For most of us Hurricane Katrina is a distant memory and already relegated to the pages of history, but for many on the southern coast of this country the effects of that violent storm, and the devastating events that it triggered, are still very much a part of everyday life.
On Thursday afternoon, February 12, seven energetic folks met in the church parking lot, loaded a van with sleeping gear, clothes and tools and headed for Mississippi. This was the fifth mission trip made by our church to lend a hand to folks still struggling to rebuilt their homes and lives on the storm ravaged Gulf Coast. We arrived at Community Presbyterian Church in Diamondhead, MS late in the evening, opened our sleeping bags onto air mattresses in cabins that were reminiscent of summer camp and slept. Friday morning, bright and early, we were up and ready for our assignments.
Our days were spent helping 2 families still trying to put their lives back together. Greg and Barbie Skuse currently live in a "Mississippi Cottage", their second generation FEMA trailer. Barbie was trapped in their damaged A-frame house, with her neighbor, for three days. When her son and his crew finally cut through the twisted trees and debris that blocked her long driveway,
expecting the worst, he brought body bags. Fortunately they were not necessary. Barbie is a small, spunky Cajun woman who had prepared to weather a typical hurricane with bottled water, candles and canned food. Living 20 miles from the coast she did not expect, and could not have anticipated, the tidal surge that caused the shallow, sandy bottom creek 75 feet from her home to flow backwards and to rise more than 30 feet from it's normal depth of 4-6 inches. White caps lapped against her deck, a tree plowed through her roof and the house was tilted on its foundation while she huddled inside. Greg was working in another state when the storm hit, but has since had open-heart surgery, coming home to a cramped FEMA camper trailer to recuperate. Complications from the surgery have affected his speech and ability to organize his thoughts, and restrict his activities.
Much of our time was spent renovating to their small A-Frame home and making a smaller corrugated metal building, vacant for many years, habitable for Barbie's 80 year-old mother, who lost her house in New Orleans to the wind and water of the storm.
John Gillispe was our leader, using his considerable experience and skills to replace small doors with large ones to meet codes and to fit other 'square pegs into round holes' to make these old and damaged structures livable. The work called for no small amount of ingenuity and many 'make-do' solutions. Paul Roark spent his days replacing and improving the electrical system in the A-frame. Mark Garey and Lee Greathouse helped with that task and also put down tile under a small wood stove that will provide heat for the house.
Bill Caruso, Lee Greathouse and I spent our time caulking, sanding and painting windows and doors in the small corrugated metal building that will become home for an elderly lady.
We also helped to put the finishing touches on a new house for a man still living in a shelter. Using his own resources, contributions from the Salvation Army and volunteer labor from groups like ours, he and his family will have a permanent home on the site of his house trailer that had been water and wind damaged and vandalized. We never met this family, but felt good knowing that our
efforts helped to provide a home for them after having been displaced for nearly five years.
On Saturday night we were joined by a group Old Order Amish man and women who had traveled twenty-four hours, on a bus, from Pennsylvania to help their neighbors in Mississippi. Spending time with these caring and capable folks was an added blessing and offered us another experience and an opportunity to learn from a different culture. We all worshiped together Sunday Morning at Diamondhead Presbyterian Church.
As is usually the case, we received much more than we were able to give and were reminded of old truths about what is really important in life…faith, family, and friends. As we considered at the Spartan living conditions of the people we went to help we realized, once again, how fortunate we are, how much we have and how much we could live without. The survivors we met were not nearly so concerned with the possessions that had been lost as with the stories about survival…the fortitude and courage of the people who had weathered the storm. The human spirit that allows us to meet and stand up to adversity is a marvelous gift from God.
The wisdom of John Donne, expressed in an old folk song, keeps rattling around in my head as I consider the experiences of our Presidents' Day weekend mission trip to Mississippi… sharing a worship service with our Amish friends and the congregants at Community Church and working together with members of my own church to help our neighbors:
No man is an island, no man stands alone
Each man's joy is joy to me
Each man's grief is my own
We need one another, so I will defend
Each man as my brother
Each man as my friend
Please continue to pray for our brothers and sisters of Mississippi.
2009 Hurricane Relief Mission Team Members: Bill Caruso, Susan Doughty, Mark Garey, John Gillespie, Elizabeth Greathouse, Lee Greathouse, and Paul Roark.
