Falcon Baptist ChurchBoth Randall DeVille and Jeremy Woodhouse, pastor and associate pastor, respectively, of Falcon Baptist Church, are from southern Louisiana, so when Hurricane Katrina hit their home state, Jeremy Woodhouse said they sprang into action.The two pastors knew of churches and a Bible camp in Louisiana that were taking in long-term evacuees. Camp Pearl had 300 evacuees at this writing, with a probability of more. The camp had earlier cancelled all camps and retreats in order to assist the evacuees indefinitely.On Sept. 18, Falcon Baptist Church members loaded a truck with donations of new packs of underwear and socks, summer clothes and shoes and non-perishable food items. One of the pastors drove it to Louisiana. The relief effort is ongoing, and the church will continue to take donations like the above-mentioned items and money for as long as there is a need. For more information, contact the church offices at 495-3859.Woodmen Valley Chapel/Woodmen Heights CommunityAccording to www.woodmenvalley.org., Woodmen Valley Chapel/Woodmen Heights Community began collecting donations immediately after Hurricane Katrina. The church will funnel donations to locations where they’re needed through the organizations’ Samaritan’s Purse and Global Impact. The two churches also sent a team of volunteers to Louisiana, and are offering opportunities for members to volunteer locally with agencies that are providing relief. Donations to Samaritan’s Purse or Global Impact may be made on the WVC Web site. Look also for links to local organizations and other ways to help.Pikes Peak School of Expeditionary LearningIn keeping with the service component of the curriculum at PPSEL, Principal Don Knapp set an example for the students by taking a team of 30 adults to New Orleans for 10 days. Suzan Pruitt The team left around Sept. 8 and while in New Orleans helped with construction, clean up, distribution of supplies, and also assisted individual families. The school has been and will continue collecting donations of gift cards, particularly from national chains that carry a large variety of grocery and miscellaneous items, to send to Katrina victims at a later date. For more information, contact the school at 683-9544.Ent efforts for hurricane reliefLast week Ent employees purchased the right to wear jeans at work, raising more than $2,800. The credit union matched the employee gift with an initial corporate contribution through the Colorado Credit Union League Foundation Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund.Ent will continue to match individual employee contributions to the relief efforts over the course of the next few weeks.Ent is actively encouraging members and non-members to make cash contributions at any of the credit union’s 20 locations. Checks should be made out to “Colorado Credit Union League Foundation” with a notation “for Katrina Hurricane Fund.” Relief funds will be used for emergency housing, food and transportation for credit union staffs, volunteers and members.Employees and members can also give directly to agencies whose primary mission is humanitarian relief such as the Salvation Army, American Red Cross, among others. The National Credit Union Foundation advises donors to seek information about candidate agencies and legitimate organizations at the following Internet sites: www.networkforgood.org, www.guidestar.org, www.give.org.
