(Above) Relief volunteers Joe Robinson, Bobby Parker and Shane Ihle share a laugh as they unload the supplies from one of two campers a group of Michigan residents donated to house evacuees from Hurricane Katrina. The campers were donated as part of AFA’s Operation Hurricane Hope.
Photo by C. Todd Sherman/Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal

In response to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, AFA and its supporters have been actively involved in a variety of relief efforts known as Operation Hurricane Hope.

"At a time like this, our faith in Christ demands that we respond to a mass of people who are overcome by hopelessness," said the Rev. Don Wildmon, AFA chairman and founder. "AFA will do everything it can to try to alleviate the suffering caused by Hurricane Katrina."

Therefore, Dick Lankford, vice president of development for AFA, launched an RV-donation drive on behalf of the ministry as a means of providing housing for those left homeless.

Just days after the storm made landfall, Lankford contacted an RV dealer in Michigan about donating some of her caapers. The call for campers was then issued via radio through an AFA-affiliate station in Fremont, Michigan. Businesses, individuals and families began responding immediately.

"These were just ordinary people — the salt of the earth as I like to call them — who wanted to make a difference by responding to what God is calling them to do," Lankford said.

In less than 48 hours the first two campers arrived in the parking lot of the Tupelo (Mississippi) Furniture Market where there are utility hookups for 110 units. As of press time, campers were en route daily to northeast Mississippi with plans being made by AFA to place any additional RVs in other cities housing storm refugees.

"This way we are able to give people temporary homes of their own, and then they can resell the RV and have the money as equity for their permanent home," Lankford said.

He also explained that the titles for the campers will be issued to AFA and then transferred to the families once they take over their new homes.

"Not many are thinking long-term, and this is one way we can provide for families on a long-term basis," Lankford said.

"[In addition] people have called and asked that American Family Radio (AFR) distribute their donated supplies so they can be assured that it will be distributed in Jesus’ name," said Joey Moody, chief engineer for AFR.

Therefore, Operation Hurricane Hope has also recognized the victims’ immediate needs and provided in the following ways:

• AFR engineers promptly repaired radio towers in the devastated areas in order to broadcast relief efforts to the greater Gulf Coast. By the end of the week, both stations — WAOY/91.7 and WPAS/89.1 — were back on the air.

• Bill Thrasher, station manager for AFA-affiliate KBDE in Waco, Texas, organized Operation Love Thy Neighbor as a way of transporting donated food, bottled water and other essential elements to survivors in central Mississippi and Louisiana.

• Through an AFR connection, a philanthropist in Richmond, Virginia, chartered an airplane and its pilot for a month as a means of flying supplies to needy areas in Mississippi through the coordinated efforts of Wildmon and Gov. Haley Barbour’s office.

• AFA’s headquarters in Tupelo was the central location for an 18-wheeler that supporters filled with pain relievers and personal care products and delivered to a church in Gulfport, Mississippi. Gallons of gasoline were also transported.

• At press time, Gary Glenn, president of AFA of Michigan, was leaving on a 12-day relief tour of Mississippi and Louisiana in which he and other volunteers plan to deliver 10 tons of donated food items to hurricane victims.

• All AFR stations have been and continue calling for crisis volunteers.

• AFA/AFR initiated a call specifically to Mississippi churches asking each congregation to sponsor two to five victimized families for the next three to six months.

• AFA/AFR established an Operation Hurricane Hope Fund in which all money donated will be used to help survivors.

As of press time, additional efforts such as the collection and distribution of Bibles, portable radios to survivors as well as the establishment of an AFA distribution center were in the works.

For more information on how you can help hurricane victims, contact The Salvation Army, your local church or other local efforts. To donate to AFA’s relief fund: AFA Operation Hurricane Hope Fund, P.O. Drawer 2440, Tupelo, MS 38803. Online donations can be made at www.afa.net.

"We assure AFA supporters that every dollar designated to our hurricane relief fund will go to help storm victims," Wildmon said.