The city of Edmonds is partnering with local churches to adopt a Gulf Coast city ravaged by Hurricane Katrina and help rebuild it through the efforts of all Edmonds residents.
Last week, Mayor Gary Haakenson met with about 20 representatives of area churches to discuss the best way for Edmonds to become involved in relief efforts while preparing for a large-scale disaster – most likely an earthquake – here.
Churches represented were North Sound, Maplewood Presbyterian, Edmonds United Methodist, Holy Rosary, Westgate Chapel, Faith Community, Edgewood Baptist, Salem Lutheran, St. Alban’s Episcopal, Christian Science and Seventh Day Adventists. Others volunteering their support were Edmonds Open Bible, Esperance Baptist, Edmonds Christian, Church of God and Edmonds Unitarian Universalist churches.
The group endorsed the mayor’s suggestion that Edmonds contact the Adopt a City program of the U.S. Conference of Mayors to request being matched with a devastated city about the same size, population-wise, as Edmonds, according to Linda Carl, executive assistant to the mayor. News of a match is expected any day, she said, adding, “Once we have the name of the city, it (relief work) will get hot and heavy around here.”
If the Adopt a City program is unable to supply a match, Haakenson said he’ll find one on his own. “One way or the other,” he promised, “it’ll happen.”
The partnership with churches resulted, the mayor explained, from a call he received shortly after the hurricane hit from Richard Kirby, who is associated with Edmonds United Methodist. Both men shared concern, he said, not only for hurricane victims but for readying Edmonds for a large-scale disaster.
“There’s no better way to reach a large amount of people in a short period of time than through our church congregations,” read an e-mail from the mayor’s office to those attending the initial meeting.
“I hope people don’t view this as just a ‘religious’ effort,” Carl said. Anybody and everybody are included.”
Initially, the mayor said, help might be “as simple as supplying money, clothing and soccer balls and footballs.” He said he sees a long-term relationship that may involve teams of professionals visiting the adopted city on a short-term basis to help rebuild it.
Pastor Phil Assink of Faith Community Church said it’s a “no-brainer conclusion” that groups working together can accomplish more and better work.
“Someone brings the nails, another a hammer, another wood and together we build a house,” he said. The outreach will benefit the helpers, too, he added. “The very soul of our city may be found by giving ourselves to a city that’s lost,” Assink concluded.
In sharing the news at the Sept. 19 city council meeting, Haakenson emphasized that the city-helping-city effort – which his office will coordinate – has three goals: rebuilding a damaged community, preparing our own community for potential disaster and retaining emphasis on local food banks and other charitable organization for which support tends to suffer in the wake of large-scale emergencies.
Information about the Adopt a City program will be shared on the city’s Web site, www.ci.edmonds.wa.us, as it becomes available. Citizens and other churches interested in getting involved may call the mayor’s office at 425-771-0247 or one of the aforementioned churches.
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