Community groups are coming together to pray for the victims of Tuesday's terrorist attacks and send them aid.
A communitywide service will be held at 7 tonight at McKinney Chapel Missionary Baptist Church at 224 Short St. Representatives from the police and fire departments and the Armed Forces are expected to speak.
Visitors of all denominations are welcome.
The Greenwood Ministerial Association also has scheduled a communitywide service at 6:30 p.m. Monday at the Episcopal Church of the Nativity. It is expected to last 30 to 45 minutes.
That church's rector, the Rev. Craig Gates, will lead prayer along with the Rev. Calvin Collins, Dr. Jim Phillips and others.
The Salvation Army also is accepting donations for the victims' families. It is taking only monetary gifts at this time, said Maj. Sam Warnock.
Contributions intended specifically for these victims should be marked "Terrorist Attack," Warnock said. They may be sent to the local Salvation Army office at P.O. Box 693.
Warnock said people of faith need to come together to deal with this situation.
He has worked with flood relief efforts before, but the high number of probable casualties in the bombings make the latest effort "a whole new ballgame," he said.
"It's something we hope would never happen in the States," he said. "But it has."
Fifteen Salvation Army officers from Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana have been ordered to go to Washington or New York, Warnock said.
Salvation Army disaster relief teams were mobilized immediately after the blasts and had food at the sites within two hours, Warnock said. Units and ministers also were sent to airports across the United States after flights were grounded.
Salvation Army representatives talk to the people at the sites and try to comfort them, but it can be a very stressful effort, Warnock said. For tragedy of this magnitude, they must call in help from other places.
"This is going to be, probably, a pretty long operation," he said.
The Salvation Army operation in Oklahoma City after the 1995 bombing of the Alfred F. Murrah Federal Building took weeks, and this one will be much larger. It probably will involve teams from all over the country, Warnock said.
Warnock hasn't been asked to go to one of the sites - yet. But it could happen at any time, he said. The officers' councils will meet in Tennessee next week, and he could be asked to go straight from there, he said.
In fact, a council meeting was being held in Oklahoma City when the bomb there went off, he said.
Warnock said it's hard to tell how long workers might stay at a site. However, he added, "As long as the need is there, the Army's going to be there."
The Rev. James Gholson, president of the ministers' association, echoed the call for prayer. People must "pray, somehow or another, that God will give us some insight on how we can deal with terrorism in our country," he said.
Gholson said the bombings dominated the discussion Wednesday at the association's meeting. Some churches have opened their buildings for prayer and held special gatherings to discuss the crisis.
"I think everyone has been traumatized by what happened," Gholson said.
