A street at a railroad crossing is flooded as Hurricane Gustav hits New Orleans on Sept. 1. REUTERS/Lee Celano (UNITED STATES)

Our staff will be distributing immediate essentials like diapers, clothing for babies, children, and adults, shampoo, soap and deodorant, toilet paper, napkins and paper plates, and simple children's toys. These efforts will be conducted with local church and community partners who are housing evacuees from Louisiana and the Gulf Coast.

"Items for children and babies are always the most in need," said Phyllis Freeman, a veteran of World Vision's Hurricane Katrina response and currently in Dallas leading our Gustav field team. "But they're sometimes hard to get, and run out quickly, during the initial days of an emergency. So we're trying to offer families with children the things they need most."

Relief items ready

World Vision is contacting and coordinating with hundreds of its local church, school, and community partners, with a special focus on those within 100 miles of the coast. Many have already been working with World Vision in the ongoing Katrina response.

To start, relief goods will be supplied from our Storehouses in Picayune, Miss., and Dallas. Additional truckloads of new, top-quality items are on standby and ready to be shipped from Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, Denver, Seattle, and elsewhere, depending on the extent of the storm's damage.

"Just like we saw in Katrina, it's the faith community that is on the frontlines of helping Gustav's survivors — especially children and families who don't have a financial cushion during evacuation," explained John Pettit, director of World Vision's domestic disaster response.

"World Vision will be working alongside these churches and local groups and making sure they and their volunteers have the relief supplies, expertise, and funds they need — first as they host evacuees, and later as they help these families return home and rebuild their lives," Pettit added.

'Heartbreaking'

Some 12,000 churches across the United States partner with and support World Vision's relief and development work around the world. Since Hurricane Katrina, some 350 churches, schools, and faith-based and community-based organizations in Mississippi and Louisiana have partnered with us to help their communities recover from that historic storm. Additional partners have also worked with World Vision in Texas and other states.

"It's heartbreaking to see people who haven't been able to afford to finish repairing their homes face another massive storm," said Audrey Black, general manager of World Vision's Storehouse in Picayune, Miss. "People are still living in temporary trailer parks in this area, and there isn't a sense of normalcy yet. Now families are going through the experience again."

Black herself evacuated from Picayune to Jackson, Miss., yesterday. To ensure staff safety, World Vision's Picayune Storehouse will remain closed until Gustav passes.

"Many of our partner churches in Mississippi and Louisiana have evacuated themselves, but they've already told us that as soon as they can return, they want to work with World Vision to make sure their church has what they need to house and feed families who start coming back," said Black.

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