Churches use technology during services to help share the word, but in times of disaster, technology plays an even more crucial role, helping churches complete outreach missions. After Hurricane Sandy hit the northeast in October 2012, thousands in the New York tri-state area displaced for Thanksgiving found hot turkey dinners, camaraderie, and even entertainment in area churches and shelters organized by church groups.
The Information Technology Disaster Resource Center (ITDRC), Women in AV (WAVE), and two local New York audiovisual integrators, along with DISH Network, brought satellite TV and Internet access to Bayley-Seton Hospital in Staten Island, serving as a post-Sandy shelter run by Staten Island's interdenominational Church at the Gateway, and the historic Our Lady of Solace Catholic Church in Coney Island, Brooklyn.
“It Started with a Blog Post”
Jonathan Joyce, vice president of Staten Island-based AV integrator JD Systems, explains how his desire to help snowballed into a cross-country initiative. “We are supporters of the Carl V. Bini Fund, a not-for-profit founded to support families of 9-11 victims. A few days after the storm, we started a social media campaign to help Bini Fund get donations of needed items to Sandy victims on Staten Island.”
WAVE President Jennifer Willard saw the news, and shared it on her own blog, where it caught the attention of Joe Hillis, founder of the ITDRC, a 501(c)(3) non-profit public charity that assists communities with technology continuity and disaster recovery. The groups held a meeting to decide how they could provide relief with an ITAV twist.
Technology Brings it Together
By Thanksgiving morning, the tech staff of Staten Island's Church at the Gateway had audiovisual systems moved in to Bayley-Seton, including a projector and screen, a mixing board, and a portable speaker system. “The biggest challenge,” Joyce says, “was coordinating everything. It turned out the church had the systems it needed, but they needed to be transferred to the shelter at Bayley-Seton Hospital. The missing piece was the DISH-TV feed; technicians came in Wednesday before Thanksgiving to set it up.”
Meanwhile on Coney Island, Our Lady of Solace benefited from a projection screen donated by Da-Lite, and an InFocus projector and portable JBL speaker system and amplifier loaned by Digital Sales Group of Long Island. “We took apart the testing facility in our showroom and loaned them our gear,” says Digital Sales Group's Dave Silkin.
The Start of Something Big
“The underlying story here is the use of social media to bring us all together,” Silkin says. He had participated in local coat drives and, seeing AV community members tweeting about Sandy relief, saw another opportunity to contribute.
According to ITDRC's Hillis, these projects represented the first partnership between ITDRC and the AV community. “Thanks to Jennifer and WAVE, we realized how much untapped technology experience there is on the AV side to help us provide disaster relief. With the continued ITAV convergence, it makes sense to integrate these resources into our organization. We're confident their contributions will go a long way in helping communities.”
For churches, it's more proof that God works in mysterious ways, as technology helped restore a bit of normalcy to hundreds of New York families on Thanksgiving.
