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March 19, 2007
Katrina Disaster Relief, Part II
(This is Part II of a lengthy blog entry. Click here to see Part I of this post if it is not immediately above.)
Friday, 16 March:
Several of us had been getting anxious that we'd been down in Louisiana working for four days and that we hadn't yet seen New Orleans itself, though our wonderful time with Mrs. Lee had alleviated some of those feelings. "Super Friday" took care of all of that though, with scheduled activities in the heart of the Crescent City. We packed up all of our stuff so that we wouldn't have to return to Trinity Church when we were done, and headed across the 24-mile Lake Ponchartrain Causeway to Castle Rock Community Church, an inner-city church near the Garden District that has teamed up with Trinity Church for the EFCA Disaster Relief ministries (in addition to teams of people being based out of Trinity for a week of volunteering, other teams stay at Castle Rock).
What Super Friday consists of is all the teams from both Castle Rock and Trinity getting together to do street cleaning in the neighborhoods around Castle Rock, which translated this particular week into nearly 300 volunteers. Each group of about ten people is given a 5-block stretch to clean. We're not allowed to pick up trash from private property, so we're only able to clean up from sidewalk to street, and then on the street itself as well. 
All the volunteers are also given white "I (heart) N.O." t-shirts to wear, so that they're easily visible and identifiable in the community. Since this ministry has been going on for over a year, everyone from around there knows that we're from Castle Rock and that we're there to pick up trash. We were assigned to clean a stretch of Washington Ave starting at Martin Luther King Jr Blvd, 
and ironically it was the same stretch of street that Glenn had cleaned on his trip down there on one of his previous two trips. As we were cleaning quite a few of the cars that drove by honked and waved at us, so it was nice to know that we were appreciated by the residents. Because of a bunch of extra cheering/motivation-type stuff at Castle Rock after we arrived there, we didn't actually get to our street cleaning site until about 11am, which was slightly frustrating.
The street really wasn't too bad, for the most part it was just litter that we were picking up. There were some houses that still hadn't been touched since the hurricane, but there were some that were clearly being lived in and at least kind of taken care of. We were all ready to be intentional and get out and meet some of the residents while we were cleaning, 
and hopefully share the Gospel too, so I was disappointed when we really didn't see anybody out walking or sitting on their porches for the first hour. By the time noon rolled around, I was cleaning a section of street with Mike, and then we saw a lady across the street, sitting on her porch and smoking a cigarette. Mike walked right over there as soon as we saw her, and I just finished collecting a couple handfuls of trash before I walked over.
Beatrice is a 62-year old retired tutor/teacher, and is a really cool lady. She started telling us her story about when Hurricane Katrina hit. Once the water started rising the morning after the hurricane, they were able to gather some food from the first floor before they had to retreat to the second floor. She said the fact they had an upstairs floor is what saved them, because at its highest point the water was nearly up to the ceiling on their first floor, before settling at a depth of about six feet above the sidewalk. She and her husband, who is a minister, and a few other people eventually managed to get up onto the roof, where they had to wait for three days to be rescued by National Guard helicopter. Fortunately they had enough food with them that they didn't run out until the night before their rescue, and the rescue would've come sooner if it weren't for a mess of power lines in their area. Also, when she was grabbing some food she managed to stuff a little pouch with her ID and house key into her pocket, which really came in handy when they were evacuated to Texarkana and when they eventually came back.
She and her husband had managed to purchase a used car in Texarkana, and came back to New Orleans in December 2005, if I recall correctly. They didn't have much, but she said that this was home, and that God is good and would provide. Right now they're only subsisting on her husband's social security checks, so they don't really have money to save up to fix the house. She did have a retirement fund, but used most of that up to take care of her ailing mother some time before the hurricane struck. Beatrice also had the amazing perspective that they really didn't have it quite so bad, because they at least had a roof over their heads (albeit leaky), and some food to eat (although nothing spectacular). They had to get rid of everything on the first floor, though it's still only partially gutted. One side of their roof had suffered a tremendous amount of damage, and all the water had weakened the structural integrity of the upstairs rooms on that side that it's still not safe to go into those rooms. Now the other side of the roof is really starting to leak though, and that's a problem. They'd been told they were approved for some sort of loan, but then never heard from that agency again. They've tried calling the Army Corps of Engineers repeatedly to have them put a tarp over the roof, at least as a stopgap measure until they can find a more permanent fix for the roof, but they've never come, despite saying several times that they would. At that time Mary (Liz's mother, and a staff worker at Trinity Church) walked up when she saw Mike & I were talking with Beatrice. That was really good, because Mary had a much better idea of what other resources were available, and was in a much better position to get her contact information later for an organization that might be able to help, whether it's Trinity/Castle Rock/EFCA, a Presbyterian aid group, or some other organization. We all prayed with her, and she thanked us for being such an encouragement to her. She said she had been just restless earlier in the morning, and felt like God was wanting her to go sit outside for a bit. And then we all came by and had a chat with her. That was totally a God thing, on both sides, for her to come out to her porch and for us to be assigned that street and then to go talk to her.
That wasn't all though. Right after that she showed us into her house (by this point Glenn and Matt had also come up and joined in our conversation with her), and it was reasonably large for that part of the city. The whole first floor had been opened up, and actually was the home of a Baptist church that her husband pastored. The church was founded way back in 1927, and at one point had 150 members before Wal-Mart came in, forcing the church and a whole bunch of residents off their property. Then the church moved to their house after that, but got significantly smaller, and gradually got smaller yet because people grew weary of taking the bus there, until Katrina came and scattered all who were left. What we saw of the first floor was in bad shape, but it apparently was better than it was when they first came back. The hurricane destroyed their organ, all the pews, the tile floor, the ceiling, walls, the kitchen sink & appliances, basically everything.
Then we went back outside and she had us meet a couple of her neighbors, including one man who recognized Glenn from the previous time he was cleaning that street a few months ago, which was cool. By this time her husband had also come back from wherever he was, so we got to meet him. Beatrice was excitedly telling him about us and that we might be able to get them some help for their roof. He didn't say much for awhile, but I did see a couple of tears well up in his eyes as she was telling him. 
So we all continued talking to all of them for awhile, when the Castle Rock hot dog truck rolled up with free lunch for all of us volunteers and whoever from the community was around. A couple other Trinity staff workers were on the truck, and Mary told them about Beatrice and the reverend's home and church, and they were walking around taking some pictures, and trying to figure out what could be done to help. Since it's also a church, Mary thinks that it might be able to be made a priority, since that would be an even greater benefit to the community around there to have that church back. We're praying that that can happen, that their house and church can be fixed.
After the hot dog truck (and then an ice cream truck!) left we stayed around for a little bit longer, until close to 2pm, when those of us from our group prayed with Beatrice, her husband and her neighbors. After a couple minutes the man who Glenn knew saw us praying and came running up to join us too. :-) I was once again moved to tears as everyone was praying, especially the reverend. I'd talked a little bit with him earlier, but nobody else had really heard him speak until this marvelous prayer flowed from his lips. It was quiet and somewhat muffled by a passing truck, but it was powerful, passionate and eloquent. We were all amazed and moved by it, and we all found ourselves saying "Amen!" throughout it.
So as a team we'd only gotten about two blocks cleaned out of the five we were assigned, but that was more than okay because of the connections we made (Jack and some others had made connections with some people around the corner from Beatrice). After all, everything about this ministry is about the people and not the actual work. And even though we had just met these people, and had talked with Beatrice for two hours (and the others for less time than that), we felt a tremendous connection with them, and found it hard to leave.
Our whole team decided it was time to wrap up street cleaning, so we went back to Castle Rock to return our tools, and then headed out for the Ninth Ward before starting our drive back home. 
The destruction in the Ninth Ward is still immense. House after broken house is still uninhabited, with spraypaint on the walls indicating the dates the house was searched (when the water was high, and then after the waters receded), 
what organization searched it, and how many dead people and animals were found inside. And even though there were still a very large number of dilapidated houses that were most likely due to be bulldozed, those were the good ones. 
The *really* badly damaged houses had already been bulldozed, and so there were large open fields in the middle of the Ninth Ward. All that was left of these houses were the cement steps leading up to what was once the porch, with the address spraypainted onto the steps. 
It was very powerful and poignant to see this motif repeated over and over again, to know that every one of those stoops used to be a house where people lived. There were occasional piles of stuff next to these home sites, piles of old chairs, bicycles, 
toys and other items that were symbols of the life that was once in that place, and a memory to it. I took a ton of pictures there in the Ninth Ward, but none of them can possibly do it justice. 
Seeing really is believing, and no amount of pictures in newspapers or on the TV can really prepare you for seeing it in person, and seeing the desolation and destruction all around you in every direction as far as you can see, except for the stark cement wall of the levee that broke 
(and will break again someday, no doubt), which stretches in a straight line as far as you can see. Only God knows where all those people are, whether they died in their homes with the flood or whether they managed to survive, only to be scattered to some other place, but I don't foresee that anyone will be moving back to the Ninth Ward ever again.
As we were leaving New Orleans we were noticing that even though there still is a lot of destruction around, there are signs of hope. Glenn noticed that there are far more newly built or renovated houses and structures throughout the city, and that there are far more people around now. New Orleans still has a long way to go, but after 18 months there are growing signs of hope.
We got stuck in traffic on I-10 between New Orleans and Slidell, due to road construction and a car accident. Double whammy. So when it took us an hour to travel two miles (which gave us a feel for how it must have been like when everyone was trying to evacuate before Katrina made landfall), we decided we were all way too tired (both physically and emotionally) to make it to Fort Payne, Alabama, where we had reservations. So we called and cancelled our resos, and managed to make it to Tuscaloosa by 10:30, when we had all decided we'd had enough, and just wanted a warm shower and a real bed.
Saturday, 17 March:
We hit the road on Saint Patrick's Day bright and early at 7am (ugh), and managed to get back to State College right at midnight (ugh). There was plenty to make time fly though, including a fireworks stop in Tennessee, a rousing game of "My Cow" played over the walkie-talkies between vehicles in Virginia (Mike & I in the jeep, Chris & Max in the van), and then a good long stretch of listening to "Prairie Home Companion" on Virginia Public Radio. Again we all took our turns driving so we could take turns sleeping throughout the day, but we also had plenty of good conversation. That's another thing I really enjoyed about this trip, in addition to connecting with people in Louisiana, we really connected with and learned a lot about each other. Before the trip I really didn't know anyone. By the end I got to know everyone pretty well, though, but I felt like I especially got to know Mike really well, so that was cool.
We were really tired by the end, though. It was also quite cold and windy in the when we were unloading stuff from the u-haul, jeep and van to our own vehicles. Talk about a rude "welcome home" after experiencing temps in the 70s all week down in Louisiana! Fortunately Mike's mom and sister were kind enough to scrape the snow off of all our cars earlier in the day so that we wouldn't have to dig out late at night too. I was quite glad about that since I only had a light spring jacket to go over my t-shirt, and no hat or gloves. I didn't exactly anticipate old man winter awaking from a coma when I was packing for the trip. Anyway, Matt wound up staying at my place overnight, since his wife was still down in Philly with their van because of the snowstorm, and so he had no way to get home or to get to work on campus in the morning. And as tired as we all were, several of us still made it to church in the morning. Not the 9am service though. ;-)
Overall impressions/other reflections:
I'm really glad that I chose to go down to Louisiana during spring break for Katrina cleanup. I've been thinking about a few words to describe the week. Eye-opening. Stretching. Challenging. Tiring. Fellowshipping. Valuable. Encouraging.
My expectations were different in many ways from what actually happened, partly because we were roofing and building instead of gutting and tearing down. And then because we really only met other Christians down there, we didn't have the chance to spread the Gospel to non-believers that we thought we would. But God showed us that He's sovereign over everything, with all the little things that He took care of and showed us during the week. He also taught us that whatever our expectations might be, He has a better plan, because each of the people that we ran into, including Mrs. Lee and her neighbors, & Beatrice, the Reverend and their neighbors, needed to be edified and encouraged, and God chose us to be the instruments to accomplish that. I expected that we'd get to meet several people down there, but I didn't expect to become so emotionally attached and invested in their situations so quickly. We may not have understood why we were sent to Mrs. Lee's house right away, since it didn't seem as devastated as what we were expecting, but as the week wore on it became clear that God wanted us to be there. And then after an hour it became clear why we were assigned to clean that particular street in the central city.
This is the first disaster that the EFCA has responded to. When they started out, they had no materials, no tools, no infrastructure, no organizers, no volunteers. But all the tools, supplies, and people that are there now were provided by God, He has moved people to donate everything, their money, tools and time. So now that they have an organizational infrastructure in place, I'm optimistic that they'll be able to respond more quickly, nimbly and efficiently to other disasters that will inevitably strike our nation. Hopefully the next major hurricane or natural disaster won't siphon everyone away from all the work that remains in and around New Orleans, but will instead inspire even more people to volunteer wherever it's needed. It's easy to volunteer money, but volunteering your time is far more valuable, if there's an organization in place where you can plug in and help.
God is definitely at work down on the Gulf Coast. Regardless of whether God sent the hurricane as some sort of judgment on the city of New Orleans (though, to be fair, any place with humanity there deserves His judgment), or whether He simply allowed it to happen, He is turning it to His perfect will. Church organizations, across a wide swath of denominations, are pretty much the only groups down there still doing volunteer work (Habitat for Humanity is a notable exception of a secular group still doing lots of good work down there), long after Katrina has left the front pages and top stories of the news. By working through His Church and volunteers down there, believers and non-believers alike are being encouraged, both the volunteers like us that go down there and the residents that are slowly coming back to the area, and the Gospel is being spread. The people who are moving back are exactly the type of people whom you'd want to build a community around. The people we met are tough as nails and have a strong Christian faith. The fact that they can still praise God even after everything that's happened to them is a powerful testimony, and really makes me think about how much I've been blessed, even when I'm going through what I perceive to be difficulties. I would definitely love to go back at some point on another volunteer trip to help the people of New Orleans (or to do something similar closer to home), and I would really encourage everyone to consider doing the same. You won't regret it.
Posted by Jared at March 19, 2007 10:55 PM
Comments
Great brief sum up. Its funny that you wrote so much and there is still so much to say.
Posted by: Mike at March 23, 2007 12:02 PM
You're so right on that. I just hope that I won't forget about the things that I didn't get around to mentioning here.
Posted by: Jared at March 25, 2007 05:57 PM