Christmas for the Kids

This family of 12 lost everything they owned in the Hurricane Sandy. They are temporarily housed in a hotel by FEMA. They are in great need and were extremely grateful for the blessing of the gift cards. — at Far Rockaway NY.

Maria is planning on studying the Bible with rebecca Rebecca Aponte-Young soon. Maria just gave birth this past Tuesday. She was thrilled to receive the gift cards! She has four children and is currently out of work. She was so thankful!!!

Chandra is currently studying the Bible with Laura Aponte and Jackie Lynch(Long Island CoC. Chaundra has 6 children and was so happy and thankful for the blessing of the gift cards.

Disaster Assistance Mission Feed the Kids Program

Thanks so much for all the follow up that Long Island and Far Rockaway Churches of Christ are doing. Take a look at all of these photos. This is what makes all of the hours, miles and hard work worth while. www.disasterassistancecoc.com Taken from Rebecca Aponte-Young FB post. Above photos are some families who are currently studying the Bible with our sisters from Long Island Church of Christ. Today, thanks to Disaster Assistance and an anonymous Brother from the LICOC, these families received gift cards to ToysRUS for each of their children! They were in tears with thankfulness. Praise God! $2300 worth of gift cards were purchased yesterday to be handed out to families in need who are currently studying the bible with us. God is good!

30 Blogs With Great Info on Emergency Preparedness

http://www.hireananny.org/blog/30-blogs-with-great-info-on-emergency-preparedness/

Christmas for the Kids of Hurricane Sandy

We are going to be switching from our Feed the Kids Program to the Disaster Assistance Mission's Christmas For Kids program. In conjunction with Long Island Church of Christ we are going to be giving gift cards from Toys R Us to the kids parents so they can purchase Christmas presents. We are giving Tors R Us cards to better assure that the card is used to purchase something for the child. Long Island CoC has between 350 - 400 families that they are working with, the children of these families are the ones we will be helping. You to can still help just click on donate button to the right, this will take you to a secure paypal site. All you need to do is follow the instructions. Please donate $ 25, 50, 100 or more. We will get the gift cards and Long Island CoC members will deliver them. Help us bring a smile to a child Christmas morning.

Long Island Church of Christ Follow Up

Taken in part from Rebecca Aponte-Young's FB post. We have entered phase two of this work. We are no longer setting up tables and serving hundreds of people at a time in the streets of Far Rockaway or Coney Island. Instead we have taken the 300+ names that we collected while doing the phase one relief effort, and we are calling them one by one. And as we call, our list keeps growing. There are about 60 Christians from the Long Island Church of Christ involved in making phone calls, arranging deliveries, making deliveries, doing Bible studies in these people's homes, praying with people, etc. We are going door to door, case by case and delivering the Churches of Christ Disaster relief Effort goods/suppies to individual families, seeking to meet their personal needs and to get opportunites to share Jesus with them. Some of us are helping people find jobs and places to live. Many, many bible studies are being conducted. There have been a few Community Bible studies, where several people who live in a particular community are invited to come hear a gospel presentation. There is a tremendous work being done over here. Please pray for everyone's strength, that we may not grow weary in doing good, and that souls will be won over to the Lord. There is a Community Bible study today at our sister Jackie Lynch's home.

Disaster Assistance Hurricane Sandy

Photo below is two of the Elders from East Main Church of Christ, Murfreesboro TN that came to pick up the trailer they had left here for storage. I sent back our two largest generators with them so Don can have them repaired. Only one of our 4 generators is still working. Running on generators 24/7 has taken its toll on them. Our meal count is now 22,388. Long Island and Far Rockaway Churches of Christ have delivered over 10 semi loads of other supplies to many different areas. Long Island CoC has over 350 families that they are doing follow with.

Feeding the Kids in Far Rockaway NY

Today we did 934 meals in the pouring rain. We had our normal walkup people and our after school kids but also today we had a whole bus load of volunteers that were working in the area that came and picked up meals.

Happy Holidays To Everyone

Above are the Holiday cards I was going to send out but I am still trying to get out thank you letters to those of you who have sent donations so thought I would just say Happy Holidays and show you the card you would have received had we not been working a disaster in December.

Feeding The Kids-Far Rockaway NY

Today was another busy one. 568 meals all handed out here at the Mobile Headquarters. Over 450 of them were to the kids.

-Disaster Assistance Mission-Feeding the Kids-Far Rockaway-

Well I think I am frozen to the bone. Long Island didn't hand out meals or supplies today they were unloading load of supplies that was delivered today. We did 333 meals here at the Mobile Headquarters. 275 of which was handed out to the Kids in the freezing rain. You can see in the photo that they start eating as soon as we give them a meal.

Disaster Assistance Mission - FEEDING THE KIDS

This week we will be doing our normal meals here at the Mobile Headquarters and sending out meals with Long Island and Far Rockaway Church of Christ. Also we are going to be FEEDING THE KIDS. As I stated before the high school where we are setup is closed because of Hurricane Sandy damage, so the kids are being bussed to other schools. When they are bussed back here in the afternoon we are going to give them a meal before they get on another bus to be taken home. Like normal kids some of them grab the meal and run but others stop and thank you. One boy last week thanked us and said we had made a difference in his life. We will hand out between 250-300 meals between 3 and 4 PM weekdays. Wish all of you could see this. You can help just click on the donate button to your right.

Today we handed out meals in Far Rockaway NY with volunteers from Long Island and Far Rockaway CoC. Long Island CoC handed out meals and other much needed supplies in Is land Park NY. Areas we have helped with meals and supplies so far, Hoboken NJ, Far Rockaway-Coney Island-Island Park NY and tomorrow Long Island CoC will be taking our meals and other supplies to Lindenhurst and Island Park NY.

Disaster Assistance Mission-Far Rockaway/Hobolen/Coney Island

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone. Today was a GREAT day. We handed out 685 meals. Volunteers from Long Island and Far Rockaway Churches of Christ helped prepare and deliver them. There was at least 25 to 30 volunteers here helping. Thanks so much to everyone for all your prayers and donations. Without those we could not do this work. Also thank you Lord for giving me good health to do this work and for keeping me warm in this COLD-COLD place. Photo below is just some of the volunteers working.

Today Long Island CoC picked up meals and took them to Island Point along with other supplies to be handed out. Volunteers from Far Rockaway helped with meals here at the Mobile Headquarters. We did 505 meals today, around 250 of them went to the kids after school. Photo is from yesterday in Coney Island where Long Island CoC was handing out meals and supplies.

Disaster Assistance Mission-Far Rockaway NY/Hoboken NJ

I had a meeting on Wednesday with the Assistant Commissioner Community Affairs and talked with him about housing for volunteers. He told me the reason there is no housing available is because there is still around 15,000 people in shelters. Some of these shelters would be used for volunteers but are full with people who still can't return to their homes. Photo below is people waiting in line for supplies at Far Rockaway Church of Christ. You can help us keep this work going from right where you are. We need only 3 things to keep this mission work going. YOUR PRAYERS - LOCAL VOLUNTEERS - FUNDS

Disaster Assistance Mission-The Rockaways

Below is just some of the work going on today. Pedro Gelabert, My wife went early in the morning with Erica and Paulette Ibeka to help our brother Mike Baumgartner prepare some food. After that my family went out to give out the food to the affected people in the area and the volunteers who were helping. I met up with Rebecca Aponte-Young later on to visit the home of a family. Their house was still without power and their basement ruined. They were warming themselves with a gas grill. We encouraged them and prayed with them and gave them food and clothes.

Far Rockaway NY

Well I think we are finished for the day. Deep Freezer is full for tomorrow. We have been here two weeks now handed out 8,178 meals and many truck loads of supplies have been handed out. Volunteers from Far Rockaway, Mid-Hudson and Long Island CoC helped today.

Disaster Assistance Mission-Far Rockaway NY

Today was a tuff one. Temp in the low 40 and rain most of the day. Long Island CoC didn't bring the trucks with supplies today, they were getting another load of supplies form Disaster Relief Nashville. Volunteers form Far Rockaway and Long Island helped fix and deliver 710 meals today. In conditions like this everything becomes more difficult, Walmart is 10 miles from where we are setup and it took me 1 hr to get there. Also at the present time there is no facility close enough to house volunteers. I do have space for RV and generators for power. As always please keep us in your prayers.

Disaster Assistance Mission-Far Rockaway NY

Well we finally made it here. My GPS said it was only 20 miles from were we were setup in Hoboken. That was car miles not Mobile Headquarters miles because we are 43 ft plus truck we had to go around about way was about 35 miles and took over 3 hours. Photo below is volunteers from Mid-Hudson, Rockaway and Long Island CoC helping get things ready for meals tomorrow. I think we are in a safe location. We are setup in High School parking lot with 8-10 ft fence around it and the gates are locked. Still looking for housing for volunteers. If you have RV there is plenty of parking here by the Mobile Headquarters and I have extra generators.

Far Rockaways Desperately Need Your Help

Disaster Assistance Mission-Hoboker NJ/Far Rockaway NY

Today was another big one. Handed out many lunches and the rest of the supplies from Northport CoC. When we finished here I decided to drive over to Rockaway and see how things look before I take the Mobile Headquarters there. Wish I had not had that idea. It is about 20 miles from here and it took me 2 hours to get there. By that time it was almost dark so no photos yet. The area looked just like I remember things looked after Hurricane Katrina, boats in the middle of the road and cars stranded everwhere. I looked at the location where Far Rckaway and Long Island CoC have been handing out supplies during the day and deciced I didn't think it was safe enouth for me to stay there at night with the Mobile Headquarters. So the plan now is the police department is going to set us in a secure location and will take the meals out to the areas in need much like we do most of the time anyhow. Tomorrow I am going to Sams and Walmart to purchase as much as I can get in the headquarters than on Monday members from Mid-Hudson CoC are coming here to help move everything to Far Rockaway NY.

Disaster Assistance Mission-Hoboken NJ

We made it thru another day. Photo below is the 2 large generators that stopped working yesterday. Local fire Chief came by today and helped us load the into our truck than he took them out for repairs. Don't know how long that will take. Volunteers form Mid-Hudson came today, they stopped and picked up a new generator for us. Also today truck of supplies arrived from Northport CoC Tuscaloosa AL. We did 375 meals today one box full went to Brooklyn. We gave out many blankets, toothbrushes, toothpast, soap, cleaning supplies and many other items. Many thanks to all of you for all of your prayers it helps get thru the day. Other photos are the supplies from Northport CoC, Tuscaloosa AL.

Disaster Assistance Mission-Hurricane Sandy-Hoboken NJ

508 Meals today. Total was down because no meals were delivered they were all picked up here at the mobile headquarters. Total for 4.5 days 4,411. Dennis Rosenbaum from Mid-Hudson CoC came and helped today, he also brought us several cases of water. Some other good news I have found a place if you have RV and want to come and help. You would need to run off generator. I still have the mobile headquarters running off generator also.

Disaster Assistance Mission-Hoboken NJ

Disaster Assistance Mission-Hurricane Sandy-Hoboken NJ-Today we handed out 888 meals and other food items. Thankfully we have been blessed with local volunteers. In a town that is only 1 sq mile and has 50,000 people it is hard to find any space to house our volunteers form out of town. Photo below is view from the street of our location.

Disaster Assistance Mission-Hurricane Sandy-Hoboken NJ

Today we served 1158 meals and handed out other misc food items. Photo below is volunteers form Collingswood Church of Christ that came today to help and bring us supplies.

Hurricane Sandy-Hoboken NJ

Hurricane Sandy-Hoboken NJ- Things are still crazy here. We served 1388 meals. It is a days work just trying to go out and get the supplies to cook. Photo below is gas station we passed today on the way to Sams. One line about a mile long for cars and another for people walking with 5 gal cans. Thank goodness the Office of Emergency Management is bring us gas each day for the generators. Tonight I am trying to get all my calls returned. Most of the day I can't here the phone because of the generators running. Many Churches have called wanting to help. The challenge now is to find a place for volunteers to stay. Tomorrow Collingswood CoC is driving about 1 hr 45 min each way just to help for one day and bring us some supplies.

Disaster Assistance-Hoboken NJ

Police escort got me here at noon. When we arrived the National Guard had taken over all the space at City Hall so they took us 2 blocks to the Capitol One Bank parking lot. The bank is closed(no power). We got parked unhooked and unloaded, generator filled with gas and we started cooking and fixing lunch bags. By 3 o'clock we had cooked and handed out 469 lunches plus many bags of fresh bakery bread that was donated to us by local bakery. Photo below shows the long line at the Mobile Headquarters waiting for us to start handing out. I need more time to find out where our out of town volunteers can stay. City Hall sent us local volunteers to help today. Right now I am in the Mobile Headquarters locked in the fenced bank parking lot.

Disaster Assistance - Hoboken, NJ

Vihaan Gadodia, 2, is handed from a National Guard truck after he and his family left a flooded building in Hoboken, N.J., Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2012, in the wake of superstorm Sandy. / AP Photo/Craig Ruttle

Extraordinary storm, extremely serious threat

Stu Ostro, Senior Meteorologist, The Weather Channel Oct 28, 2012 12:46 pm ET Graphical tropical update:Tropics Watch SANDY - History is being written as an extreme weather event continues to unfold, one which will occupy a place in the annals of weather history as one of the most extraordinary to have affected the United States. - REGARDLESS OF WHAT THE OFFICIAL DESIGNATION IS NOW OR AT/AFTER LANDFALL -- HURRICANE (INCLUDING IF "ONLY" A CATEGORY ONE), TROPICAL STORM, POST-TROPICAL, EXTRATROPICAL, WHATEVER -- OR WHAT TYPE OF WARNINGS ARE ISSUED BY THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AND NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER -- PEOPLE IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM NEED TO HEED THE THREAT IT POSES WITH UTMOST URGENCY.

Disaster Assistance Hurricane Sandy

Looks like most of the track models are in agreement on where landfall will be. Sandy continues to be a large and dangerous system and poses a major threat to portions of the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast. Residents from New England to New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia should begin to prepare for Sandy. We have been in contact with churches in 7 of the states that are in the path for damage. Now we must wait and see what the needs will be.

Hurricane Sandy: Monster Threat to East Coast

The Disaster Assistance Mission is doing as much preparing as we can to be ready incase we are needed. The ingredients awaiting Hurricane Sandy appear to be coming together to create what forecasters are calling a monster combination of high wind, heavy rain, extreme tides and maybe snow that could cause havoc along the East Coast just before Halloween next week. "We looking at one of the worst storms on record that we've seen in this region," said Carl Parker, hurricane specialist for The Weather Channel.

Disaster Assistance - Hurricane Isaac - LaPlace, LA

Volunteers from Faith Village Church of Christ,Wichita Falls TX have been here helping all week.

Today we delivered another 288 care kits and 180 cleaning kits out into the flooded areas.

Today we delivered 264 personal care kits and 184 cleaning bucket kits out into the flooded areas.

Disaster Assistance a mission of the Church of Christ has the Mobile Headquarters setup at Laplace Church of Christ in Laplace, LA. This location is our central distribution site for meals, other food and supplies, volunteer coordination, cleanup and repair. We are also working with several congregations in the surrounding areas. As of 10/02 we had served 15,060 meals, completed 31 work orders. There are many more families that still need help. Over 7000 houses were flooded here in St John’s Parish alone. The Disaster Assistance Mission is also working with the St John’s Long Term Recovery Program, as of right now we have over 400 workorder request and many more coming in each day. These requests are for many different things (gutting out, replacing insulation, installing sheetrock and flooring, appliances and furniture, etc. We need skilled and un skilled labors and FUNDS to help them with this. Right now we have three locations where volunteers are being housed with meals and showers provided. As you know this has been a very busy year for us. This is the third disaster we have assisted with. We can continue to do this work of helping people whose lives have been devastated by disasters only with the financial support of our brothers and sisters across the U.S.

Today we received 800 buckets filled with cleaning supplies and 300 personal care kits. This will really help families have been asking for cleaning supplies everyday.

Below photos are of the 1st house we have volunteers putting sheetrock back in. The group that is here from Texas is doing this today.

Photo below is one of the church leaders house here at LaPlace Church of Christ. It is almost ready to have insultation and sheetrock re-installed.

Photo is Worship service today at LaPlace CoC. We had groups here from Harding and LSU at Worship than out to work. Two groups from Texas coming this week one tonight and one tomorrow. They will be installing insulation and sheetrock in houses that are ready.

Funds Needed - Hurricane Isaac - LaPlace, LA

By the first part of next week we will have several houses that will be ready to have insulation and sheetrock installed. We have two groups coming from Texas, one arrives Sunday night and the other Monday afternoon. Both of these groups will be installing insulation and sheetrock. We need your help FUNDS have been very slow in coming in.

Students here from Harding to help with cleanup and repair