Empowerment. Resiliency. Service. These are the words that best describe Dr. Janice Milo, senior pastor of the Empowerment Church in Port Arthur, Texas, an important community partner of the American Red Cross.

              The Empowerment Church, a non-denominational multicultural church, is a designated shelter that can serve up to 80 people during natural disasters. Training to be a part of the Texas Gulf Coast region’s Disaster Action Team, church members will also assist the Red Cross in dealing with more localized disasters, such as home fires. Dr. Milo, a military veteran and former nurse who taught CPR classes in the 1980s, felt the need to establish a stronger Red Cross presence in the once under-served Port Arthur area.

              “I believe, personally as a pastor, that the church should be engaged in the community,” Dr. Milo said. “It should be aligned with the mission of the church or aligned with being a fabric of a community where people can come in and get what they need.”

              Dr. Milo said she learned about the importance of community resilience, the ability to overcome hardships, following Hurricane Harvey in 2017. She was concerned that the community did not bounce back for the storm as quickly as it should have. She also witnessed the power of people coming together to help the community with clean-up and rebuilding.  But she also felt the local community should be empowered to better help themselves.

“My vision is to not only provide shelter, but to have a resiliency hub where we can be prepared to have boots on the ground if something like that should ever happen again,” Dr. Milo said. “We were tremendously blessed to have individuals come in to help us, but we should not be a community where we are waiting for someone to come in and do it for us.”

That’s where the partnership between the church and the American Red Cross comes into play. In Port Arthur and other communities across the region and the state, the Red Cross works with local governments, non-government organizations and individual volunteers to communities prepare for and cope with the aftermath of disasters. The Red Cross responds to some form of disaster – usually home fires – every eight minutes. More than 93 percent of those who work on behalf of the Red Cross are volunteers.

As for Dr. Milo, she remains committed to the concept of empowerment, giving people the tools – some might say the power – to be self-sufficient and ready to assist others in need. She recent authored Power Tools of the Believer, her first book the “Empowered to Win” series.

“We are empowered to empower someone else,” Dr. Milo said. “When we are able to overcome in areas of our lives, then we can help someone else to overcome.”

The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and provides comfort to victims of disasters; supplies about 40 percent of the nation’s blood; teaches skills that save lives; distributes international humanitarian aid; and supports veterans, military members and their families. The Red Cross is a nonprofit organization that depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to deliver its mission. For more information about volunteering or contributing to the Red Cross’s mission, please call 1-800-RED-CROSS, visit redcross.org or CruzRojaAmericana.org, or follow us on X (formerly known as Twitter) at @RedCross.

Story By: David Guth