MercyTree International Foundation © All Rights Reserved.
1485 Treat Blvd, Walnut Creek, Ca 94596
Phone: 888-485-7874 / fax: 866-887-1625
Federal tax ID: 80-0192876
Hope for homeless in New Orleans
Support from faith-based disaster response organizations has
been critical for homeless ministry following Hurricane Katrina.
BY WALT WILTSCHEK | NEW ORLEANS | May 12, 2009
Emma McCreight admits she had a few misgivings when she saw The Rebuild Center in New Orleans for the first time.
McCreight came to the site just north of downtown last August to begin a one-year Jesuit volunteer assignment serving the homeless. On arriving from Philadelphia, she was greeted by the backs of brown trailers sitting in a church parking lot in the shadow of a construction site. The next year suddenly didn’t seem so promising. Read more: www.disasternews.net
‘Exceptional’ floods hits AK villages
Faith-based organizations respond to help restore homes, finding food for sled dogs.
BY ZACH HOFFMAN | EAGLE, ALASKA | May 31, 2009
Flooding is an annual Spring occurrence in Alaska, but the events causing the spring floods beginning in early May this year were anything but usual. “Exceptional” is the word Richard Whetsell, President of Alaska Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (AKVOAD), chose to use. Read more: www.disasternews.net
Many apathetic to hurricane threat
Lack of recent hurricanes, economy, state budget cutbacks all seen as contributors to limited concern by FL residents
BY VICKI DESORMIER | ORLANDO | July 13, 2008 .
As Bertha, the first Atlantic hurricane of the 2008 season brushes by Bermuda as a strong tropical storm, a recent survey has found fewer than a third of Florida residents are ready for a hurricane if one strikes this year.
A recent poll conducted by the Mason-Dixon polling organization found 67 percent of Atlantic and Gulf Coast residents do not have any kind of a hurricane survival kit and 54 percent said they do not believe they are vulnerable to a hurricane or any related tornadoes or flooding. Read more.
The Minto Flats South and Lunch Lake fires are just two of 70 forest firest that have been reported across the state. Read More.
An official with Kalamazoo County's largest homeless shelter disagreed Thursday, calling the designation "a real slap in the face." Read More.
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Two major advocacy groups for the homeless on Tuesday ranked Los Angeles as the "meanest" city in the United States, citing a Skid Row police crackdown they say has criminalized poverty and homelessness there.
L.A.'s so-called Safer City Initiative was singled out in the groups' report as the most egregious example of policies and practices nationwide that essentially punish people for failing to have a roof over their heads. Read More.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
An infusion of $3.4 million in federal funding is about to end the painful experience of homelessness for 350 veterans in the Bay State, according to federal officials.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has given 350 rental assistance vouchers to housing authorities in eight Bay State cities.
The allocation is part of $75 million national effort to provide 10,000 homeless veterans with permanent housing. Read More.
