January 2006 - Gulf Coast Mission Trip
Our congregation joined with St. John Lutheran Church,
Algonquin, for the January 13-21 mission trip to the Gulf Coast. The
team of 22 people (15 from St. John and 7 from St. Matthew) worked
through Lutheran Church Charities in planning the trip.
The following is a journal of the team’s experiences:
Thursday, January 12–The team members met in
the parking lot at St. John to pack. Every team member had a 58-quart
plastic bin for clothes, a garbage bag for a pillow and sleeping bag,
and a bucket for tools. The team also took a variety of larger equipment–a
generator, ladders, saws, and more.
Friday, January 13–Following prayer, the caravan
of five vehicles left St. John headed for Hernando, Mississippi, our
overnight stop. The first unit of two vans and a pick-up truck needed
12 hours to reach Hernando because of the snow in Central Illinois.
The fire engine and fifth vehicle took 14½ hours to travel
that distance.
The fire engine was a 1979 pumper which was donated
by the Fox River Grove Fire Protection District to a rural fire department
in south central Louisiana, Vermillion Parish, 7th Ward at Abbeville,
Louisiana. This department lost their engine in the hurricane.
Hernando United Methodist Church housed and fed the
team Friday night. This congregation hosts relief teams traveling
to and from the coast.
Saturday, January 14–It was a beautiful day
to complete the trip. The team arrived at Base Camp Atonement on the
grounds of Atonement Lutheran Church in Metairie, Louisiana. The folks
from Vermillion Parish met us at the camp and signed the papers to
receive the fire engine.
The camp consists of four large tents which are dormitories,
mess hall, and storage. Seth and Jessica run the camp for Lutheran
Disaster Relief. Phil is chief cook and the food was excellent. Facilities
also include a line of “porta-potties” and a trailer which
contains the showers.
Sunday, January 15–After eight o’clock
church at Atonement, the team crossed to the West Bank area, to the
town of Westwego. Here they set to work replacing the roof on Cheryl
and Mike’s house. While their house did not flood, the roof
had been damaged by tree limbs during the hurricane. The old shingles
had to be stripped off and the plywood had to be patched and completely
renailed before new tar paper and shingles could be put in place.
Monday, January 16–Part of the team returned
to the roof in Westwego. With a threat of rain coming on Tuesday,
the team worked until dark, but finished the roof.
Some of the team members joined Les and Pat, a couple
from Nebraska to work on LuChristia’s house. After nearly three
weeks of work the house still needed painting and other work done
so that she could move back in.
Tuesday, January 17–Today we had a Louisiana
monsoon. Base Camp Atonement was turned into “Camp Quagmire.”
There was mud everywhere.
The painters returned to LuChristia’s house,
but the majority of the team got a new assignment–gutting or
“mucking out” Denise’s home.
Denise and her family lived only a couple of blocks from the 17th
Street Canal. When the levee broke about seven blocks north of the
house, water 12 feet deep filled the neighborhood. Very little could
be salvaged in the house–a water-soaked wedding album, a commemorative
plate, and a stock certificate.
Because of the mold problems, the team donned yellow hazard suits,
respirators, boots, and rubber gloves. Wheelbarrow by wheelbarrow,
everything in the house including drywall and flooring had to come
out. The small mountain of debris on the parkway started to build.
Wednesday, January 18–More of the same. The
painters went on painting. LuChristia’s house was getting closer
and closer to completion. The crew at Denise’s house kept up
their unending procession of wheelbarrow loads to the parkway. The
bathrooms were a major challenge. This was a very well-built home.
There was metal lath and one-inch of cement behind the tile in the
two bathrooms.
Thursday, January 19–Still more of the same.
At the painting site, Pat, the woman from Nebraska, fell and dislocated
her shoulder. After a doctor’s visit, she was on the mend. The
painters continued to work toward finishing LuChristia’s house.
At Denise’s house, the team was finishing the
gutting job. Much of today was devoted to removing two cast iron bathtubs
and pulling all the old drywall nails. At the end of the afternoon
the house was fully gutted and it received its first spraying of bleach
and water to kill the mold.
Friday, January 20–Two members of the team
from St. John stayed behind to finish LuChristia’s house. There
was only a little more to do. The rest of the team packed up their
tools and belongings for the trip home.
Before leaving New Orleans, the team visited the
“Lower 9th Ward.” It is a “ghost town” of
badly damaged homes. The moldy smell which we found in Denise’s
house pervades this entire area.
The team returned to Hernando United Methodist Church
for supper and the overnight stay. Once again they were gracious hosts.
Saturday. January 21–Today the team pressed
for home. Ten hours and 650 miles later they reached St. John, unpacked,
and made their way back to their families.
Closing thoughts–The trip demonstrated how
two congregations can work cooperatively on a project. The relationship
between the St. John and St. Matthew people could not have been better.
The entire trip was guided by prayer. The team would
especially like to thank their prayer partners.
We made a very small improvement in a tragic situation,
but there is a fire department which now has an engine, one less house
which has a blue tarp roof, one more house which is gutted, and one
woman who can move back into her home.
It was great to work cooperatively with so many people
from so many places on this project. Base Camp Atonement was populated
by people from Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Ohio, North
Carolina, Missouri, and Illinois. Our understanding of “brothers
and sisters in Christ” was very evident.
Even more important than the help the team brought
to people was the message of hope we were able to share by our words
and actions. The New Orleans area is desperately in need of hope.
If there is to be a rebirth of the New Orleans area, it will have
to depend on church groups and other volunteers. They are people who
have demonstrated an ability to make a difference.
Thank you to all the members of St. Matthew
for their support of this project–their prayers, their encouragement,
and their dollars. Together we do this to the glory of God and in
the service of those in need
