Gustav recovery

To all our interested readers, here's the latest update on hurricane recovery.

Looks like most of our folks faired pretty well. We do have one family still without power, but they have a generator and have no real damage to their home. There's another family, however, who has some major trees fallen all about their house. They will probably have the insurance/resources to recover quickly. Another family, however, has major water damage to their walls. They've just gotten power, but have learned the unfortunate news that, though they have been paying double on their insurance since Lily, their insurance no longer covers many of the things it once did and their deductible is now $7000, when before it was only $500. This is far beyond their financial means. Also, they no longer have coverage for the food they lost or maybe even the water damage! And, since they've been without air conditioning in the Louisiana heat, they now have the makings of a major mold problem. The son and the mother are both very sensitive to mold and are already struggling with sickness from it. Their insurance will almost certainly not pay for mold-remediation and, since this is an ongoing struggle in their older home, it is likely to get out of hand. So, for this family and for one other in our church, who is also having insurance-coverage problems, we want them to be able to rely upon financial assistance from the church.

If you are inclined to help with this, we're happy for hands-on help. Or you can send financial help to Oaklawn Avenue Church, 1515 W. University Ave., Lafayette, LA 70506. Make checks payable to the church.

Any and all extra funds will be used by the church to help other families in the area who have needs and are trying to recover from the hurricane. (And from all appearances, it looks like more hurricanes are on the way).

Every blessing