Desire Street Ministries Update

From Rev. Mo Leverett, our 2006 Urban Missions Conference speaker: Thank you for your prayers during this very difficult time. It is now official and confirmed, all of our staff members are accounted for and are living with friends and family from California to Florida, but most remain between Houston and Atlanta! Many staff evacuated with youth from the community and will serve as surrogate families for the time being. We are working hard to provide them with resources they need and continue to search for our students and members of our community. We have found about 40% of our 190 Desire Street Academy students. We have established a new office in the Atlanta area and are rebuilding our adminstrative infrastructure in order to be effective in our relief and recovery efforts. Churches and individuals have offered many resources, from housing and supplies to funds and ready workers. We are very grateful and hope to corral these resources to impact the families we are called to serve. As you know, it will be quite some time before we can get back into the city of New Orleans to start any type of recovery process. In the short term, we are building a network of sister ministries and relief agencies so we are ready when the time comes. In the long term, we look forward to linking arms with the body of Christ as we work to rebuild our community. Our greatest immediate needs are for prayers and funding. We are determined to keep as many of our staff members as possible, so operational support is critical. Job descriptions have certainly changed, but our calling to minister to the children and families of Desire remains the same. For all the updates, please visit http://www.desirestreet.org/ . Send all donations to Desire Street Ministries Fund, Whitney National, Northwest Branch Mail Teller, Attn: Loveda Lockey 1716 Mangum RoadHouston, TX 77092.