Gustav: World Vision Teams Assist Evacuees in Jackson and Dallas, Prepar...( - Agency coordinating with hundreds ...),Health

- Agency coordinating with hundreds of churches, community groups hosting

and helping evacuees - World Vision's emergency supplies ready in Mississippi, Dallas; more on

standby in Los Angeles, Denver, Pittsburgh, Seattle and beyond - Relief director: Faith community "on the frontlines" helping vulnerable,

low-income families

SEATTLE, Sept. 1 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- As Hurricane Gustav lashes Louisiana and the Gulf Coast today, World Vision's relief teams have begun helping families who have evacuated to Dallas and Jackson, Mississippi. The Christian humanitarian agency will be distributing immediate essentials like diapers; clothing for babies, children and adults; shampoo, soap and deodorant; toilet paper, napkins and paper plates; and simple children's toys together with local church and community partners who are housing evacuees from Louisiana and the Gulf Coast.

"Items for children and babies are always the most in need," said Phyllis Freeman, a veteran of World Vision's Hurricane Katrina response and currently in Dallas leading the agency's Gustav field team. "But they're sometimes hard to get, and run out quickly, during the initial days of an emergency. So we're trying to offer families with children the things they need most."

The Christian relief and development agency is contacting and coordinating with hundreds of its local church, school and community partners, with a special focus on those within 100 miles of the coast. Many have already been working with World Vision in the ongoing Katrina response.

The agency's relief goods will be supplied from its Storehouses in Picayune, Mississippi, and Dallas to start. Additional truckloads of new, top- quality items are on standby and ready to be shipped from Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, Denver, Seattle and elsewhere, depending on the extent of the storm's damage.

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