Visiting minister raises funds, awareness for Gulf Coast
by ELIZABETH TAUFA Reporter

Visiting minister Judy Bultman will speak to Western New Yorkers next week about the devastation from Hurricane Katrina in the nation's Gulf Coast.

The story of Hurricane Katrina's devastation on New Orleans has been well documented since the storm hit in 2005.

However, New Orleans was not the only area affected.

Judy Bultman, the Lutheran and Episcopal disaster relief director for the Mississippi Gulf Coast, who travels the country raising awareness and funds for Gulf Coast areas hit by Katrina, is coming to Western New York..

She will be at Zion Lutheran Church, 9535 Clarence Center Road, on Saturday and Sunday, May 5 and 6; at Dandelions Restaurant, 1340 North Forest Road, on Wednesday, May 9; and at St. John Lutheran Church, 6540 Main Street, at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 10. The free lecture at St. John Lutheran is the highlight of her t o u r.

"People who were homeless the day after Katrina hit are still homeless," Bultman said. "We would have to build four homes a day for 10 years to get back to where we were."

Bultman and her husband started the Bethel Lutheran Church Hurricane Katrina Ministry out of Biloxi, Miss. a few days after they returned from being evacuated.

"We brought back cases of food and water and made a sign that said, 'Free food and water,'" she said. "And that's how our ministry was born."

"I speak mainly to thank people for all of the help that's already been given," Bultman said. "People come down for their vacations to volunteer and then thank us for letting them come. My hope has really been renewed."

The ministry also runs a free medical clinic - one of two in the entire Gulf Coast area.

"When people lost their jobs, they lost their health insurance too," she said.

Bultman's WNY trip is due in large part to Barbara Ruckdaschel, director of the Outreach Ministry at Zion Lutheran Church.

Ruckdaschel noted that WNY residents have already started giving back, including the efforts of pupils at Clarence Center Elementary School who held a read-a-thon to raise money for Bultman's cause.

Zion Lutheran will also be sending a work group to the Gulf Coast at the end of September.

"We try to tap into the talents of the people going," she said.

For more information on Bultman's upcoming visit, forming a volunteer group or donating items or money, call 741-2656.