Congregations across the Southeastern California Conference rallied to help those displaced during Hurricane Katrina by collecting money, food, water, toiletries, toys and clothes. By mid-September, cash donations to the conference’s Katrina Relief Fund had exceeded $110,000. The conference also donated the use of a moving van to deliver material aid to Mississippi.

Pathfinders in Palm Springs set up a trailer to collect goods on Sept. 10-11. The Garden Grove Spanish church circulated a flyer inviting community people near Orangewood Academy to contribute relief items on Sept. 10. The congregation ended the Sabbath with a benefit concert and more than $5,700 in cash, including $3,500 from the Orange Central Korean church.

On Sunday, Sept. 11, members of the Riverside Kansas Avenue church worked in shifts as cars, pickups, and SUVs rolled into the parking lot with boxes and bags of donations. By evening, the church was packed for the benefit concert.

Driving a conference moving van bulging with 35,580 pounds of goods, Daniel Baerg left Riverside for Jackson, Miss., early Monday morning. Pastor Derek Lane and members of the Berean Adventist Church welcomed the SECC shipment with open arms on Wednesday night.

“After prayer meeting, about 50 church members helped me unload the truck into their well-organized community service center,” Baerg reported. “I was blessed to be part of this experience.”