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Hands on Opportunity for Katrina Relief
Dec. 14, 2005
John Fever, a former YWAM staff and friend, reports on their Katrina work in Mississippi and highlights opportunities for additional teams!. (Allan Robbins)
Blocks and blocks of debris where houses once stood. Reinforced-concrete bridges washed out. Images flash by on the TV screen, and our natural response is to change the channel or shake our heads in amazement and just move on with life.
For those in the middle of the chaos, moving on with life is a very difficult path to take.
From December 8-11, a small team of people from Long Branch Covenant Church in Long Branch, NJ traveled to Mobile, Alabama, and from there visited and worked in nearby Gulf Coast communities. We went under the auspices of Christian Outreach International (COI), which is one of the few agencies still working in the areas of Alabama and Mississippi that were ravaged by Hurricane Katrina.
Our coordinator, Scott Wood, COI’s Gulf Coast Regional Director, took us to Bayou la Batre on the first day and introduced us to a “mud-out”. This involved literally shoveling out a layer of mud, water-soaked house contents, and moldy sheet rock and paneling from a home which had been inundated by over 9 feet of water, wearing face masks to protect us from the bacteria. This is the first step for that homeowner, who must now plan to use tens of gallons of bleach to kill the remaining mold, replace electrical and plumbing, then install and paint sheet rock, doors, and so forth, finally replacing all the furniture in the house.
The next day, we worked on another home in Bayou la Batre. This home had most of the floor joists exposed, and we divided into sub-teams. Some helped with installing sub-flooring. Some tore down all the ceiling tiles, behind which we found moldy asbestos insulation, and even a shirt. One of our team is a professional electrician, and he worked on replacing the main electrical panel for the house. Others went to a nearby FEMA trailer park and distributed food, clothing and supplies there.
When Bill Clinton visited Bayou la Batre after Katrina hit, he encouraged the town of just under 2500 residents to form Community Action Teams to assess and prioritize the needs. We had the privilege one morning of mingling with the local volunteers in that program and encouraging them. Our work at the two homes were guided by their canvassing work.
The last full day there, we went back to the second home to do more work, and then headed to Biloxi, Mississippi to view the damage, meet residents, and do more distribution. We all were stunned at how extensive the damage was, and how slowly the restoration process is progressing. Much of that slowness is due to an effort by the casino industry to rezone major chunks of the city as commercial property to enable condominiums and on-shore casinos to be built there. This effort is being aided by the two factors: first, the laws were conveniently changed post-Katrina to allow casinos to be on-shore; secondly, we learned that local authorities are making it very difficult for homeowners to hold on to their property and restore it to livable conditions, while offering low prices on the land from which the condemned house has been removed.
We were struck by many things during our time in the Gulf Coast, but two stand out. First, the resiliency and courage of the residents was remarkable and a testament to the strength of the community and the human spirit in general. They were so open in expressing their gratitude for being alive, and for what we and many others have done for them.
Second, despite reports in the media to “just send money, don’t go down there”, it was painfully obvious that the people don’t simply need money…they need others to come down, roll up their sleeves, and help in practical ways.
We would love to share our experiences with groups in our area. Our desire is to go back at some point next year, and encourage many others to go down as well. The work is overwhelming in scope, but each of us can do our part to bring hope to this devastated region of our country.
John Feaver
2011 Picton St.
Oakhurst, NJ 07755
njfeavers@gmail.com
732-988-1636
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