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2006 GULF COAST RELIEF MISSION UPDATE
During 2006, LCPC sponsored four more follow-up trips to the Gulf Coast to continue our Katrina relief efforts.
During the first week in May, 11 volunteers traveled back to Bay St. Louis, Mississippi to continue with the rebuilding activity. LCPC also co-sponsored, along with the Raritan Valley Habitat For Humanity (RVHFH) organization, two trips to Thibodeaux, Louisiana. A total of 30 volunteers participated in this two week work project. An additional trip by 12 volunteers was also made back to Bay St. Louis in the first week of November.
During the two trips to Bay St. Louis, the volunteers again stayed at the local Presbyterian Church along with other volunteers from around the country and continued with the rebuilding activity begun in 2005. They worked on 8 different sites and projects, including additional work at the home of Jane and Ellis Cuevas. Considerable time was devoted to visiting, listening and ministering to the continuing needs of the residents. The work included removing flooded sheetrock and insulation, repair and installation of new sheetrock, wiring, doors, windows, floors, roofing, painting, etc. The focus this year was much more on repair and rebuilding as opposed to mostly cleaning and debris removal in 2005. This was a welcome trend as it meant more residents were getting closer to normalcy in their lives. However, it is estimated that over 80% of the homes in the Bay St. Louis area remain damaged or demolished beyond repair. There is so much that still needs to be done!
During the two trips to Thibodeaux, the volunteers worked on a Habitat For Humanity build site where 80 new homes were under construction or in the planning process. The volunteers spent two hot weeks framing, roofing, installing siding and flooring and painting several new homes. They were also fortunate to participate in the presentation of keys for several completed homes to local families. For many of these volunteers, this was a first time trip to Louisiana and direct exposure to the damage caused by Katrina. Many commented that they had no idea the need was so great and were so glad that they had made the trip.
While we have been able to continue to positively impact a number of families during our trips in 2006, an enormous amount of work remains. Many families still do not have the means to repair their homes and have either temporarily moved to trailers or are living with relatives. Others are continuing to live in homes with significant damage.
We are planning to return to the Gulf Coast in the Spring and Fall of 2007 to continue with our mission activity. Details of our Spring trip will be outlined in the church bulletin in early March. We hope you can join us to help others in need.
Jim Helpinstill -- Gulf Coast Relief Mission Coordinator
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The LCPC Mission Team sponsored two follow up trips in the spring of 2006, to the Gulf Coast to continue our Katrina relief efforts, including a joint building project with Habitat for Humanity in Thibodaux, Louisiana and a return trip to Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. The Habitat project took place April 29 – May 13. The Bay St. Louis trip was scheduled during the April 22 – May 15 time period. Another trip was made the week of November 5.
MISSISSIPPI RELIEF MISSION UPDATE
From October 22 to November 20, 2005, thirty five volunteers traveled to Bay St. Louis, Mississippi to help members of that community begin rebuilding their lives and homes. The volunteers were grouped into four teams, with each team typically spending one week working in the Bay St. Louis area. A few hardy volunteers stayed for two weeks. The teams were fortunate to be able to base themselves at the Bay St. Louis Presbyterian Church, one of the few churches remaining relatively undamaged after Katrina moved ashore in coastal Louisiana and Mississippi.
During the four weeks that our volunteers spent in Bay St. Louis, they actively worked on approximately 15 different projects and sites. The work days were long and involved mostly manual, dirty work. The types of work done included: carrying flooded belongings and furnishings out of homes, assisting homeowners in attempting to salvage some of their precious possessions, shoveling mud and overflow sewage (muck) out of homes, ripping out flood-damaged and mold-infested sheetrock, insulation, flooring, cabinets, etc. down to the building framework, spraying concentrated bleach to kill the mold, re-installing new sheetrock, finishing and painting the walls, re-roofing houses and clearing fallen trees and debris from yards so that temporary FEMA trailers could be brought in for the displaced residents.
Most importantly, the volunteers spent time talking with and listening to a number of the home owners who survived the storm, but found that they had severely damaged houses with very little insurance coverage and limited means to repair the damage. Our volunteers, and many others there from other churches, showed them that others really cared about them and offered them hope for the future. All of our volunteers were very positively impacted by their work in Bay St. Louis, their interactions with other volunteers and especially by the warmth and appreciation of the local people that we served. Without the help and financial support of LCPC members, this would not have been possible. For all of this we thank you!
While we were able to positively impact many families during our four weeks in Bay St. Louis, there is still so much more that needs to be done in the future. We are planning to make return trips in 2006. Dates will be set later in the first quarter. We are planning to sponsor a congregational lunch on February 19, 2006 to brief the congregation on our recent mission relief trip and to share with them our plans and opportunities for 2006 and the need for further LCPC member support. We are especially pleased that one of the families that we worked closely with in Bay St. Louis will be joining us for the congregational luncheon. Please come join us.
Jim Helpinstill --Mississippi Relief Mission Coordinator |
Below are a few photos taken during our fall of 2005 Mission trips
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Bay St. Louis
One man's story
Our team went to Bay St. Louis, MS two months after hurricane Katrina to help with disaster relief. Words can’t describe the extent of the destruction that extended for miles along the Gulf Coast. Along the water in Bay St. Louis and the neighboring town of Waveland, the destruction was almost total. Our work was coordinated through the First Presbyterian Church of Bay St. Louis, a very small church whose facility had survived because it stood a little higher than its surroundings. Most of the congregation of about 70 had moved away, whether permanently or temporarily was not clear.
At the Presbyterian Church, we met “Brother Benny,” a Baptist preacher from North Carolina. As Benny pronounced his name, it rhymed with “peony.” He was a freewheeling evangelist who had jumped in his truck a few days after the hurricane and come to Mississippi to help. Benny had met a couple living up the bayou, Sherman and Linda, whose home had been completely destroyed. He asked the church to arrange for a team to help them. Linda was open to the Lord, Benny said, but Sherman didn’t want help from any Christians. Benny thought that was probably because Sherman smokes and drinks and thinks Christians will judge him, “so don’t come on too strong.”
Bay St. Louis is shaped like a cornucopia, with its open mouth toward the Gulf, so the storm surge went up the bay with tremendous force as it was squeezed into a narrow funnel. A lot of destruction resulted from the backwash, carrying muck and debris as it met the storm surge coming straight over land. The small bayou on which Sherman and Linda lived had gotten inundated by 14 feet of water even though it was several miles inland.
When we arrived at the couple’s lot, I half expected to see Sherman in an undershirt, with a beer in his hand, yelling at us to get off his property. He wasn’t like that at all, but he seemed reserved and wary. His wife, a waitress at a restaurant across the bay, greeted us with a warm smile. They were both in their early 50s, I think, and Sherman was a carpenter and part time shrimp fisherman.
They had lived in a 70-foot trailer, to which Sherman had attached a shed and a carpentry workshop, and there was a small boathouse with a power winch to lift Sherman’s boat out of the water. The storm had destroyed everything except the boat and one vehicle. The evening before the storm hit, they had fortunately decided to drive inland to stay with some friends.
Now living in a FEMA trailer on their lot, Sherman and Linda had water and electricity but little else – few personal things, no tools and no jobs. They seemed overwhelmed, and when we looked around, we certainly could see why. There was splintered wood, twisted metal, plastic sheets, broken plumbing, ductwork and debris everywhere, all covered by about six inches of dark gray Mississippi muck.
As our crew went to work the first day, basically demolishing and cleaning up, Linda disappeared into their trailer. That was understandable, we thought, because the sight of the mess was just too painful for her. About an hour and half later, however, Linda came out with a big smile, carrying a huge tray of sandwiches and drinks for lunch. These people who had nothing left were offering us gracious Southern hospitality.
We started dismantling what was left of the structures and dragging the pieces to the omnipresent, growing debris piles along the road. Sherman said he would like to strip the trailer down to the steel I-beam chassis, so it could be cut up and sold for scrap. As we sawed, pried, chopped and ripped, we asked them if they would like to save some of the pieces. Because Sherman is a carpenter, we asked if he wanted to save some 2x4s and 4x4s, and he said yes, he could use them.
In the mud, we found mementos of their lives– a picture of the couple as newlyweds, encased in plastic and still intact, a glass cabinet in which Linda had kept some collectibles, a big crab-boil pot, a favorite fishing knife, savable CDs, a pellet gun. When we found something that seemed significant, we asked if they wanted to keep it – sometimes they said yes, sometimes no. As they worked along side us, we found ourselves actually having fun, even though it was really hard work.
They started to describe what had happened during the storm. Sherman told me that after he drove the truck and his boat to their friends, he decided to sleep in the truck, because there wasn’t a lot of room the house. About 4:30 in the morning, the wind started to blow so fiercely that a big pine tree crashed to the ground near his truck. He said he decided it was getting too dangerous outside, so he went into the house. “I wasn’t in there but five minutes” when another huge pine tree fell diagonally across the cab of his truck, crushing it. Remembering what Brother Benny had said about Sherman’s attitude toward Christians, I took a small leap, “Sherman, the Good Lord was looking out for you that night.” “I know it,” he said. I said a quick silent prayer, “Thank You, Lord.”
Later on, a pry bar that Sherman was using snapped loose and hit him in the face just below his left eye. It left a huge bruise and a cut, but he wouldn’t go to the medical center, joking about what a sight he was. Over the next few days, as we worked together, Sherman and Linda talked about the area and their hopes for rebuilding. A FEMA agent came to talk about financial assistance. As they stood off to one side talking earnestly, I held up the mud-caked pellet gun, which looked like a high-powered rifle. “Sherman, do you need a little more persuasion?” The man who had seemed reserved to the point of being withdrawn proved to have a sly sense of humor. We never saw a trace of self-pity in either one of them; in fact, they considered themselves fortunate and couldn’t thank us enough.
As we cut, chopped, yanked, sifted, sorted and cleaned, we realized that a large bulldozer could have cleaned the debris off their lot in a few hours instead of a few days. The way we did it was physically very labor-intensive and inefficient, but it was actually much more powerful: it helped Sherman and Linda get started on a job that seemed almost impossible, it showed them that some people cared who had no agenda, and it gave them a chance to salvage small but meaningful pieces of their lives. Most important, it gave them a measure of control of their lives, as we asked them what things they wanted to keep.
There is a story you may have heard about a young man walking along a beach. He comes upon an older man throwing starfish, left by the receding tide, back into the ocean. “Hey, mister, there must be thousands of starfish on this beach. What difference does it make if you throw some back?” As he bent and threw another one, the older man said, “It makes a difference to this one!”
The Gulf Coast has experienced so much destruction that it will take many years to restore, and the places and people’s lives will never be the same. In the face of such a daunting reconstruction job, it would be easy to get discouraged, unless you had seen the hope on the faces of a Mississippi carpenter and waitress because some people came to help in the name of Jesus. | to the area. |
