. 

Conclusion 

America is a great country not because of our military might—with a budget equal to that of the rest of 

the world combined; not because of our advancement in technology and science; not because of our great 

institutions of learning and entrepreneurship. America’s greatness derives from the soul of its people. 

America is a great nation because we have a long tradition of compassion, volunteerism, and 

humanitarian services to those in need. Although our system of government is the best in the world, the 

best of America shines brightest—in times of a catastrophic event—not through a system of government, 

but through the hearts of Americans as we band together giving of our time, resources, and skills to help 

victims to survive, live through and recover from a natural disaster. 

America is great because we constantly seek to make improvement. We don’t subscribe to the old adage, 

“if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” We are always seeking better ways of improving services and how we do 

business. We are a great nation because we learn from our mistakes. We transform mistakes into steps of 

improvement. The lessons learned from hurricane Katrina will help non-governmental organizations, 

charitable organizations, faith-based organizations (local, state, and national), and the private sector 

examine their crisis response plans and make improvements accordingly. 

Helping others in times of natural chaos or in urgent emergencies are values Americans hold very dear to 

our hearts. Even though we may fall short in operational practice, there is a spiritual dimension that runs 

through our hearts, minds, and spirits that compels us to act for the sake of God’s people. This spiritual 

dimension makes America a beacon of hope for the world. 

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APPENDIX B5. SURVEY

Did your organization... Yes No 

Shelter Services

1. Shelter evacuees? 

2. Shelter relief workers or volunteers? 

Food Services

3. Have kitchen facilities used for preparing meals? 

4. Serve prepared food? 

5. Distribute prepared food to other communities or 

organizations? 

Medical Services

6. Perform triage to assess the medical priorities of 

disaster victims? 

7. Provide basic medical care to disaster victims such as 

first aid? 

8. Provide advanced medical care for victims 

administered by RNs or Doctors? 

9. Provide prescription medication services on-site to 

those in need? 

10. Transport patients to medical care? 

Mental Health and Spiritual Support

11. Provide mental health services to evacuees such as 

counseling, crisis intervention, or special needs for the 

mentally ill? 

12. Provide spiritual counseling? 

Case Management Services

13. Provide information to evacuees? 

14. Provide translation services for evacuees? 

15. Provide evacuee referral services to help people 

contact relief agencies? (i.e. a phone bank, or inhouse case management) 

16. Refer disaster victims to government agencies or 

others to obtain services and relief care for the 

victims? 

17. Facilitate or directly provide legal advice or services 

for evacuees? 

18. Provide aid or offer advice to evacuees in completing 

insurance/government/relief or other forms and 

applications? 

19. Distribute financial relief from individuals or 

organizations to evacuees? 

Physical Reconstruction Services

20. Conduct debris removal? 

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Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

21. Conduct tree removal? 

22. Conduct mud removal and clean-up? 

23. Provide home repair services such as gutting or roof 

repair? 

Recovery Services

24. Create a formal program, e.g., “adopt-a-church,” to 

sponsor care for churches, families or orphans 

affected by the disaster? 

25. Help organize other community partners for collective 

disaster response? 

26. Help evacuees find employment? 

27. Help displaced evacuees find long-term housing? 

Children Services

28. Organize a formal program to care for children? (i.e., 

child care centers) 

29. Provide education services? (i.e., enrolling evacuees 

in the local school district, or providing on-site classes) 

Hygiene

30. Provide laundry services? 

31. Provide showers, or other hygiene services? 

32. Collect or distribute clothing to those in need? 

33. Assemble or distribute supply kits (toiletries or 

cleanup) for disaster victims? 

Transportation Management and Services

34. Provide shuttle service to other service providers? 

35. Provide shuttle service for volunteers to affected 

areas? 

36. Provide transportation to evacuate or relocate 

evacuees? 

Logistics Management and Services

37. Conduct assessments of community logistics needs? 

38. Distribute (transport) non-financial donations? 

39. Provide warehousing? 

Other

40. Provide care for animals? (i.e., evacuee pets) 

41. Receive training prior to disaster for 

members/volunteers? 

Feel free to add or expand on any services your organization provided below (optional): 

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Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

APPENDIX C. SURVEYS REFERENCED FOR RESEARCH

1. Louisiana Public Policy Research Lab, Manship School of Mass Communication’s Reilly Center for 

Media & Public Affairs, The 2006 Louisiana Survey, Louisiana State University, May 8, 2006. 

Notes: This survey illustrates how dramatic events can restructure the social, political, and economical 

environment. 2005—“Louisiana residents rated the response of religious organizations as highly 

effective, giving them an 8.1 on a scale of 1-10 with 1 being highly ineffective and 10 being very 

effective. They rated nonprofit organizations as a 7.5 on the same scale.” 

2. Auer, Jennifer Claire, and Linda M. Lapkin in partnership with the Louisiana Association of Nonprofit 

Organizations, Open and Operating? An Assessment of Louisiana Nonprofit Health and Human Services 

After Hurricane Katrina and Rita (Washington, DC: The Urban Institute, February, 2006). 

Notes: While separately incorporated FBOs and subsidiaries of churches were surveyed in this study, 

individual churches and church networks were not. 

3. New America Media, Lessons of Katrina: America’s Major Racial and Ethnic Groups Find Common 

Ground After the Storm, Oct. 27, 2005. 

Notes: This survey was by Bendixen & Associates and included a telephone poll of 1,035 respondents 

Oct. 14-21. 

4. Hurricane Katrina: Perceptions of the Affected (San Francisco, CA: Fritz Institute, 2006). 

Notes: This report presents a summary of findings from research conducted among a total of 1,089 adults 

affected by Hurricane Katrina who were living in Louisiana, Alabama, or Mississippi before the storm hit 

and looks at relief provided during the first 48 hours and 30 days after the hurricane. 

5. Shwalb, David W., and Barbara J. Effects of Hurricane Katrina on Displaced vs. Regular College 

Students, Southeastern Louisiana University Department of Psychology, December 2005. 

Notes: This survey included 315 “guest” students relocated at Southeastern from 10 New Orleans–area 

universities and 510 currently enrolled Southeastern students and was conducted through Dec. 2, 2005. 

6. The Washington Post–Kaiser Family Foundation–Harvard University, Survey of Hurricane Katrina 

Evacuees, Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, September 2005. 

Notes: This survey took place Sept. 10-12, 2005, among 680 randomly selected adult evacuees residing in 

Houston shelters. It was conducted by International Communications Research of Media, PA. 

7. Bresee Institute for Metro Ministries, Tally of Response to Hurricane Katrina From Nazarene Church 

Reports, Nazarene Compassionate Ministries, March 1, 2006. 

Notes: This survey estimated that churches have contributed over $16 million to Katrina relief efforts. 

“The [Nazarene]denomination has contributed through its missions department at least 100,000 crisis care 

kits, documented by other denominational offices through which flowed this resource ... Those most 

involved believe that our figure is closer to 200,000.” 

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Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

APPENDIX D. LIST OF IN-PERSON INTERVIEWS

(Titles and affiliations were current at the time of the interview.) 

Jody L. Herrington, Disaster Relief Manager, Operation Blessing 

Bill Horan, President, Operation Blessing 

Dan Moore, Disaster Relief Manager Assistant, Operation Blessing 

Sam Constantine, Construction Coordinator, Operation Blessing 

Steven W. O’Grady, Director of Operations & Logistics, Operation Blessing 

Major Mel James, ESC Coordinator, Salvation Army 

Elmo Winters, Reverend, Baptist Builders 

Mickey Caison, Disaster Operation Center Manager, North American Mission Board 

Dr. Gibbie McMillan, Men and Volunteer Ministries, Director, Louisiana Baptist Convention 

David Abernathy, Director, Rolling Hills Ministries, Inc. 

Cal Jones, former State Director, Southern Baptist Convention Disaster Relief 

Mike Abiatti, Associate Commissioner for Information and Learning, Louisiana Higher Education, Board 

of Regents 

Sue Taylor, International Spokesperson, Church of Scientology 

Colonel David Park, Senior Analyst, Analytic Services, Inc., Louisiana Family Assistance Center 

James Player, Vice President of Operations, Analytic Services Inc., Louisiana Family Assistance Center 

Gene Grounds, Sr. Chaplain, Executive Director, Victim Relief Ministries 

John Lay, Associate Director, Victim Relief Ministries 

Rhonda Hebert Ruffino, Convention Sales Manager, Baton Rouge River Center 

Randy Philipson, Director of Event Services, Baton Rouge River Center 

Bill Lokey, Director, FEMA National Response Coordination Center 

Charles B. Stuart, Deputy Branch Director, FEMA 

Keith Rothfus, Director, DHS Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives 

Bill Bollier, Executive Director, Louisiana Strategic Medical Assistance & Response Team (SMART) 

Reverend Leroy Gilbert, Ph. D., Captain, Chaplain Corps, U.S. Navy (retired) 

Kenneth G. Thompson, Director of Outreach, National Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism 

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Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

Kate Summers, Emergency Preparedness Planner, U.S. Senate 

Reverend John Boyles, President, Faith Prepared Network 

Wilbur Douglass III, Chaplain, U.S. Coast Guard 

Dr. Ernest Johnson, President, Louisiana State Conference of the National Association for the 

Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) 

Reverend Dan Soliday, CEO and President, Domestic Operations for Nazarene Compassionate Ministries, 

Inc. 

Valerie Keller, CEO, Acadiana Outreach Center 

Mary Marr, President, Christian Emergency Network 

Katie Loovis, Associate Director of Public Liaison, USA Freedom Corps 

Richard Davis, Director of Prevention Policy, Homeland Security Council at the White House 

J. Elizabeth Farrell, Associate Director, Domestic Counterterrorism, Homeland Security Council 

Edna Casey, Shelter Coordinator, St. John the Baptist Church, LA 

Beth Davis, Chairperson, Unmet Needs Committee, Tangipahoa 

Daniel Palka, Director, Catholic Community Services, Baton Rouge, LA 

Israel Garcia, Director, Society of St. Vincent DePaul, Baton Rouge, LA 

Bob Putnam, Director of Gulf Coast Operations, CAN-DO Organization, LA 

Zach Mitchell, Associate Pastor, Inter-Faith Fellowship, New Iberia, LA 

Kerry Statin, Planning & Budget Director, ASSIST, Acadian, Vermilion, and Jefferson parishes, LA 

Clyde Stutts, Executive Vice President & Chief Operations Officer, Compassion Tampa, Tampa, FL 

Reverend Marjorie Cobb-Thomas, Lamp of Listening and Bethel Istrouma African Methodist Episcopal 

Church 

Rich Olhsen, Director of Domestic Disaster Preparedness and Response, Episcopal Relief and 

Development 

Patty Whitney, Organizer, Bayou Interfaith Shared Community Organizing 

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NOTES

 

1

 Captain Leroy Gilbert, Chaplain Corps, U.S. Navy (ret.), keynote address, Heralding Unheard Voices Conference, 

June 7, 2006, Baton Rouge, LA. 

2

 Gary Shiles, Executive Pastor, Temple Baptist Church, Hattiesburg, MS, phone interview, April 20, 2006. 3

 Kyle Woodridge, Disaster Preparedness Coordinator, University Methodist Church, East Baton Rouge, LA, phone 

interview, April 7, 2006. 

4

 Carolyn Landry, Pastor, Lifting Up This Temple Unto God Full Gospel Church, Baton Rouge, LA, phone 

interview, April 4, 2006. 

5

 Nathaniel Carter, Pastor, New Life of Church of God in Christ, Opelousas, LA, phone interview, April 11, 2006. 6

 Brenda Maxey, Shelter Coordinator, Christway Church, Bentley, LA, phone interview, April 12, 2006. 

7

 Bill Lokey, Director, National Response Coordination Center, Federal Emergency Management Agency, 

Washington, DC, in-person interview with Peter Hull, March 20, 2006. 

8

 Captain Leroy Gilbert, Chaplain Corps, U.S. Navy (retired), keynote address, Heralding Unheard Voices 

Conference, June 7, 2006, Baton Rouge, LA. 

9

 John Berglund, interview with Roundtable on Religion and Social Welfare Policy. Sept. 6, 2005, 

www.religionandsocialpolicy.org/interviews/interview.cfm?id=99. 

10 Hurricanes Katrina and Rita: Provision of Charitable Assistance, U.S. Government Accountability Office, 

Dec. 13, 2005, p. 10, www.gao.gov/new.items/d06297t.pdf. 

11 The Federal Response to Hurricane Katrina: Lessons Learned, Washington, DC: The White House, February 

2006, p. 125. 

12 Jim Towey, Director, White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, cited in Bill Berkowitz, 

“FEMA Finds Faith in the Aftermath of Hurricane Katrina,” Media Transparency, Oct. 20, 2005. 

www.mediatransparency.com/story.php?storyID=89. 

13 Kathleen Tierney, “The Red Pill,” Understanding Katrina: Perspectives From the Social Sciences, 

http://understandingkatrina.ssrc.org/Tierney/. 

14 Mark Chaves and William Tsitsos, “Congregations and Social Services: What They Do, How They Do It, and 

With Whom,” Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, vol. 30, no. 4 (December 2001), p. 662. 15 A Failure of Initiative: Final Report of the Select Bipartisan Committee to Investigate the Preparation for and 

Response to Hurricane Katrina (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 2006), p. 343. 16 Susan Taylor, National Director, Churches of Scientology Disaster Response, letter of Sept. 26, 2006. 

17 Avis C. Vidal, Urban Institute. Faith-Based Organizations in Community Development (Washington, DC: U.S. 

Department of Housing and Community Development, Office of Policy Development and Research, August 2001), 

p. i. 

18 A Failure of Initiative, p. 311. 

19 National Response Plan (Washington, DC: Department of Homeland Security, December 2004), ESF #6-5. 

20 Ibid., ESF #6-2. 

21 The Federal Response to Hurricane Katrina Lessons Learned, p. 7. 

22 Ibid., p. 8. 

23 A Failure of Initiative. 24 Bill Lokey, Director of the FEMA National Response Coordination Center, in-person interview with Peter Hull, 

Tanya Buttress, and Bridget Kanawati, March 20, 2006. 

25 Kip Holden, Mayor of Baton Rouge, LA, interview, CNN Late Edition With Wolf Blitzer, Sept. 11, 2005, 

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0509/11/le.01.html. 26 Ibid. 

27 The Federal Response to Hurricane Katrina: Lessons Learned (Washington, DC: The White House, February 

2006). 

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28 Heralding Unheard Voices Conference Attendee Survey (Arlington, VA: Homeland Security Institute, 2006). 

29 Janet Fregia, Office Manager, Church of the Nazarene, Orange, TX, phone interview with Steve Bowen, April 18, 

2006. 

30 Timothy Beard, Pastor, Collins United Methodist Church, Collins, MS, phone interview with Steve Bowen, 

April 13, 2006. 

31 Jeff Wilson, Coordinator, First Christian Church, Tyler, TX, phone interview with Steve Bowen, April 6, 2006. 32 Judy Hawkins, Secretary, Christchurch Baptist Fellowship, Houston, phone interview with Richard Rowe, 

April 12, 2006. 

33 Robert Miller, Missions Minister, Florida Boulevard Baptist Church, Baton Rouge, LA, phone interview with 

Steve Bowen, April 4, 2006. 

34 Jerry Davis, President/Senior Director, Christian World Embassy, phone interview with Russell Miller, June 1, 

2006. 

35 Leslie Trigg, Associate Pastor, Calvary Baptist Church, Waynesboro, MS, phone interview with Richard Rowe, 

April 10, 2006. 

36 Jerry Davis, President/Senior Director, Christian World Embassy, phone interview with Russell Miller, June 1, 

2006. 

37 Ron Burkhalter, Senior Pastor, North Eunice Baptist Mission, Eunice, LA, phone interview with Richard Rowe, 

April 3, 2006. 

38 Sherri Burton, Secretary, Beech Street First Baptist Church, Texarkana, AR, phone interview with Russell Miller, 

April 10, 2006. 

39 Becky Reiners, Parish Outreach Coordinator, Catholic Community Services, Baton Rouge, LA, phone interview 

with Russell Miller, March 29, 2006. 

40 Charles Keese, Shelter Director, St. Mary’s Catholic Church, Brenham, TX, phone interview with Russell Miller, 

April 3, 2006. 

41 Personal communication with conference attendee, Breakout Group Eight, Heralding Unheard Voices Conference, 

June 7, 2006. 

42 A Failure of Initiative, p. 352. 

43 “Kitchens Providing Essential Aid to Hurricane Victims,” Operation Blessing International website, 

www.ob.org/programs/disaster_relief/news/2005/dr_2005_0909_katrina.asp. 

44 National Response Plan, ESF#6-2. 45 Ibid., ESF#6-5. 

46 Heralding Unheard Voices Conference Attendee Survey (Arlington, VA: Homeland Security Institute, 2006). 47 Gabrielle DeFord and Maryann Sinkler, “Southern Baptists Help Feed Millions After Katrina,” RedCross.org, 

Sept. 14, 2005, http://www.redcross.org/article/0,1072,0_272_4622,00.html. 48 Melanie Morris, Administrative Assistant, River of Praise Church, Tomball, TX, phone interview with Russell 

Miller, May 4, 2006. 

49 Betty Tillman, Minister, Tills Total Ministry, Jeanerette, LA, phone interview with Russell Miller, April 18, 2006. 50 Larry Lormand, Minister of Administration, North Orange Baptist Church, Orange, TX, phone interview with 

Richard Rowe, March 30, 2006. 

51 Neil Bernard, Pastor, New Wine Baptist Church, New Orleans, phone interview with Russell Miller, May 4, 2006. 52 Betty Rascoe, Church Clerk, Union Springs Baptist, Converse, LA, phone interview with Russell Miller, April 17, 

2006. 

53 Brenda Maxey, Shelter Coordinator, Christway Church, Bentley, LA, phone interview with Richard Rowe, 

April 12, 2006. 

54 Joe Landrum, Associate Pastor, Madison United Methodist Church, Madison, MS, phone interview with Richard 

Rowe, March 30, 2006. 

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55 Glenn Jackson, Minister of Education, Poplar Springs Drive Baptist Church, Meridian, MS, phone interview with 

Richard Rowe, April 5, 2006. 

56 Meg Wilson, Secretary, Christian Life Church, Orange Beach, AL, phone interview with Richard Rowe, April 23, 

2006. 

57 Bill Horan, President, Operation Blessing, Virginia Beach, VA, phone interview with Richard Rowe, April 3, 

2006. 

58 Nadine Locke, Secretary, Rusk Church of Christ, Smith, TX, phone interview with Russell Miller, April 20, 2006. 

59 Judy Hawkins, Secretary, Christchurch Baptist Fellowship, Houston, phone interview with Richard Rowe, 

April 12, 2006. 

60 Judy Savage, Secretary, Antioch Baptist Church, Farmerville, LA, phone interview with Russell Miller, April 10, 

2006. 

61 A Failure of Initiative, p. 267. 

62 Federal Emergency Management Agency, “Glossary of Terms,” p. GLO-3, FEMA website, 

www.fema.gov/pdf/plan/glo.pdf. 

63 Matt Day, Pastor of Singles and Young Adults, Broadmoor Baptist Church of Shreveport, LA, phone interview 

with Richard Rowe, April 11, 2006.

64 Bill Horan, President, Operation Blessing of Virginia Beach, VA, phone interview with Richard Rowe, April 3, 

2006. 

65 Pat Davey, Associate Pastor, Faith Presbyterian Church of Brookhaven, MS, phone interview with Steve Bowen, 

March 29, 2006. 

66 Charlotte James, Storehouse Manager, God’s Storehouse of Amite, LA, phone interview with Russell Miller, 

May 3, 2006. 

67 Personal communication with conference attendee, Breakout Group Three, Heralding Unheard Voices 

Conference, June 7, 2006. 

68 Personal communication with conference attendee, Breakout Group Three, Heralding Unheard Voices 

Conference, June 7, 2006. 

69 Personal communication with conference attendee, Breakout Group Seven, Heralding Unheard Voices 

Conference, June 7, 2006. 

70 Personal communication with conference attendee, Breakout Group Three, Heralding Unheard Voices 

Conference, June 7, 2006. 

71 Pastors Resource Council, Compassion, “About Us,” http://prccompassion.net/about.html. 72 Hurricane Katrina: A Nation Still Unprepared (Washington, DC: Senate Committee on Homeland Security and 

Governmental Affairs, May 2006), p. 10. 

73 The Federal Response to Hurricane Katrina: Lessons Learned, pp. 46-47. 

74 Marty Wright, Pastor, Pinecroft Baptist Church, Caddo, LA, phone interview with Richard Rowe, April 10, 2006. 

75 Personal communication with conference attendee, Breakout Group Three, Heralding Unheard Voices 

Conference, June 7, 2006. 

76 Steve Creech, National Director, Nazarene Disaster Response, Kansas City, MO, interview with Rich Rowe, 

March 30, 2006. 

77 Ed Gonzalez, Pastor, Linwood Baptist Mission, Shreveport, LA, phone interview with Richard Rowe, March 28, 

2006. 

78 Charlotte James, Storehouse Manager, God’s Storehouse, Amite, LA, phone interview with Russell Miller, 

May 3, 2006. 

79 Hurricane Katrina: A Nation Still Unprepared, Chapters 1-11. 80 A Failure of Initiative, pp. 117-119. 

119
Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

 

81 Scott Gold, “Chaos in the Superdome,” Los Angeles Times, Sept. 1, 2005, 

www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-superdome1sep01,0,4489032.story?coll=la-home-headlines. 82 Tisha Gallow, Administrative Assistant, Opelousas Family Worship Center, Opelousas, LA, phone interview with 

Richard Rowe, April 3, 2006. 

83 Personal communication with Rev. Dennis C. Flach, Central South Presbytery, Breakout Group Five, Heralding 

Unheard Voices Conference, June 7, 2006. 

84 Sandra Smith, Church Secretary, Pleasant Hill Baptist Church, DeRidder, LA, phone interview with Richard 

Rowe, April 3, 2006. 

85 Joe Ratcliff, Pastor, First Baptist Church, St. Francisville, LA, phone interview with Steve Bowen, March 29, 

2006. 

86 Sherry Buresh, Assistant Director for Disaster Relief, Christian Appalachian Project, Lancaster, KY, April 13, 

2006. 

87 Jeff Hastings, Pastor, Tapp United Methodist Church, Bowie, TX, phone interview with Russell Miller, April 20, 

2006. 

88 Nadine Locke, Secretary, Rusk Church of Christ, Smith, TX, phone interview with Russell Miller, April 20, 2006. 

89 David O’Dell, Pastor, Sugar Hill United Methodist Church, Texarkana, AR, phone interview with Russell Miller, 

April 20, 2006. 

90 Suzette Austin, Secretary, St. Peter Claver Catholic Church, Houston, phone interview with Russell Miller, 

April 6, 2006. 

91 Dr. George Garrison, Kent State University, Kent, OH, phone interview with Richard Rowe, April 26, 2006. 

92 Joe Landrum, Associate Pastor, Madison United Methodist Church, Madison, MS, phone interview with Richard 

Rowe, March 30, 2006. 

93 Judy Hawkins, Secretary, Christchurch Baptist Fellowship, Houston, phone interview with Richard Rowe, 

April 12, 2006. 

94 Personal communication with Thomas Gillon, Minister of Missions, Breakout Group Five, Heralding Unheard 

Voices Conference, June 7, 2006. 

95 Dr. George Garrison, Kent State University, Kent, OH, phone interview with Richard Rowe, April 26, 2006. 

96 Robert Davis, Pastor, Smyrna Church, Rapides, LA, phone interview with Russell Miller, April 6, 2006. 97 Howell, Susan E., and Jeanne S. Hurlbert, et al., “The 2006 Citizen Recovery Survey: New Orleans and Jefferson 

Parish,” University of New Orleans Survey Research Center and Louisiana State University Department of 

Sociology, June 1, 2006, www.survey.lsu.edu/downloads/TheCitizenRecoverySurvey1.pdf. 

98 National Response Plan, ESF #6-3. 99 Ibid. 

100 Louisiana Public Policy Research Lab, Manship School of Mass Communication’s Reilly Center for Media & 

Public Affairs. “2005 Louisiana Survey—Post-Hurricane Community Audit (Special Edition),” Louisiana State 

University press release, Nov. 23, 2005, 

www.survey.lsu.edu/downloads/internalprojects/Fall%202005%20Louisiana%20Survey/PressRelease11-23.doc.

101 Jennifer Claire Auer and Linda M. Lapkin in partnership with the Louisiana Association of Nonprofit 

Organizations, Open and Operating? An Assessment of Louisiana Nonprofit Health and Human Services After 

Hurricane Katrina and Rita (Washington, DC: Urban Institute, February 2006). 102 National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster, Long-Term Recovery Manual. Jan. 29, 2004, p. 56. 

103 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 

National Mental Health Information Center, Center for Mental Health Services, “Emergency Mental Health and 

Traumatic Stress: An Overview of the Crisis Counseling Assistance and Training Program,” 2001, 

http://www.mentalhealth.samhsa.gov/cmhs/EmergencyServices/ccp_pg01.asp. 

104 Ibid. 

105 Ibid. 

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Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

 

106 Maria Garcia, Community Relations and Education Coordinator, Family Tree, phone interview with Russell 

Miller, May 5, 2006. 

107 Personal communication with conference attendee, Breakout Group Three, Heralding Unheard Voices 

Conference, June 7, 2006. 

108 Allison Fakier, Supervisor, Adult Activities, Options for Independence, Houma, LA, phone interview with 

Russell Miller, May 4, 2006. 

109 Washington Post–Kaiser Family Foundation–Harvard University “Survey of Hurricane Katrina Evacuees,” 

September 2005. 

110 Gilbert Prince, Pastor, Mendenhall United Methodist Church, Mendenhall, MS, phone interview with Richard 

Rowe, May 3, 2006; also, personal communication with conference attendee, Breakout Group Eight, Heralding 

Unheard Voices Conference, June 7, 2006. 

111 Susan Taylor, Scientology Disaster Response National Director, in-person interview with Pete Hull and Steve 

Bowen, May 19, 2006. 

112 Pollie Johnson, Pastor, Resurrection Life Full of Glory House Ministries, Baton Rouge, LA, phone interview 

with Russell Miller, May 4, 2006. 

113 Personal communication with conference attendee, Breakout Group Two, Heralding Unheard Voices Conference, 

June 7, 2006. 

114 Personal communication with conference attendee, Breakout Group Two, Heralding Unheard Voices Conference, 

June 7, 2006. 

115 Personal communication with conference attendee, Breakout Group Six, Heralding Unheard Voices Conference, 

June 7, 2006. 

116 Personal communication with conference attendee, Breakout Group Three, Heralding Unheard Voices 

Conference, June 7, 2006. 

117 A Failure of Initiative, p. 72. 

118 Personal communication with conference attendee, Breakout Group Three, Heralding Unheard Voices 

Conference, June 7, 2006. 

119 Amy Bearson, Disaster Response Coordinator, Christus Victor Lutheran Church, Ocean Springs, MS, phone 

conversation with Richard Rowe, April 12, 2006. 

120 North American Mission Board, “Recommendations for Mud-Out,” North American Mission Board website, 

www.namb.net/site/c.9qKILUOzEpH/b.1135711/k.737C/Mudout_Recommendations.htm. 

121 Tommy Gillon, Coordinator, Fairview Baptist Church, Columbus, MS, phone interview with Steve Bowen, 

April 5, 2006. 

122 Amy Bearson, Disaster Response Coordinator, Christus Victor Lutheran Church, Ocean Springs, MS, phone 

conversation with Richard Rowe, April 12, 2006. 

123 Catholic Charities USA, “2005 Hurricane Relief: Local Agency Recovery Efforts,” 

www.catholiccharitiesusa.org/news/katrina/agencies.cfm. 

124 Friends Disaster Service, “Outreach of the Friends Church,” www.friendsdisasterservice.org/. 125 William Lawson, Interim Director, Friends Disaster Service, phone interview with Steve Bowen, April 4, 2006. 

126 Habitat for Humanity International, “Operation Home Delivery,” www.habitat.org/. 

127 Church World Service, “Emergency Response Program,” www.churchworldservice.org/. 128 Ken Meinart, Senior Vice President for “Operation Home Delivery,” Habitat for Humanity International, phone 

interview with Steve Bowen, April 20, 2006. 129 Personal communication with conference attendee, Breakout Group Three, Heralding Unheard Voices 

Conference, June 7, 2006. 

130 Personal communication with conference attendee, Breakout Group Eight, Heralding Unheard Voices 

Conference, June 7, 2006. 

121
Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

 

131 Personal communication with conference attendee, Breakout Group Two, Heralding Unheard Voices Conference, 

June 7, 2006. 

132 Federal Emergency Management Agency, “Glossary of Terms,” p. GLO-9, www.fema.gov/pdf/plan/glo.pdf. 

133 Personal communication with conference attendee, Plenary Breakout Group, Heralding Unheard Voices 

Conference, June 7, 2006. 

134 Reverend Charlie “Chuck” Davis, Church Development Director, Mobile Baptist Convention, phone interview 

with Richard Rowe, May 10, 2006. 

135 Marilyn Porter, Coordinator, First Baptist Church of Ellisville, MS, phone interview with Steve Bowen, April 6, 

2006. 136 Linda Beher, Communications Director, United Methodist Committee on Relief, phone interview with Russell 

Miller, April 18, 2006. 

137 United Methodist Committee on Relief, “About Us,” October 2005, http://new.gbgm-umc.org/. 

138 Convoy of Hope, “Disaster Relief,” www.convoyofhope.org/what.html. 

139 Judy Murphy, Administrative Assistant, Convoy of Hope, phone interview with Steve Bowen, April 13, 2006. 

140 Dr. Leo Cyrus, Pastor, New Hope Baptist Church, Baton Rouge, LA. 

141 Personal communication with conference attendee, Breakout Group Two, Heralding Unheard Voices Conference, 

June 7, 2006. 

142 Personal communication with conference attendee, Breakout Group Eight, Heralding Unheard Voices 

Conference, June 7, 2006. 

143 Personal communication with conference attendee, Breakout Group Two, Heralding Unheard Voices Conference, 

June 7, 2006. 

144 Pat Davey, Associate Pastor, Faith Presbyterian Church, phone interview with Steve Bowen, March 29, 2006. 145 Personal communication with conference attendee, Plenary Breakout Group, Heralding Unheard Voices 

Conference, June 7, 2006. 

146 Hurricane Katrina: A Nation Still Unprepared, Introduction, pp. 15-16. 147 National Response Plan, p. 73. 148 Bruce Tippit, Pastor, First Baptist Church of Jonesboro, AR, phone interview with Steve Bowen, April 19, 2006. 

149 Marion Spence, Reverend, Baskin Baptist Church of Monroe, LA, phone interview with Russell Miller, April 18, 

2006. 

150 Dave Baldwin, Coordinator, First Baptist Church of Vicksburg, MS, phone interview with Steve Bowen, April 6, 

2006. 

151 Bill Horan, President, Operation Blessing of Virginia Beach, VA, phone interview with Richard Rowe, April 3, 

2006. 

152 Sherri Burton, Secretary, Beech Street First Baptist Church of Texarkana, AR, phone interview with Russell 

Miller, April 10, 2006. 

153 Larry Helms, Pastor, Faith Family Church of Victoria, TX, phone interview with Steve Bowen, April 19, 2006. 154 Save the Children, “$2 Million to Rebuild Child Care Facilities in Mississippi Gulf Coast,” 

www.savethechildren.org/news/releases/release_062106.asp?stationpub=i_hpln_062106&ArticleID=&NewsID=. 155 Reverend John Boyles, President, Faith Prepared Network, memo of Oct. 6, 2006. 

156 Gene Grounds, President of Victim Relief, in-person interview with Pete Hull, May 10, 2006. 157 Julia Cass, “For Many of Katrina’s Young Victims, the Scars Are More Than Skin Deep,” Washington Post, 

June 13, 2006, www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/12/AR2006061201746.html. 

158 Personal communication with conference attendee, Breakout Group Three, Heralding Unheard Voices 

Conference, June 7, 2006. 

159 Judy Hawkins, Secretary, Christchurch Baptist Fellowship, Houston, phone interview with Richard Rowe, 

April 12, 2006. 

122
Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

 

160 Heralding Unheard Voices Conference Attendee Survey (Arlington, VA: Homeland Security Institute, 2006). 

161 Judy Hawkins, Secretary, Christchurch Baptist Fellowship, Houston, phone interview with Richard Rowe, 

April 12, 2006. 

162 Renee Blanche, Development Director, Covenant House, New Orleans, phone interview with Russell Miller, 

May 9, 2006. 

163 Jeanne-Aimee De Marrais, Team Leader, Katrina, Save the Children, Long Beach, MS, Breakout Group Plenary, 

Heralding Unheard Voices Conference, June 7, 2006. 

164 Patti Snyder, Pastor, University Presbyterian Church, Baton Rouge, LA, phone interview with Russell Miller, 

May 9, 2006. 

165 Penny Davis, Office Manager, East Texas Baptist Encampment, Newton, TX, phone interview with Steve 

Bowen, April 18, 2006. 

166 George Garrison, Professor, Kent State University, Kent, OH, phone interview with Richard Rowe, April 25, 

2006. 

167 Marjorie Cobb-Thomas, Pastor, Bethel Istrouma AME Church/Lamp of Listening, Baton Rouge, LA, in-person 

interview with Richard Rowe, June 7, 2006. 

168 Renee Lemoine, Assistant, St. Margaret Mary Church, Slidell, LA, phone interview with Russell Miller, May 4, 

2006. 

169 Lilton McQuarter, Pastor, F. H. Dunn Resurrection Center; New Orleans, phone interview with Russell Miller, 

May 3, 2006. 

170 Sue Taylor, National Director, Scientology Disaster Response, Washington, DC, in-person interview with Pete 

Hull and Steve Bowen, May 19, 2006. 

171 Judy Hawkins, Secretary, Christchurch Baptist Fellowship, Houston, phone interview with Richard Rowe, 

April 12, 2006. 

172 Carolyn Landry, Pastor, Lifting Up This Temple Unto God Full Gospel Church, Baton Rouge, LA, interview 

with Richard Rowe, April 4, 2006. 

173 Personal communication with Rebecca (Becky) Reeves, Kitchen Coordinator, Kingwood United Methodist 

Church, Kingwood, TX, Breakout Group Three, Heralding Unheard Voices Conference, June 7, 2006. 

174 Jerry Davis, President, Christian World Embassy, Conroe, TX, phone interview with Russell Miller, June 1, 

2006. 

175 Sherri Burton, Secretary, Beech Street First Baptist Church, Texarkana, AR, phone interview with Russell Miller, 

April 10, 2006. 

176 Personal communication with conference attendee, Breakout Group Three, Heralding Unheard Voices 

Conference, June 7, 2006. 

177 Personal communication with conference attendee, Breakout Group Plenary, Heralding Unheard Voices 

Conference, June 7, 2006. 

178 Jason Hinton, Feed the Children, Oklahoma City, interview with Steve Bowen, April 19, 2006. 

179 Jim Colbert, USA Shoutout Shelter, Baton Rouge, LA, phone interview with Russell Miller, March 31, 2006. 

180 Personal communication with conference attendee, Breakout Group Five, Heralding Unheard Voices Conference, 

June 7, 2006. 

181 Personal communication with conference attendee, Breakout Group Three, Heralding Unheard Voices 

Conference, June 7, 2006. 

182 Personal communication with conference attendee, Breakout Group Three, Heralding Unheard Voices 

Conference, June 7, 2006. 

183 United Methodist Committee on Relief, “National Case Management Questions & Answers,” October 2005, 

http://new.gbgm-umc.org/umcor/newsroom/releases/archives05/?search=case%20management&C=1470&I=1996. 184 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, “Office of Community Services—Social Services Block Grant” 

program, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ocs/ssbg/sub1/unifdef.html. 

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Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of FBOs and NGOs During Disasters 

 

185 “Case Management Society of America—About Us—Definition of Case Management,” 

www.cmsa.org/Default.aspx?tabid=104. 186 Personal communication with conference attendees, Breakout Group Seven, Heralding Unheard Voices 

Conference, June 7, 2006. 

187 Rev. Joe Ratcliff, Pastor, First Baptist Church, St. Francisville, LA, phone interview with Steve Bowen, 

March 29, 2006. 

188 Rev. Joe Landrum, Associate Pastor, Madison United Methodist Church, Madison, MS, phone interview with 

Richard Rowe, March 30, 2006. 

189 Ibid. 

190 Larry Lormand, Minister of Administration, North Orange Baptist Church, Orange, TX, phone interview with 

Richard Rowe, March 30, 2006. 

191 Jim Colbert, USA Shoutout Shelter; Baton Rouge, LA, phone interview with Russell Miller, March 31, 2006. 

192 Janet Fregia, Office Manager, Church of the Nazarene, Orange, TX, phone interview with Steve Bowen, 

April 18, 2006. 

193 Lisa MacDowell, Secretary, Hope Alive Community Worship Center, Broussard, LA, phone interview with 

Richard Rowe, April 10, 2006. 

194 Terry Upchurch, Pastor, Washington Baptist Church, Natchez, LA, phone interview with Russell Miller, May 3, 

2006. 

195 Qualesia Coleman, Coordinator, Hurricane Recovery, Praise Temple Full Gospel Baptist Cathedral, Shreveport, 

LA, phone interview with Richard Rowe, April 11, 2006. 

196 Brian Wright, Minister of Missions/Administrator, Trinity Baptist Church, Port Arthur, TX, phone interview with 

Russell Miller, April 17, 2006. 

197 David Williamson, Pastor, Immanuel Baptist Church, Hattiesburg, MS, phone interview with Richard Rowe, 

April 17, 2006. 

198 Judy Tefteller, Reverend, Kingwood United Methodist Church, Kingwood, TX, phone interview with Richard 

Rowe, April 5, 2006. 

199 Richard Jennings, Pastor, River of Praise Church; Tomball, TX, phone interview with Russell Miller, May 4, 

2006. 

200 Judy Hawkins, Secretary, Christchurch Baptist Fellowship, Houston, phone interview with Richard Rowe, 

April 12, 2006. 

201 Personal communication with conference attendee, Breakout Group Three, Heralding Unheard Voices 

Conference, June 7, 2006. 

202 Rev. Judy Tefteller, Pastor, Kingwood United Methodist Church, Kingwood, TX, phone interview with Richard 

Rowe, April 5, 2006. 

203 Personal communication with conference attendee, Breakout Group Eight, Heralding Unheard Voices 

Conference, June 7, 2006. 

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