Hoosiers continue to give to hurricane victims

INDIANAPOLIS - Indiana residents continue to help those affected by Hurricane Katrina, with some volunteering at the Red Cross and others praying for victims and donating money at churches around the state.\nAt the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Indianapolis, the congregation collected monetary donations Sunday in a big brown moving box near the altar.\n"We're going to pray for the families, and for the families to be reunited, and for the revitalization of the city," said Rev. John L. Lambert. "We will be helping because the whole world is affected, and not just us in America."\nOlivia McGee-Lockhart, 64, has attended the church all her life.\n"Historically, we respond to tragedies as a connectional church," she said. "Collectively, we do things to help our own churches and thus the community at large."\nThe Bridgeway Community Church in the Indianapolis suburb of Noblesville also took up a collection for a hurricane relief fund. Pastor Craig Parker urged the congregation to pray for families who lost loved ones and homes in the storm.\n"And pray for the family of God that we would respond," he said.\nIn Merrillville on Saturday, about 50 potential Red Cross volunteers started a two-day course teaching the basics of emergency volunteering.\nLiliana Heredia-Taylor told the potential volunteers about the problems they would face in areas hit by the hurricane. She said volunteers can only bring what they can carry, may not be able to contact family members and sometimes go weeks without a shower. But she also said helping can bring tremendous rewards.\n"You will never feel any better than you do when you give someone a cup of coffee," she said. "People remember you for helping them. Who knows, maybe one day, they will come here and help us."\nHeredia-Taylor said she expects only half of those who attended the course to actually volunteer.\n"It takes a special person to go out for three weeks in the worst conditions and be able to survive," she said.\nApril Janik, of Hammond, said she is a college senior majoring in elementary education who wants to help children in the disaster areas.\n"I was hoping maybe I could reach out to the children," Janik said. "You get the feeling that no one cares, and you are lost"