Buckner and Wilshire Baptist Send Shoes, Supplies to Hurricane Survivors in Baton Rouge

Posted: 9/06/05

Buckner and Wilshire Baptist Send Shoes,

Supplies to Hurricane Survivors in Baton Rouge

By Felicia Fuller

Buckner Benevolences

DALLAS—Buckner Benevolences partnered with Wilshire Baptist Church in Dallas to send thousands of new shoes, socks and shoelaces to aid hurricane survivors displaced in Baton Rouge, La.

As part of that effort, more than 20 volunteers from Wilshire and Park Cities Baptist Church gathered at Buckner Orphan Care International’s shoe warehouse on Labor Dayto load supplies and caravan to Louisiana.

“Though not a disaster relief organization, Buckner has been providing food, clothing, shelter and care to the displaced and disadvantaged since its inception in 1879,” said Randy Daniels, director of operations for Buckner Children and Family Services. “While our roots are in Texas, it is only right that we do all we can to help our brothers and sisters in need in Louisiana.”

A volunteer from Friendship Baptist Church in The Colony sorts and packs shoes for 35 Gulf families taken in by her congregation. (Photo credit: Felicia Fuller, Buckner Benevolences)

“Our people wanted to do something tangibly to aid victims,” said Mark Wingfield, associate pastor at Wilshire Baptist, noting the needs of at least a half-million people uprooted by Hurricane Katrina.

Wilshire Baptist raised $10,000 within 24 hours of hearing about the devastation and has since raised an additional $40,000, he noted. “We’re sending clothing, undergarments, personal care kits, air mattresses and other aid with Buckner’s shoe shipment.”

Buckner also is providing emergency housing and humanitarian aid to Gulf region evacuees seeking refuge in North Texas and East Texas.

Buckner shipped thousands of pairs of new shoes to Houston Sept. 6 and will distribute thousands more in Dallas. Organization officials say cash and in-kind donations, as well as volunteers, are needed to assist families at Buckner sites in Houston, Beaumont, Longview, Lufkin, and at the Buckner Crisis Relief Center in Dallas. Buckner also is accepting in-kind donations of new shoes and personal care packets containing toothbrushes, washcloths, soap and shampoo.

Jeff Jones, director of operations for Buckner Orphan Care International said additional volunteers are needed help sort and pack new shoes for hurricane survivors arriving in Texas. “They’re coming in droves, many of them still wearing soggy shoes, and others—mainly small children—wearing no shoes at all,” he said. The new footwear marked for distribution is collected through Buckner’s Shoes for Orphan Souls ministry, which predominantly serves orphans overseas but frequently aids U.S. children and families.

More than 20 volunteers from Wilshire Baptist Church and Park Cities Baptist Church helped load new shoes marked for distribution to hurricane survivors in Baton Rouge, La. (Photo credit: Jenny Pope, Buckner Benevolences)

Several members of Friendship Baptist Church in The Colony were at the Buckner shoe warehouse on Labor Day to sort and pack shoes for 35 Gulf families taken in by their congregation.

“Buckner was gracious enough to give us 200 pairs of shoes for these families and others identified by the Dallas Housing Authority,” said church member Beverly Collymore, who governs the South Central District of Business and Professional Women’s Club, which also dispatched volunteers.

For information on ways to serve with Buckner’s hurricane response, call Tiffany Taylor at (469) 877-4493 or Tasasha Kelly at (214) 758-8059. Monetary contributions to the relief effort may be made online at www.buckner.org or mailed to Buckner, Attn.: Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund, 600 N. Pearl St., Suite 2000, Dallas 75201. Make checks payable to Buckner and write account 22040 on the memo line.