Jason Halley - Chico Enterprise-Record/AP Photo

On the fourth day of evacuation from their home in Magalia, Bob Young (left) and Gilberta Young (right) sit with their animals in their temporary campsite they set up in the parking lot of the evacuee shelter at Neighborhood Church as Cal Fire crews continue to battle the Butte Lightning Complex Fire on Friday, July 11, 2008 in Chico, Calif.

"After the worst of the flooding was over and it was time to gut our house, the only place in the entire city where you could get bleach, mops, and other supplies was at the Salvation Army through donations from the Baptist Church," said Pamela Jenkins of the University of New Orleans Center for Hazards Assessment, speaking on the devastating conditions in her own neighborhood after Hurricane Katrina.

"On my way to back and forth from the Salvation Army I would see volunteers from local churches handing out supplies, but I never passed anyone from the city, state, or federal government doing the same . . . why?"

Jenkins, along with three other experts on a Monday afternoon panel at the CU-sponsored Natural Hazards Workshop, discussed this question and raised many more regarding the role of churches and other faith-based organizations (FBOs) in mending communities in the wake of natural disasters and other times of need.

Another expert, Peter Gudaitis of New York Disaster Interfaith services, told his story of carrying the responsibility of organizing relief efforts for victims of 9/11 shortly after his own apartment, a mere two blocks away from the World Trade Center, was destroyed in the attack.

"I had to balance my own wellness as I was tasked with exploring recovery resources for an unknown number of other victims," said Gudaitis, who advocated unanimously with the other panelists for a stronger and more consistent dialogue between government officials and FBOs, and among FBOs themselves, to provide advanced planning and strategies for communities in disaster-related circumstances.

"I learned nothing in seminary about emergency management, and very often those skills are not a natural component of the gift most church leaders have," Gudaitis said, illustrating the need most church leaders have to know what actions to take to manage extreme circumstances, and the desire many of them have to learn.According to panelists and audience members, such communication between FBOs and government planners is the simplest step that can be taken to provide more effective relief efforts.

"The church is fundamental in driving community actions because it provides people their basic viewpoints of such issues as life and death and good and evil," said Suzanne Frew of CirclePoint, an organization dedicated to environmental management through global communication efforts. "This is why FBOs should be and are sought after to provide pivotal resources, such as shelter and service reunification."

Accountability of the actions of FBOs was also a topic of discussion, community reliance on FBO sources can open the door to the abuse of those entities for the gain of money or power.

A question-and-answer period also addressed the concern of people refusing help, both before and after a disaster occurs, due to their belief that the event was "God's will." On this subject, Gudaitis stressed the importance of clergy understanding the mental impact of their own messages, while Frew discussed the incorporation of key components of an established belief with simple scientific explanations of what is happening and what can be done.

Audience member also offered experiences in dealing with such fatalistic beliefs. A woman from Indonesia and a young man from India both addressed dealing with pre-conceived notions of disaster resulting from God's anger as most effectively dealt with by educating people at younger ages, keeping the scientific explanations simple, and involving members of clergy in the education process as much as possible.

To find out about Boulder's own FBO involvement in relief efforts, Paul Marsh, Co-President of CU's Religious Campus Organizations, told the Colorado Daily that churches throughout Boulder make consistent efforts to provide community needs from year to year.

"Boulder churches and church members are often involved in helping the community," said Marsh, citing donations of food, blankets and other supplies, most often for the local homeless, but also for victims of local and national disasters and other causes.

"It's the mission of the church to be present and available for the community when those things happen," said Rev. Mary Kate Schroder, Rector at St. Aidan's Episcopal Church in Boulder. "We always try to work with organizations that are designed to do early interventions, like the Red Cross, because the hardest part is getting the word out about what is available and what we are providing."

Contact Lance Vaillancourt about this story at (303) 443-6272, ext. 125 or vaillancourt@coloradodaily.com