Begun as an outreach ministry of The St. Andrew's United Methodist Church in 1995, St. Andrew's Mission is a comprehensive, anti-poverty agency. The Mission trains and enables people to reach their God-given potential. They provide day care services for low-income families and families with parents that are students, deliver hot meals to local residents each week, and provide groceries to more than 300 families every thirty days.

St. Andrew's Mission provides after-school programs with spiritual, social, and academic emphasis for kids and youth kindergarten through grade 12, and work with local groups and VIM teams from other conferences to provide summer programming and home repair ministries. They have a parish nurse (Church and Community Worker, Earnestine Varnado) who assists hundreds each year to become and remain healthy and whole, spiritually and physically. They provide a wide range of senior ministries and, in conjunction with other community churches, they participate in a ministry dubbed FIG Tree, which Fills In Gaps left by other helping agencies, and includes the spiritual dynamic. They seek to be a means of grace in ministry with the poor. In the community St. Andrew's is a helping hand, a pastor, teacher and friend. At St. Andrew's, God's grace is manifested as they help with food, spiritual concerns, medicine, rent, or counseling, etc... All of the above programs provide many additional opportunities to be in mission and ministry with those in the community and beyond.

A message regarding Hurricane Katrina from the Executive Director of St. Andrew's Mission:

St. Andrew’s has been a beehive of hurricane relief activities since Monday, August 29, the day of the storm. The first week we fed the neighborhood daily with everything in our five or six freezers that supply the soup kitchen since the power was out and we were among a few who had a large commercial gas stove. A number of people in the area brought food from their freezers and we cooked that as well. Board member, Betsy Murrell, marshaled her neighbors and their gas grills and bar-b-qued the 75 or so whole chickens that were beginning to thaw.

Sunday morning without electricity and in the natural light of God without mics or amplifiers we talked about what we had experienced, what we had seen, how we felt, what we had done, what we needed and best of all what God had given each of us throughout this experience. No doubt one of the best services I have ever been privileged to lead.

The second week after the storm, St. Andrew’s Mission called together several churches and mission groups in the area and said, “What can we do better together than we can do separately?” The result has been a warehouse full of food, clothing, baby products, personal hygiene products, paper goods, school supplies, pet products and more. About 30 trucks have rolled up to the warehouse and unloaded the generosity of people from all over the country. The post office delivered 7 boxes from a tiny Disciples of Christ Church in Montana. York Food Pantry in York, PA sent 4 trucks from their warehouses. Sedalia, MO adopted McComb, MS and sent several truckloads of food and other much needed goods.

A week and a half after opening the warehouse we had distributed supplies to 11,482 people in the McComb area through 95 churches who came to tell us about the needs of those in their congregations and neighborhoods. Now a week later we are still serving people who are evacuees staying with families in McComb, people in shelters, those who have been out of work as a result of the storm, not to mention those who have come to McComb to flee from Hurricane Rita. We are working with another food pantry in McComb to supply their requests out of the warehouse as well.

Our Thrift Store has donated household goods, clothing and other necessities to individuals who have come here from New Orleans and the Coast to keep them going until they can resettle.

Some have donated money to our relief efforts. Much of this we have put into our F.I.G. Tree Ministry. Through that fund we help people pay their rent, electricity and the cost of prescription drugs. The budgets of those housing evacuees and those unable to work because of the power outages or damaged businesses have been stretched beyond capacity. The money that has come into St. Andrew’s F.I.G. Tree Ministry has relieved the trauma and stress of not knowing how they will meet their obligations. Others who are relocating in McComb because of damage to their homes elsewhere are receiving assistance through the F.I.G. Tree as well.

We Need Your Help Still! Recovery is the Next Step.

We are expediting the remodeling of a large house that we have (The Ferguson House) to use as a temporary shelter for 4 families.

WE NEED THE FOLLOWING SUPPLIES OR THE MONEY TO BUY THEM:

sheetrock and mud for sheetrock, tools to spread and smooth the mud

blown in insulation (these old houses had not a bit of insulation!)

nails, screws, power tools, hammers, ladders

indoor paint - neutral colors

vinyl floor covering

outdoor paint - white

screen for the wrap around porch

plumbing fixtures for four bathrooms

cleaning supplies

bedding

bath linens

kitchen linens and supplies

All of these things are difficult to send and if you would prefer to send money to purchase the supplies we will see that it is used for that purpose. We have a group of 46 teenagers and 19 adults coming 10/5-10/05 to work on the house. We want to have the supplies to keep them busy all five days.

Our Community Health Clinic is also in need of your support. We are gathering supplies for the doctors and nurses who will be providing care. Current pharmaceutical samples, antibiotics, basic medical supplies are needed. Again your financial support will allow us to keep the clinic stocked and operating.

Thank you for thinking of us and our community. Keep us in your prayers.

Rev. Judy Powell Sibley, Executive Director