Oklahoma Diocese Continues to Address Human Costs in Wake of Bombing
Episcopal News Service. January 17, 1996 [96-1355]
(ENS) -- Some of the victims of the Oklahoma City bombing have yet to discover that they even are victims.
Even those residents of Oklahoma not injured in the April 19, 1995, blast at the Alfred Murrah Federal Building and not directly related to someone who died or was hurt in the bombing, find the horror of that day creeping up to strike them months later.
"It's not one of those things where you can go away and forget it," said the Rev. Mel Truitt, rector of the Church of the Redeemer in Oklahoma City and coordinator of relief efforts for the Episcopal Diocese of Oklahoma. "It's going to be right there in front of you."
As the diocese works with other religious and relief organizations to distribute the funds that poured in to assist bomb victims, an increasing need is for "long-term counseling for those who are secondary victims," he said. Secondary victims, he explained, can include family members and friends, but also those just struggling with the psychological costs of a bomb that struck too close to home.
"The 19th of April hit all of us," Truitt said. "It was like lightning and thunder -- all of us jumped."
Counselors geared up for Christmas -- a time when those who perished would be especially missed -- and will be preparing as well for the first anniversary of the blast and for the trial of suspect Timothy McVeigh when renewed media attention will spark another resurgence of memories. "We're looking for the long-range now," Truitt said. "People are showing up who didn't think they needed any counseling."
Much of the support offered by the diocese has been coordinated through the Interfaith Disaster Discovery of Greater Oklahoma City.
"It's the only group that included Muslims, Bahai -- every faith group you can think of," said the Rev. Charles Woltz, diocesan canon to the ordinary. The interfaith emphasis was key, he said, because "almost immediately after the bombing, some of the TV stations mentioned Muslims as suspects and raised all the old ghosts. We wanted to combat that in a healthy way."
At the same time, reported Truitt, who served for a while as president of the interfaith group's board, the funds distributed by the diocese have been identified as specifically Episcopal.
"We wanted to make sure that the Episcopal presence was felt in the community," Truitt said. Though only 20,000 strong in the area, Episcopalians were able to make a significant impact because "the Anglican community was very, very generous from around the world and in the community here," he said. "We're still getting funds."
According to Woltz, "well over a million dollars" was received in donations and pledges from around the world, including a grant from the Presiding Bishop's Fund for World Relief, a gift from the Archbishop of Canterbury and gifts from most of the dioceses in the United States.
From the original $300,000 in direct cash donations, $200,000 was given for restoration of St. Paul's Cathedral, which was severely damaged in the blast. Reflecting the high level of generosity, the diocese was able to return the $25,000 grant from the Presiding Bishop's Fund "so that it could be used elsewhere," Truitt said.
So far, nearly $375,000 of the undesignated funds has been paid out in assistance to families of victims for counseling and medical expenses, burial expenses, and housing, house repair and living expenses. In some cases, "we replaced cars or made repairs to cars that were damaged," he said.
For the families of the two Episcopalians who died in the bombing, donations have provided a year's college tuition for their children. And $102,000 was pooled with funds of other relief groups to provide a central fund for distribution.
In order to show "solidarity with other downtown churches," Truitt said, some of the funds have helped churches of other denominations rebuild, including a downtown Methodist church; Calvary Baptist Church, historic as a meeting place during the civil rights movement; and the Roman Catholic cathedral.
St. Paul's Cathedral, which stands only two blocks from the bomb site, is using the need to repair extensive bomb damage as an opportunity to make other "much-needed repairs and improvements," said Marilyn Smotherman, development coordinator.
Under an aggressive time-table that has telescoped many of the planning steps into just a few months, the congregation hopes to have the cathedral re-opened by Christmas, 1996, she said. A $2.8 million fund-raising drive will supplement insurance money for the reconstruction.
Meanwhile the work of the cathedral, including the congregation's St. George's Guild which provides services to the needy, has continued, Smotherman reported. "We have Mobile Meals to serve shut-ins every Wednesday as well," she said. "It was a Wednesday when the bomb hit and they still got the meals out."