FATIMA
HURRICANE VICTIM RELIEF
Dear Friends of Fatima Hurricane Relief,
To all of you, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, who have donated to
the Fatima Hurricane Victim Relief, I wish to say thank you. You have
responded so generously to the dramatic needs of those in Southwest Louisiana,
those displaced by both Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The devastation is
unprecedented in the history of our area, and your kindness is overwhelming.
Yesterday, members of the Fatima Hurricane Victim Relief Committee, Parish
and School Staff went to Abbeville, Louisiana, just thirty miles away,
to deliver needed items and gift cards. Fortunately Abbeville has an active
Catholic Service Center, as we do in Lafayette. The director of the Center
was truly overcome with emotion and so grateful for the items you donated.
We have received donations from as far away as Hawaii, Canada, and the
French West Indies. To cite only one example, a school in St. Bart sent
a generous monetary gift to their French “cousins” in Southwest
Louisiana which was used to purchase, amongst other things, household
and kitchen utensils so desperately needed by the victims of the flooding
who lost everything. This is just one example of numerous and generous
gifts.
We are making every effort to thank you personally, but I wanted now to
write a special note to all of you who access our website. You need to
know how appreciative we are and that you remain in our prayers, especially
at Holy Mass.
Praying Our Lady of Fatima’s intercession for you and your families,
I remain
Sincerely yours in our Lord,
(Rev. Msgr.) Glen John Provost
Pastor
As of Tuesday,
November 1, this is what has been done:
We will continue our
efforts to help our displaced brothers and sisters in Vermilion Parish.
Items still needed are kitchen utensils, personal hygiene products, baby
formula & diapers and momentary donations. You all have been so very
very generous and have touched so many lives these past weeks. Thank you
for all you have done. Following are a few of the donations we have received
from out of state: St. Monica’s in Cameron, Texas; the Aughey family
in Cameron, Texas; Moving Comfort Co., (Kris Gill) Chantilly, Virginia;
Box Brothers, San Francisco, California; the Duggan-Takagi and Naulty
family, Honolulu, HI; the Hill family, Statesboro, GA.; Ann Shea, Sharon,
MA; the Michalek family, Pittsford, NY.; the Bacon family, Coral Springs,
FL.; the Benson family, Alexandria, VA.; Hawaii Remote Viewers’
Guild, Kaneohe, HI.; the Miller-Stewart family, Centennial, CO.; the Coleman
family, Richmond, VA.; the Atlas family, Willows, CA.; Sunday School children,
St. Louis, MO.; The Resort at Glacier, St. Mary, MT.; Cooper family, Visalia,
CA.; Miller family, Littleton, CO.; Fox family, Four Oaks, NC., and St.
Paul Catholic School ( Mary Knarr, Principal) Valparaiso, IN. We pray
for God’s blessings on everyone who has so generously given.
For more information, please call Virginia Webb at the parish office at
232-8945
As of Thursday, October 26, this is what has been done:
As stated previously our efforts to help our displaced brothers and sisters
continue. Following are the immediate needs, which can be brought to the
rectory office for delivery to Vermillion Parish.
1) Pots, pans, silverware, bowls, plates, glasses, etc
2) Cleaning supplies such as buckets, bleach, washing powder, trash bags,
clothes pins, etc
3) Bedding- sheets, pillows, blankets, baby crib sheets
4) Personal hygiene products for men and women
5) Non-perishable food, paper goods, medicine such as Tylenol or Motrin
6) Momentary donations can also be made out to Our Lady of Fatima Parish
with memo for Hurricane Victim Relief.
The remaining funds will be sent to the Christian Service Center care
of Father William Blanda for their immediate needs.
For more information, please call Virginia Webb at the parish office at
232-8945
As of Thursday, October 18, this is what has been done:
Our efforts to help our displaced brothers and sisters continue.
Our focus is to help our neighbors in Vermilion Parish.
Following are the immediate needs, which can be brought to the rectory
office for delivery:
1) Pots, pans, silverware, bowls, plates, glasses, etc
2) Cleaning supplies such as buckets, bleach, washing powder, trash bags,
clothes pins, etc
3) Bedding- sheets, pillows, blankets, baby crib sheets
4) Personal hygiene products for men and women
5) Clothing in size 3X – 5X ONLY
6) Non-perishable food, paper goods, medicine such as Tylenol or Motrin
For more information, please call Virginia Webb at the parish office at
232-8945
As of Thursday, October 3, this is what has been done:
At the request of Bishop Michael Jarrell, we are collecting supplies
for Vermilion Parish.
The immediate needs for St. Theresa Distribution Site includes:
1) Sheets, pillows, blankets, mattresses, towels
2 ) All sizes of new/unused underwear for men, women and children
3) All sizes of new socks
4) Clean up kits of brooms, mops, bleach, soap, rags, heavy duty trash
bags
5) Toilet paper
6) Diapers, baby wipes, formula
7) Personal hygiene items
The immediate needs for St. Mary Magdalen Christian Service Center includes:
1) Pots, pans, glasses, utensils, cups, coffee pots, plates
2) Clothing in SIZES 3X – 5X for men and women
3) Furniture, beds, tables, chairs, stoves, refrigerators, washing machines
4) Canned food
Please bring items to the Parish Office for delivery
We have supplied Liturgy supplies for masses celebrated at the Cajun Dome.
We have also housed the 273rd Military Police from Washington, DC in our
Parish Center. Please keep them and all evacuees in your thoughts and
prayers
As of Thursday, September 27, this is what has been done:
Louisiana is having its fair share of hurricanes these days, first Katrina
now Rita. Our efforts are and will continue to be ongoing. We will accept
the following:
1) Non-perishable food items,
2) Baby items such as diapers, wipes, formulas and etc.
3) Paper products, toiletries such as toothpaste, soap, deodorants, soap,
shampoo etc. Feminine hygiene products.
4) NEW underwear for men, women (including bras) and children. Adult size
diapers or depends.
5) NEW pillows, sheets and blankets
6) Monetary donations to convert to gift cards
These items can be brought to the parish office. We will bring the clothing,
shoes and bedding to Goodwill for distribution to evacuees. If you have
clothes to donate please bring them to any Goodwill location.
Total amount collected thus far: $20,804.00
Forward to Diocese 10,402.00
Gift Cards/food 3,136.05
Balance $ 7,265.95
The Fatima Hurricane Victim Relief Committee will continue to meet each
Tuesday to assess needs. Please keep all evacuees in your thoughts and
prayers.
Fatima Hurricane Victim Relief Committee
As of Tuesday, September 20, this is what has been done:
Much has happened since we first opened our hearts and our homes to our
displaced brothers and sisters of Hurricane Katrina. Here are some of
the many things our parish has done since our last report:
1) Provided several book bags for children of the Community Baptist Church
2) Provided several “staple boxes” for evacuees seeking help
at our Parish Office
3) Fatima Kids – one of our volunteers coordinated “buddy”
families with the new families so they could meet and have a contact with
questions or concerns. Supply and welcome boxes for all our new students
were given out and coffee and donuts were provided to the parents of new
students on their first day of school.
40 Vermilion Center – we provided several boxes of school supplies
for new children
5) Delivered several boxes of clothing to Goodwill and have more to deliver.
However, if you have clothing to donate, please bring to any Goodwill
location.
6) River Oaks, this facility was used for a short term for evacuees from
Tulane Medical Center. Several of our volunteers spent some time there
occupying children while parents took care of immediate needs. We brought
over toys and clothing for the children and assisted with transporting
some evacuees to other shelters.
7) Donations from Fatima School students and parents in the amount of
$550.00 was converted to $25.00 gift cards and brought to the Msgr. Sigur
Center for distribution.
8) Food Net – remaining non-perishable food items were brought there
for distribution
9) Our Lady of Fatima Parish has converted $3,000.00 into gift cards and
is being distributed to needy evacuees.
10) Several parishioners have generously donated personal rent homes and
apartments, with utilities furnished for evacuee families.
11) Nuns from the New Orleans area are being housed in parishioner homes
and given gift cards.
12) Sr. Robert Joseph, from New Orleans, (sister of Sr. Elsie Mier) is
now employed at Fatima School and now living with Sr. Elsie.
13) We continue to feed the Red Cross Volunteers at the Cajun Dome every
Thursday.
14) We have donated an office desk, chairs, table and office supplies
to help set up a temporary office for Xavier University in Grand Coteau.
Volunteers are still needed. If you would like to volunteer, please call
the United Way at 233-8302.
The Fatima Hurricane Victim Relief Committee will continue to meet each
week during this crisis to assess what has been done and what needs to
be done and will post updates in the bulletin. We hope that our continued
efforts will help families overcome seemingly insurmountable challenges
as they attempt to rebuild their lives.
Fatima Hurricane Victim Relief Committee
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As of Tuesday, September 6, this is what has been done:
1) provided 30 set-ups (blankets, pillows, sheets, towels, etc.) for
victims at the Lafayette Interfaith Hospitality Network
2) sent truckloads of pillows, blankets, bibles and rosaries to the
Cajun Dome
3) donated 7 truckloads of bedding, hygiene items, toys, food and water
to the Rayne Civic Center
4) gave 15 cases of water to the Heymann Center Special Needs Shelter
5) provided food for 20 people taking refuge at Our Lady Queen of Peace
Church
6) distributed extra food to 13 teachers housing displaced family members
7) donated water, soft drinks, juice, snacks and toys to 55 refugees
at the Community Baptist Church
8) sent bedding, clothing, food, water and kitchen utensils to 25 victims
at the Optimist Club Youth Camp
9) converted donations into gift cards to Wal-Mart to be distributed
to victims for items they may need
10) committed Fatima Parish to providing 100 meals every Thursday for
the Red Cross workers at the Cajun Dome
11) and most recently conducted funeral rites for an elderly lady who
died in transit from the storm and opened our rectory office for a post-funeral
reunion dinner for the family, most of whom were themselves displaced.
So many of our parishioners and others have generously given. The students
of Teurlings High School delivered 5 truckloads on Friday to help our
cause, to mention only one group.
The Diocese has admitted over 800 displaced students into its school
system. Diocesan schools still have room for 700 more. Most of these
were accepted with only a voluntary payment of tuition. For those without
means at their disposal, tuition was waived or payment delayed. Fatima
School, as you know, is blessed to have emergency funds for just such
eventualities. This week we turned over our parish home to a family
seeking refuge.
The Fatima Hurricane Victim Relief Committee met last Monday and will
continue to meet each week during this crisis to assess what has been
done and what needs to be done, where resources should be channeled
and where they should be redirected. Last Sunday morning at 6:00 am
we accepted a truckload from St. Louis, MO. Containing walkers for the
elderly, baby changing table, stroller, children’s books, cases
of soap, deodorants, toothpaste, hygiene products, paper goods, clothing,
diapers and toys. Checks from North Carolina, Colorado, California and
Hawaii to purchase items needed.
We hope that our continued efforts will help families overcome seemingly
insurmountable challenges as they attempt to rebuild their lives.
Thank you again,
Fatima Hurricane Victim Relief Committee
(Kelly Brewer, Kelly Courville, Virginia Crockett, Lisa Melancon, Cheryl
Perret, Rachel Rossler and Virginia Webb)
If you would like to donate, please call the parish office at 337.232.8945.
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