Thursday Afternoon Update...

The following information was e-mailed to Alamo City this afternoon:

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Community Integration of Displaced Families
(A Clinical/Cultural/Spiritual Approach to the Traumatic Intervention to the Communities after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita)

Maranatha Bible Church
7855 East Loop 1604 North
San Antonio, Texas

October 18-19, 2005

The trauma of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita have placed in the City of San Antonio new neighbors with a slightly different cultural background and a unique set of needs. Current estimates suggest that well over 2,500 families have (are) settled in our city with over 8,000 new residents. Not only do our new friends have a unique culture to be assimilated but also we may have the opportunity to impact the economic wellness of many.

This summit presents an opportunity for care givers, leaders, and educators of our great city to sit beside the task of this mass integration and prepare a well reflected response.

The summit will unfold in two dimensions:

• First - is to examine our task from a clinical reflection…
  (What in the world just happened?)


• Second – is to brainstorm a practical response…
  (What in the world are we going to do about it?)
  

It is our sincere hope that after the summit many in our community will have had a chance to reframe this trauma from one of pain, loss and destruction to one of opportunity, challenge and growth. By using careful reflection we as a community can find an optimistic reality in the midst of this pessimistic situation.

The Summit is sponsored by the San Antonio Baptist Association of Churches and is free to the public.

To register for The Summit, please go to www.sanantoniobaptist.org to resister online.

For questions, please contact Gary Patterson at (210) 710-0998 or at the San Antonio Baptist Association office (210) 525-5544.

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Rather than contacting the Alamo City office for additional details regarding this event, please utilize the numbers listed above for further information.

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IMPORTANT:

There are already specific ways in place where Alamo City folks can continue assisting evacuees here in San Antonio:

First, volunteers are needed to transport San Antonio’s newest friends to and from available housing locations. (Some restrictions apply.)

Second, Alamo City families and other caring groups are needed to “adopt” our newest families. They will need help with furniture, kitchen supplies, clothes, and all things necessary to function in our community.

Ruben and Sandra Fechner, faithful Alamo City members and founders of BridgeBuilders, San Antonio, are collecting names and coordinating these particular Alamo City volunteers.

Ruben and/or Saundra may be reached by email rff@satx.rr.com or by phone at (210)822-5538, (210) 602-8305 (cell) or (210) 650-5335.

You may also sign up to volunteer by calling the Alamo City church office (210) 654-7880.

Thank you for continuing to pray and participate.