Church members in metro Atlanta are waiting anxiously to hear from friends they made working in the now embattled country of Georgia, and some have not canceled their plans to return there in September.

Members of Peachtree Road United Methodist and Marietta's First United Methodist churches wonder how many of the friends they made are among the dead or displaced.

The churches have sent teams of short-term workers to Georgia, a former Soviet republic, for years and have received sporadic e-mail from friends there during the fighting between local troops and Russian invaders.

"We've been working in five different orphanages and institutions since 1999," said Lynn Banks of Peachtree Road.

"Most of what I've heard [from friends in Georgia] is the bare shock that all this is going on and over the fatalities," Banks said.

One of the last e-mails she received from a Georgian says: "We are in a true war, which no one could think about even in the most terrible dream....I just wanted to let you know that we are all OK."

Meanwhile, Atlanta-based CARE estimates it needs $1 million immediately and $20 million long term to help victims of the war that broke out last week.

The fighting began over competing interests in the breakaway territory of South Ossetia, which borders both Russia and Georgia. Russian troops invaded Georgia proper and reportedly continued to advance Wednesday in defiance of a cease fire. Georgia says at least 175 Georgians have died.

Lurma Rackley, spokeswoman for the CARE, said workers on the ground began distributing essential supplies immediately.

"We've been there since '92," she said.

The aid agency also is trying to assess the needs in a situation that is still fluid. Many fleeing the fighting have yet to come out of hiding or arrive in areas where they can be counted and cared for, Rackley said.

"The number of people is growing rapidly," she said.

Atlanta church members aren't deterred, however.

The Georgian worker in touch with Banks of the Peachtree Road church reported by e-mail that the classrooms the church helped build are undamaged, and in a spirit of optimism, says she hopes the church members will return in September for a planned trip to continue the work.

Banks said, "We are committed to helping them if we can. Hopefully, we will be able to go on September 19."

Cecil Fike, a retired minister and member of the Marietta church, said an e-mail he got from a Georgian friend in the western part of the country last week reported that the hospital there was taking in wounded.

A more recent e-mail shows the chaos and fear the country is operating under.

It told Fike about a local doctor on his way back from Tbilisi [the capital of Georgia] on a bus. Russian troops stopped it.

"The women were taken off the bus and led away and the men were sent on their way," Fike said. "They have no idea what happened to the women."

The Methodist church volunteers have worked helping educate and care for children in poor areas. Fike said that through the years they have seen Georgia struggle upward, and he and others are now concerned about the country's progress being set back.

"Economically, it was very depressed," he said. "The civil war there [in the early 1990s] virtually destroyed the infrastructure.

"They were just getting back on their feet. The roads were not just passable, but actually good when we were there last year."

The electrical and banking systems were also operating pretty well.

"They feel like this is an attempt by Russia to restore the old Soviet Union," Fike said.

Georgia declared its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

"Our only hope is that our prayers for peace can being to make a difference," Fike said.