New Partnerships for the Hurricane Katrina Relief Effort

Giving Children Hope has partnered with Saddleback Church in Lake Forest to maximize the reach of relief efforts. Together, GCH and Saddleback are sending ten truckloads of essential supplies to churches and shelters in Webster and Houston, Texas, and Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Three trucks have already left from Saddleback filled with hygiene products, over the counter medications, insect repellant, first aid supplies, and flashlights and three more are scheduled to depart today with relief provisions for evacuees being sheltered by Lindale Assembly of God in Houston, TX and Vineyard Christian Fellowship in Baton Rouge, LA.

GCH also successfully collaborated with Coca Cola Company to provide two truckloads of pink lemonade to hurricane victims in Kenner, LA and Houston, TX. Coca Cola generously donated 2200 boxes of pink lemonade, and trucked them to Louisiana and Texas where GCH will direct and coordinate the distribution of the product.

GCH remains steadfast in the vital mission of providing constant and effective aid to hurricane victims and has consistently received positive feedback from recipients of GCH’s relief services. Several boxes of etnies shoes and apparel have been handed out to evacuees temporarily residing at Lindale Assembly in Houston and the overjoyed responses provided an overwhelming affirmation to GCH that, with the vital help of donors, we can affect positive change after such devastation.

Because GCH constantly works both on the ground and from headquarters, aid is distributed according to the needs of individual churches and shelters. After the delivery of several “Survival Backpacks” to Vineyard Christian Fellowship in Webster, TX, an Assistant Principal from a school where the backpacks were distributed said “Yes, we did receive backpacks today at school!! Perfect timing too. It was a refreshing break… to see [volunteers] show up with about twenty backpacks FULL, no OVERFLOWING, with items for students and their families.”