At the gates of Camp Katrina, it has become a familiar sight: church vans coming and going, shuttling hurricane survivors to Wal-Mart, church services or the post office.
The pastors and volunteers driving onto the Lowry campus in Aurora, where more than 400 uprooted Gulf Coast residents are temporarily living, welcome their passengers not as victims or refugees but in the most polite terms: “our guests.”
The religious community’s response to meeting the needs of Denver’s newest residents began little more than a week ago as a small grassroots effort.
Now, the so-called clergy coalition is part of the unified command running Operation Safe Haven at Lowry, sharing equal billing with state and emergency services personnel and the American Red Cross.
The power-sharing arrangement puts faith community representatives in charge of things ranging from overseeing finances to running the cafeteria.
Rather than turn the operation’s transportation over to a government agency, the state provided a $30,000 grant to cover the gas to keep those church vans running.
If successful, the clergy group’s role in assisting hurricane survivors in Denver could buttress the argument that faith- based organizations should get more taxpayer dollars to provide social services that traditionally had been government’s responsibility.
That idea was a centerpiece of President Bush’s early days in office, though the idea has not been fully realized because of several roadblocks. Among them are concerns about church-state separation and hesitancy from some faith groups wary that government strings attached would force them to compromise their beliefs.
In Denver, the faith groups engaged in Katrina relief are remarkable in their diversity: African-American ministers have taken the lead, but the effort also includes Catholics, Episcopalians, Muslims, Jews and white evangelical Christians.
“This is not an African-American movement, not a denominational movement,” the Rev. Del Phillips, coalition coordinator and pastor of Denver’s Mount Gilead Church, said Thursday at a strategy meeting. “We have a great cross-section represented.”
Clergy first got involved mopping floors at the former barracks at Lowry. In the past week, clergy and congregation members have helped establish job banks and given evacuees headed home rides to the airport.
Catholic Charities of Denver is compiling a database of local Catholics willing to open their homes to a displaced person or family. An evangelical Christian group, City View Ministries International, is raising money for things not covered by government assistance: tents to cover clothing and other donated goods and rental trucks to shuttle donations from warehouses.
“The beauty of the community of faith coming together is, we really are the glue that is bridging the gap,” said state Sen. Debbie Stafford, R-Aurora, an ordained minister.
“Being on site, we can immediately see the needs and in many occasions have been able to reach out and get something settled rather than going through the bureaucracy of government red tape,” she said.
Faith leaders have posted a list at Camp Katrina with information on local faith communities. Evacuees have been connected with a Jehovah’s Witness congregation and a Catholic priest who administered Holy Communion.
Ron McKinney of the Salvation Army said the faith community should play an even greater role in the near future.
“Because so many people want to stay here, they have to be integrated into different neighborhoods, and many of them are going to need that spiritual direction which is part of their lives,” McKinney said.
Muslim Family Services is ready to offer counseling. Three mosques took up collections to benefit Katrina survivors, said Mohammad Noorzai of the Colorado Muslim Council.
“We do have responsibility to help people in need regardless of who they are and what kind of religion they have,” Noorzai said. “…It’s very important for us to be visible and involved in the community in projects like this.”
Several Jewish organizations are also working at Camp Katrina. The Allied Jewish Federation of Colorado is offering assistance in helping evacuees resettle, expertise it gained acclimating Russian Jewish immigrants to Denver, said Doug Seserman, the federation’s president.
He said the federation has raised $240,000 for Katrina relief. More than 70 Jewish families have volunteered to house displaced families. For the Jewish families marooned in Denver, efforts are underway to help place children in Jewish day schools and secure jobs for their parents.
“Faith-based organizations can help serve the community in which we live and also help get our own communities back on their feet,” Seserman said.
