Kathy Gilbert, a United Methodist News Service news writer based in Nashville, filed this article published by Spero News about the Rev. Sally Bevill, pastor of Beauvoir United Methodist Church and coordinator of Hispanic Ministries for the Katrina Response Team of the Mississippi Annual (regional) Conference. Here are some excerpts:
"The Hispanic/Latino population on the Gulf Coast has increased by 25 percent since Hurricane Katrina hit the coast Aug. 29, 2005."
"'They were the ones who came in and did a tremendous amount of the cleanup work,' Bevill says. 'They were the ones pulling out the dead bodies.'"
"Recently she found a group of immigrants living in 'awful' condition in a trailer park. They had no water and the children had no shoes, she says."
"'I encountered a man who had been mugged. They had burned the bottom of his feet with cigarettes until he gave up his money,' she says. 'We had suspected our Hispanics were a target because of getting paid on Fridays and walking around with a lot of cash because they can't get checking accounts. That just affirmed what our suspicions were anyway.'"
"'It is a most exciting time to be here,' says Bevill. 'It is overwhelming, but it is very exciting. God will lead. My being here is very much a God thing.'"
Image: from this article by Ashley Wilkerson, Indiana University
Focus: Faith
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