Urgent Need Request

Urgent Need Request - Helping a Katrina find Dignity at Long Last
- a ministry update of Rebirth International - by Mo Leverett

Her story is one of the many stories of the ongoing struggle of post-Katrina New Orleans. For the sake of those involved, I’ll call her Mrs. Welch. It began like this:

Mrs. Welch grew up in Desire. Life in Desire is its own kind of storm. Everyday was a pushing against the pressure of poverty, crime, drugs violence and disintegration. It was a contending with broken families, schools and churches. It was a place that hope had long since abandoned.

Then came Katrina. She was stuck in the storm. She fled the rising flood carrying only a phone book pressed against her chest, hoping that someone might be able to find her and call her daughter.

(Her daughter was one of the first to come to Christ during our ministry in Desire and certainly one of the most endeared of all. She became a spiritual mentor and friend to her mother. As a result, Mrs. Welch began to walk with the Lord in a new-found intimacy and sincerity.)

She was found unconscious in New Orleans some three and a half weeks after the storm, and was helicoptered to a hospital in Baton Rouge. The details have come to me sparsely - I don’t understand them completely. But some hardworking social worker began to go down the list of numbers in the phone book and eventually found Mrs. Welch’s daughter who was some number of states away worried sick and had assumed the worst. She was overjoyed that her mother was still alive! But her health was declining and her body had absorbed a significant blow. FEMA helped her relocate to a town over 500 miles from New Orleans. Separated from her family, friends and community, she only got worse.

The stress of Katrina led to a failing heart, as well as many other physical ailments. She finally fell victim to a new and intense round of depression, and her body finally gave way. She is now three states away, in a town morgue where no one knows her.

Then I receive a phone call for help from her sweet daughter - and my daughter in the Lord. I’ve offered as much as I possibly can. She has asked to have Mrs. Welch buried in the city of New Orleans, which was her request. However, the transport costs of $3,900 which includes preparing the body for transport, are more than she can handle. Her request is for the dignity of her mother after so much personal suffering. I let her know what I was able to contribute through the thin resources at Rebirth and the Leverett family. But she also gave me permission to let all of you know of this special and urgent need.

If you feel moved to help, let me know immediately. I am more than honored to facilitate your generosity towards this urgent need. Thanks in advance for all your help!