Water in Jackson, Mississippi:
Short Term and Long Term Efforts to Bring Relief
By Senior Bishop Lawrence Reddick
Dear Eighth District Family,
Greetings!
The importance of water for drinking or bathing or cooking – or the lack thereof – has hit the people of Jackson, Mississippi in a serious way. As members of a Connectional Church that is more than local, we want to respond to the needs of people within our reach. Therefore, I am writing you about how we can provide some short-term relief and some longer-term efforts to assist persons in Jackson.
A Plan to Deliver Water and other Needed Supplies on Wednesday, September 7th.
I am asking the assistance of the Texas part of the Eighth District to help us transport water and other needed supplies to Jackson. Most of us know about the water needs. In a communication from Bishop Carter of the Fourth Episcopal District, these are other specific needs: body wipes, disinfectant wipes, disinfectant spray, paper towels, small bottles of bleach, and 5-gallon buckets.
. The following is the plan:
- Persons from various areas of the Eighth Episcopal District in Texas are asked to bring bottled water to five sites between Sunday and Tuesday afternoon.
- Cedar Crest Cathedral CME Church, Dallas, will be one of those sites. If you have items from the DFW area, please take them to Cedar Crest Cathedral, which will be open from Noon to 3 PM on Sunday and from 11-3 PM Monday and Tuesday. You may also call Pastor Van Carl Williams at 773-879-3266.
- St James CME Church, Tyler, will be one of those sites. If you are from the Central Texas Region’s areas, I am asking you to get items to St James in Tyler on Sunday between 9 AM and 2 PM, or on Monday or Tuesday between Noon and 5 PM. Please call Rev Brian Lightner if you desire to make arrangements to give donations outside of these times (501-707-7382).
- Post Oak CME Church, near Longview, is also a site. East Texas persons, please drop your bottled water and/or other items at Post Oak between the hours of 11 AM to 4 PM on Sunday, between 10 AM to 2 PM on Monday; or between 1 PM to 4 PM on Tuesday.
- Miles Chapel, Houston, will be a site for those in the Houston area to drop off items on Sunday. If you are from the Houston area, please drop off items on Sunday at Miles Chapel CME Church, Houston, between the hours of 9 AM and 2 PM. If you are able to donate but cannot do so between these hours, please contact Presiding Elder Mays about donating later or on Monday (832-428-1545).
- St. Paul CME Church, Nacogdoches, is a site for the Beaumont-Nacogdoches area. Persons with items can drop them off between the hours of 8 AM and 4 PM on Sunday, and on Monday or Tuesday between the hours of 10 AM and 4 PM.
Those of you who are highway travelers will notice that the journey from Dallas to Jackson is along Interstate 20 – and you will also notice that Tyler and Longview are along that line. Persons from the Houston and Nacogdoches areas will be driving up to meet the pick-up site in Longview.
A longer term solution, which is a part of the Connectional network, and is the relief that comes through the support of the Committee on Emergency Relief.
Previously the Committee on Emergency Relief assisted several of our southeastern Texas churches after storm and water damage.
And already, that committee – led by Bishop Sylvester Williams, Jr., – is asking that all of our CME churches take an offering tomorrow (Sunday) for relief in Jackson, Mississippi, and that checks from that offering are to be made payable to the Department of Finance, but that those checks will be sent to each Episcopal District Office.
So, then, please take an offering tomorrow, write your checks from that offering to the Department of Finance and send those checks to:
Eighth Episcopal District CME Church
ATTN: Mrs Barbara Brown
1616 E. Illinois Avenue
Dallas, Texas 75216
Thank you. I believe, if we follow these requests, we will bring short-term and longer-term relief to our sisters and brothers in Jackson, Mississippi.