As I prepared to write this article, I asked myself, "How can it only be nine days since we left for New Orleans?" Twenty-six of us responded to the invitation to participate in the UCC Ohio Conference Disaster Relief Team’s trip to rebuild houses damaged by Katrina.

When we arrived at Bethany UCC near Lebanon, Ohio on Saturday, May 10, 2008 to catch the vans for our trip south, we each had different levels of anticipation, eagerness, and anxiety.

As we returned on May 18, we felt humbled by the experience, had bonded with each other, felt a small sense of accomplishment, and knew our lives had been changed forever.

We were a diverse group. Most were from UCC churches in or near Cincinnati, Dayton, or Columbus, but some were members of other denominations. There were four couples in the group, but eighteen of us had ventured out on our own.

Many different "non-construction" professions were represented, and the carpentry skills ranged from "zero experience" to "expert contractor." Several of us were retired, but many had to take vacation days from their job in order to participate.

As we drove into New Orleans, we got a glimpse of the devastation. On our first work day, we saw a little more and got a closer look, but our real discoveries were made on a guided tour.

First, we could easily see the vast differences in wealth. Many of the homes in the more affluent communities have been completely repaired, while thousands of homes in less affluent communities are either condemned, empty and waiting repair, or gone, with only a concrete slab or a pile of rubble remaining.

Second, Katrina showed no discrimination. Everyone had damage, and the destruction was beyond imagination.

Finally, even more disturbing is the fact there is very little being done in most communities and with most homes. Nearly three years after the hurricane, an unbelievable amount remains to be done. And we found out that as of June 2008 the Red Cross will be out of money.

Perhaps the greatest discovery was that, in the words of one participant, "26 strangers, with a wide range of talents, from different churches, could go to New Orleans as volunteers to rebuild for a week, and they would become a Christ community."

We stayed at St. Paul’s UCC in New Orleans, where we found dormitory accommodations, a great kitchen and large dining area. We learned that, were it not for the UCC relief effort, this church would have closed following Katrina due to the damage and its very small membership. Now, its dual purpose is sustaining the church and serving as home for those who come to help rebuild the area.

Other discoveries, in the participants’ own words:

"We did what we could. We built on others’ work, and there are those who will finish what we started."

"Everyone was like family…the only time we felt like tourists was when we were walking in the French Quarter. Otherwise, we were with family."

"I/we made a difference to three or four families in New Orleans. They and I will forever remember how God worked thorough and among us this week in May 2008."

"It’s humbling."

"Our lives are forever changed."

"I was greatly impacted by the extent of the devastation. Street after street, mile after mile, hundreds—thousands—of homes still waiting to be made ready to welcome back their families."

"Even though I am not a member of the UCC, I did feel at home. Bless all of you."

"I walked out onto the porch where Sam (home owner) was sitting. I remarked about the rain and he replied: ‘And it’s not even hurricane season yet.’"

"PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) is not just a soldier’s misery. Life that brings a Katrina experience is also re-lived repeatedly and drains energy and flattens emotions. Even people helping rebuild your house is not a cure—but it helps! It is a spark of hope, and like a seed planted may bear fruit much later."

"God is still speaking—and those who came to New Orleans and those who prayed for us were listening. May the blessings that we were given, and those that we gave, multiply so all of God’s people may be filled with hope!"

I recently stood in a deserted New Orleans neighborhood, all its buildings marred by the same black water line five feet from the ground. Inside the homes, black mold creeps up the walls. It is one of the places where the water from Lake Pontchartrain intruded.

In East Biloxi, I saw large open areas bordered by sidewalks, scattered with debris and damaged trees. These used to be neighborhoods full of homes before the seawater from Katrina washed them all away.

For miles along I-10 into New Orleans, I passed street after street of empty homes scarred by broken out windows, blue tarp-covered roofs, and the spray painted codes left by searchers looking for those who survived—and those who did not.

There is no electricity, gas or drinkable water. Heaps of possessions molder at the curb. Yards are the gritty brown of salt-burned grass, sand and countless bits of debris, the remnants of several feet of dirty water that stood for days and drove the people out. Some of them may live in the tents that huddle in a nearby city park.

I have walked through a Biloxi shoreline neighborhood of comfortable homes disfigured by gaping holes exposing the rooms inside, like monstrous dollhouses. This is one of the neighborhoods where the storm surge blasted through.

I traveled Highway 90, which follows the beach along the Mississippi coast. I could not describe it better than Shari Prestemon, Director of Back Bay Mission: "The farther west I traveled, toward what had been the eye of the storm…the terrible destruction evolved into absolute annihilation. 

"First there were homes and churches and other structures gutted violently by the power of water but still somehow standing; then there was simply nothing… for mile after mile after mile."

No words or photos can convey the scope of the Gulf Coast devastation. My husband Dail and I visited the area in February, six months after the hurricane. Recovery has certainly begun and some people have started to rebuild, but much of the work we saw was cleanup and demolition, not rebuilding.

There are signs of hope and determination all along the coast. We saw signs spray painted on plywood, propped against piles of rubble: "We’ll rebuild," "We’ll be back," or "We’re still here!"

A flagpole, stuck in the ground next to a concrete slab scattered with the remains of a home, bears two American flags. The top flag is clean and new; red and white stripes shredded into "fringe" flutter from the dirty one below. A storm survivor. The folks who put it there are cleaning up, starting over.

But many Gulf Coast residents face an overwhelming task and years of toil, uncertainty, sorrow and fatigue. We found ourselves wondering how they could face each day. How do you accomplish such a thing?

Our answer—one thing at a time. One house, one wall, one nail. I have read about possible federal rebuilding aid. Insurance checks will help some people. Some will rebuild by draining their savings. But there are thousands of families who have none of these resources. They need other help.

The United Church of Christ and other faith communities are in place for the long haul, providing that help, one person at a time.

Volunteers are essential to these efforts. Back Bay Mission is hosting work groups who live in comfortable, new mobile homes on the BBM campus and are dispatched to neighborhood homes to clean up or begin repairs.

In New Orleans, Alan Coe, the South Central Conference Minister for Disaster Recovery, coordinates the UCC response. Our own Conference Disaster Response Director, Jim Ditzler, and his wife Linda are giving six months of their lives and their considerable talents to assist work groups in the area. Three UCC churches house the volunteers.

We will return to Biloxi for a week in December with others from our church in Westerville. It takes a long time for volunteers to repair a home stripped down to the wall studs after a flood. With so many homes needing so much work, will what we accomplish in a week really make any difference? We believe it will —one volunteer, one nail, one wall at a time.

Unless you look for it, the Gulf Coast devastation is nearly invisible from Ohio, but great need remains and will continue for many years.

If you can go and help, go. If you can’t, support those who can through your local church, the Ohio Conference Disaster Response Ministry, Back Bay Mission, or our national hurricane recovery fund, Hope Shall Bloom. Dollars are always needed, at every level of response — one dollar at a time.

By George Siddall, Disaster Response Team Co-Director

On December 2, 2005 our group of volunteers (nine from Ohio, one from Indiana) gathered at Washington UCC in Cincinnati, to begin the trip to Ocean Springs, Mississippi. Two days of travel (and an overnight stay in a Disciples of Christ church in Birmingham, Alabama) brought the group on December 4 to the C.O.R.E. (Christians Organized for the Relief Effort) Base Camp, on the grounds of the new building of St. Paul United Methodist Church in Ocean Springs.

During our stay, we slept in 10-person tents (most of which were donated by Russia), bathed in either a shower trailer or shower tent, and ate our meals in the church social hall. The food was prepared by a volunteer group from Michigan.

After breakfast each day, more than seventy volunteers and staff gathered in the sanctuary for devotions, received our assignments for the day from the team leaders, then spent the rest of the day trying to bring hurricane-damaged houses back to livable condition.

Some of our team installed insulation and dry wall, then replaced metal electric outlet and switch boxes that had been corroded by the salt water.

Others rewired two double-wide mobile homes with a single roof-over with an addition, where a grandmother and mother were raising foster children. Still others worked at tear out, clean-up, and sanitizing another home.

On the last two days, three of our members rehabbed the deck at the home of a couple who had spent the first four weeks after the hurricane as volunteers at St. Paul Church. They handled donations and volunteers, answered phones and did whatever else had to be done in the initial response.

On December 7, we went to Back Bay Mission in Biloxi and visited with Executive Director, Shari Prestemon, and some of her staff about their plans and needs for recovery.

Our tour of Biloxi was eye-opening and depressing. We saw block after block where houses had been bulldozed and replaced by a FEMA trailer or two sitting next to driveways that had once led to homes.

We returned home on December 10 and 11 (staying overnight at a Disciples of Christ church in Nashville, Tennessee), feeling fulfilled and blessed by the experience.

Trip participants were Burt Badenhop, Indianapolis; Dave Bucey, Cincinnati; Karl Bucey, Youngstown; Patty DiGiacobbe, Brookfield; Jim Ditzler, Wooster; Nancy Matthew, Cincinnati; Gary and Terry Mennell, Medina; George Siddall, Lebanon; and Michelle White, Cincinnati. Patty, Jim, and George are members of the Disaster Response Ministry Team.

Back Bay Mission started accepting volunteers to work on hurricane recovery in Biloxi in the first week of January. For inquiries and to volunteer, contact Peg Jacobs at 228.432.0301. Donations may be sent to1012 Division Street, Biloxi, Mississippi, 39530. Updates are on Back Bay’s website: www.backbaymission.com.

We urge you to consider Back Bay as a priority for your mission trips, because it will take a minimum of three or four years for recovery.

  
October 2005

Ohio Conference Disaster Response Team members are working with other relief agencies to mobilize responses to the catastrophes on the Gulf Coast.

"We have had many calls, offers of help and donations. People all over the Conference are preparing to help. We are very grateful for every response, and we are working to help organize them effectively."

"Several of our churches are already planning work trips to the Gulf Coast next summer," said George Siddall, co-director of the Ohio Conference Disaster Response Team.

If your congregation is interested in sending volunteers to a Gulf Coast community, the Disaster Response Team can help you.

• Begin by assembling a work group and identifying a leader.  

• Contact Jim Ditzler, 330.262.3242 or George Siddall, 513.228-0515.  They are working with relief organizations on the Gulf Coast.  They can help you organize a trip.

• Please consider collecting basic building materials to take along. Plywood, drywall, nails, lumber and other common materials probably will be hard to get in the area for months to come.

• Remember that Gulf Coast residents will need help rebuilding their homes for years.  Thousands of families will be living in trailers, tents, or crowded in with relatives for a very long time because they do not have the means or skills to repair their homes.

The Ohio Conference Disaster Response Team is committed to the long-term recovery and rebuilding effort needed in situations like this.

Your members can make a visible, tangible difference to families who are trying to rebuild their lives but who need some outside help.