Building Faith in New Orleans:

A team from Minnesota is one of several church groups that have traveled to the Gulf Coast to do relief work.

Originally Published in the 19-JAN-2006 issue of the Minnesota Christian Chronicle
www.mcchronicle.com

After a 23 hour drive to Louisiana, the team of hurricane relief workers from Bridgewood Community Church in Blaine were looking to unwind. Before they had a chance to unpack, however, the volunteers from Minnesota were being shown pictures of the destruction in New Orleans’ 9th Ward.

The owner of the pictures, himself a volunteer from New Jersey, said “this place affects everyone that comes here to help.” As he flipped to a photograph of a house that had floated on top of a car, he said he wished someone had taken him aside when he’d first arrived and prepared him for the shock that was to come.

By “this place,” the New Jersey volunteer meant the dozens of square miles of devastation that is now most of New Orleans. For a group of Minnesotans accustomed to relatively contained disasters like tornadoes, it was a shock.

At first glance, it seemed little clean-up or repair had been done in New Orleans since the floodwaters were pumped out. All kinds of debris, including cars, boats, and appliances, were littered along roads throughout the city. Thousands of homes and businesses sat empty, large sections of Greater New Orleans still had no electricity, and parts of the city were waiting for a bulldozer.

Yet in the midst of this bleak, almost surreal landscape, volunteers for Christian relief agencies are making an impact. Not only are residents finding help starting the long process of renovating their homes, many shaken people are also renewing their faith or finding faith in Christ for the first time.

The team of 5 volunteers from Bridgewood had come to do relief work through Samaritan’s Purse, which has set up operations in Gretna, just across the Mississippi River from New Orleans.

“The Mayor of Gretna invited us to come here,” explained Kyle Smith, the Samaritan’s Purse Volunteer Coordinator for the New Orleans relief effort. “He offered us the free use of their community center. Samaritan’s Purse expects to remain in New Orleans for at least another year.”

The agency is currently sharing space with staff and volunteers from the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA). The two groups are working together to minister to flood victims throughout the Gulf Coast region.

Volunteers have come from over 30 states and provinces to help. In addition to the relief workers from New Jersey, the team from Minnesota met people from Washington, British Columbia, California, Colorado, Indiana, Virginia, and Pennsylvania.

Though the 5 relief workers had expected to clear fallen trees and repair roofs, they realized that the greater need in New Orleans is for teams to do “mudouts.” Jim Anbro, a pilot for Northwest Airlines and a member of the Minnesota group, said a mudout is a “fun way of talking about gutting a house down to the studs.” The goal of a mudout is to eliminate the mold that is flourishing in a flood-soaked building and let the frame of the house dry out.

Smith said that “when people return to their homes for the first time and see all their belongings ruined and covered by mold, they often feel hopeless and overwhelmed. After the home is gutted, the turnaround is startling. They can see some light and their gratitude just pours out, often with tears. Dozens and dozens of people here have become Christians. According to the Billy Graham Association, the total is over 1000, with more finding Christ everyday.”
One person who has seen his faith increase is Sergeant Don Harris of the New Orleans Police Department.

Harris was one of the six dozen or so officers trying to keep order among 30,000 people stranded in the Superdome in the days after Katrina plowed ashore. “We were an island,” he said of their predicament at the Superdome, “People were complaining to me that no one was doing anything for them, and I remember thinking that ‘I’m in the same situation you are. My house is probably flooded. My family doesn’t know if I’m even alive. I can’t call them, but I’m here trying to protect you and keep order.’ A lot of the officers were overwhelmed and quit, but I think the good Lord blessed me and made me stronger through it all.”

It was Harris’ turn to get some help. His house was the first dwelling that the Minnesota team gutted. The mold inside was so extensive that the relief workers wore gas masks. It took them 2 1/2 days to strip the house down to the 2x4s. When they were finished, an eight foot pile of furniture, appliances, clothes, household items, and soggy drywall covered the front yard and spilled into the street.

In New Orleans, Samaritan’s Purse is currently giving priority to police officers, “mudding out” their homes first. Members of the New Orleans Police Department (N.O.P.D), the Orleans Parish Civil Sheriff, and a few other departments are now either sleeping in their police precincts or on one of two contracted cruise ships anchored near downtown. All the officers are working 12 hour shifts and seeing their families every 2nd or 3rd weekend.

For the team of relief workers, Harris’ gratitude was one of the most rewarding aspects of the trip. He was deeply moved by the fact that people would come all the way from “cold” Minnesota to help someone they had never met before.

The team also gutted the house of N.O.P.D. officer Randi Gray, who was living on the same cruise ship as Harris. Gray’s six year-old daughter was staying with grandparents in Birmingham, Alabama.

While working on Harris’ and Gray’s homes, members of the group also talked to neighbors and even a few building inspectors. The volunteers saw people returning to their homes for the first time and walking around almost aimlessly, as if in a daze. The neighbors the relief workers met wanted to tell their stories about what they had experienced. They were open to receiving both prayer and a Bible.

Kevin, one of the BGEA staff members, said that “there are more people sharing Christ now in New Orleans at one time than ever before, and people are responding.”

Action Box

Samaritan’s Purse Web site: www.samaritanspurse.org/Volunteer_Index.asp. Phone: (828) 262-1980. Samaritan’s Purse continues to need volunteers. Construction experience is helpful but not necessary. They are looking for teams of 5-15 people. Besides New Orleans, the agency is working at three sites in Mississippi, one in Texas, and one in Florida.

Billy Graham Evangelistic Association Web site: www.billygraham.org/RapidResponse_VolunteerInfo.asp. Phone: The BGEA is looking for chaplains, counselors, pastors, or ministry leaders to volunteer for their Rapid Response Teams. For the most part, these teams work alongside of Samaritan’s Purse volunteers.

Salvation Army Web site: www.uss.salvationarmy.org/uss/www_uss.nsf. The Salvation Army is looking for volunteers for a variety of needs in the Gulf Coast region. They are ministering at both disaster and evacuee sites.