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Heritage
Presbyterian Sends Fourth Group
to Gulf Coast for Hurricane Rebuilding
(click image to enlarge)
Back row:
Mark Baggett, Rich Lalley,
Jon Riley, Dave Anson.
Front: Mindy Stopfel and Karen Riley.
Heritage previously sent hurricane
relief teams to the Gulf in November, 2005 (Orange Grove), March 2006
(Houma, LA) and October 2006 (Orange Grove).
"We consider this a long-term care
commitment by the church," says Jon Riley, co-chair of Heritage's
Mission Committee. "The Katrina damage is so extensive, especially in
the Gulfport area served by the Orange Grove camp, that PDA expects to
be there another five or six years. Thousands of people are leading
catch-as-catch-can lives, unable to move back into their
homes. They're literally displaced persons who see the media
and government losing interest in their cause. We can give
them help and hope that they're not forgotten."
This is the second PDA trip
for Jon and third for Mindy. She was excited at the
opportunity to actually do repair and rebuilding this time.
First came "mucking out," she notes. "You remove the mud and
everything that's water-damaged, really just strip the house down to
the bare studs so it can dry. Only then can you start to
rebuild."
Besides supplying rebuilding labor, the
Heritage volunteers took with them $3000 in Lowe's gift cards purchased
out of the Mission Tithe of the Building Fund. The team used
the cards to purchase building supplies and material and left unspent
cards behind for use by the PDA camp.
Heritage's first work team took $1500
worth of tools to the Gulf, including a portable generator for
operating power tools, in addition to Lowe's cards. This was
in the early days after Katrina hit, and volunteers couldn't
depend on stores being stocked. The Heritage team left its
tools behind, as did other churches, to quickly equip the PDA
camp.
The first team also brought back of
reports of hurricane victims unprepared for incoming cold
weather. Heritage partnered with a Northern Kentucky church
to purchase 120 sleeping bags that were rush shipped from the
manufacturer to the Orange Grove camp for distribution in the
community.
"We're very grateful to our members for
understanding the great unmet needs of Gulf hurricane victims, giving
their time to serve on work teams, and giving freely in donations to
support PDA's rebuilding work," says Jon.
PDA has five volunteer villages in the
Gulf coast area — three in Mississippi and two in
Louisiana. The villages provide housing and food for
volunteer work teams that typically spend a week doing repairs in areas
devastated by hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The villages are
ecumenical, welcoming volunteers from other churches, faiths and
organizations. In fact, one of the great joys of the Katrina camp
experience, says Jon, is the shared purpose and togetherness by peoples
from all parts of the country and all walks of life. "It just
gives you a wonderful good feeling to see this many people coming
together to help others in need."
Every week sees 400 or more
volunteers coming to the camps, more than 13,000 total so far, he
notes. "We need to keep this going," says Jon.
"There's so much that still needs to be done. We'll be
looking to send another Heritage team this fall. Please
consider joining up for an amazing mission experience."
1st Report from Katrina
Mission Team (3/19/2007):
We
have had a telephone report from the ever
enthusiastic Jon Riley and a written report from David Legg who
organized the
group from our Presbytery.
Jon
shared that on their way south, they spent
Saturday night, on the floor of the nursery of Westminster
Presbyterian
Church in Montgomery, Alabama: he said that they were cozily nestled
among the
cribs!
They
arrived in Biloxi at Orange Grove about
12:30 PM, toured the area, including seeing where our first group
worked (Jerry
Marks, Jim McVicker, Mindy Stopfel, and Tim Lana).
They had a great informational meeting in the
evening and sounded eager to receive their work orders for
Monday
morning. There are
about 80 work orders
altogether! The
group from Cincinnati
will be given certain specific assignments within that larger group.
Jon
said that the temperatures are to range from
50's to the 70's all week! No
rain! I am so glad
for them!
Your
sister in Christ,
Dawne
Sarchet
Orange Grove daily blogs from Dave Legg, Presbytery team leader:
Report
#1
All
have arrived safely, along with 37 from Austin College, 6 from Virginia
and 7 from Nebraska. There are a total of 104 in the camp
this week. We have 3 flying in on Monday at noon this will
complete our 54 members. Our team from the
Presbytery of Cincinnati is broken down into 8 work teams all going to
different sites. We will be working on home in Biloxi,
Gulfport and Long Beach.
This evening we had a great meal prepare
by our excellent cook from Cincinnati. They will be cooking
for us all week. This will be a treat for all in the camp.
(click image to enlarge)
Mark
Baggett (seated) and Rich Lalley of HPC were
chosen as crew chiefs on
rebuild projects.
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Day 2
Report
One
of our groups worked on a kitchen floor that was not level and felt
kind of spongy in places. When we came in, the kitchen was not cleared
of any furniture or knick knacks. We spent some time wrapping glass and
knick knacks in newspaper and boxing them, and moving a refrigerator,
freezer, and cabinet. Then we ripped up the tile and subfloor and
checked the joists, which were in good shape. The husband of the
homeowner helped us, and his help was much appreciated, but we urged
him to get back to work because he needed to earn money. After putting
pieces of 2x4s in places that needed extra strength, we started putting
down new subfloor. We screwed in two sheets of plywood and decided that
was all we could do in one day. We laid down plywood over the rest of
the joists so the homeowner could use her kitchen. She was not
concerned that the refrigerator was across the room from its accustomed
place. The homeowner is more concerned about her twin sister than any
mess we may have caused. Her sister is in a hospital and near death
from a heart attack. She and her sister need our prayers.
(click image to enlarge)
HPC
volunteers returning from hard day on the job.
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Report
#3
One
of our groups is working on a house that sustained significant roof and
foundation damage during Katrina. After the hurricane, many
people received assistance from FEMA in the form of blue tarps to cover
damaged roofs and trailers to live in while repairs were being
made. The owner of this home did not know who to turn to or
how to get assistance. She continued living in the house with
her two teenage sons for 17 months without any assistance.
The house, like many homes in the Gulfport area, is over 80 years
old. This house had termite damage to begin with.
With the roof unprotected for 17 months, the inside ceiling, walls,
floor and joists were damaged beyond repair. The front corner
of the house sunk, twisting the frame and pulling the house away from
the back addition. The home owner and her sons lived in the
back addition. She was able to keep her sons in clean clothes
and send them to school so that no one suspected she was in
need. Finally, her sister brought her to the attention of
Lutheran Relief Services who referred them to Presbyterian Disaster
Assistance. Realizing that the house was close to being
condemned and that she had no resources to buy a different home, it was
determined that we would support her.
Work began in January with a Presbyterian church from Virginia putting
on a new roof and replacing some windows to protect the house from the
winter. Last week, crews from a college in Michigan and the
Presbytery of Detroit began by jacking up the corner that had sunk, and
using a hand winch to pull the addition and main part of the house back
together and to straighten out the frame. Next, they stripped
out the sub-floor, floor joists, walls, ceilings, interior wall studs,
and installed new floor joists. Our job has been to install
wiring, sub-floor, floor joists in the addition, interior walls studs,
and to reinstall windows that are now out of square. Work
will have to continue next week with another crew. Today we
met the home owner, who has been living with her sister. She
was very excited that the house is finally beginning to look like a
home and that she and her sons will be able to return soon.
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Report
#4
Today
was a day of opportunity to visit all the job sites at which we as
member of the Presbytery of Cincinnati were working. At one
site the work group was hanging drywall and installing trim.
The next the work group was installing sub floor after ripping up the
existing floor which had water damage and rotting. There was
a hole where the mother-in-law had fallen thorough.
(click image to enlarge)
Rich
Lalley and Dave Anson install floor while
Mindy Stopfel removes gunk used to seal door shut.
At
another place crew members (with Rich Lalley of HPC as team
leader) were installing wood flooring and tile in the house
and they had previously taken up the old floor.
Another team was removing old flooring and replacing the rotted
joist. In doing this they discovered that the sewer line was
broken. They repaired the sewer line and have replaced the
joist and leveled the floor. At the next job the team was
installing ceiling fans, wall switches and base board. The
next place they were installing doors and trim around the doors and
windows. The last home the electrician (Mark Baggett of HPC)
rewired the total home with the help of two assistants. In
this home they have also built two new rooms, installed sub flooring.
This evening at worship we had communion with a time of sharing our
experiences for the day and week so far. We all are tired and
looking forward to coming back to our homes. Each of us has
left something of ourselves here. We all are willing to share
our experiences.
(click image to enlarge)
HPC team in front row, back to camera.
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Report
#5 (on
work done by two project teams)
#1
— Lulla and her daughter, Gretchen, live in Long Beach,
Mississippi, and our group has been working on Lulla's home. Her home
survived Camille and they thought surely it would survive Katrina.
Unfortunately, that was not the case. Gretchen said they had planned on
leaving during the evacuation because they always do - they almost have
to because all the shops and stores close up anyway.
There is a small cottage that was a work shed in her back yard. This
had been converted into a living area with kitchen, 1 bedroom, a closet
and a bath that Lulla's recluse brother lived in for 15 years.
Gretchen lives in what was her grandmother's home around the
corner and she had taken a loan out to put an addition on her home just
before her uncle (Lulla's brother) died. Gretchen then cleared out and
updated the cottage so Lulla could rent it for some additional income.
So Gretchen hadn't gotten around to beginning the addition on her home
because five days after finishing the cottage Hurricane Katrina hit.
Lulla and Gretchen stayed in Arizona with family until
Lulla's friend got a FEMA trailer in February, so Lulla
stayed with her until March when she got hers because she had a job
lined up as a caseworker for the Lutheran Disaster Assistance group in
Biloxi. Gretchen moved back in May when she got her FEMA
trailer.
Lulla has had many groups helping with the rebuilding of her home and
cottage. Gretchen said it's been wonderful having the volunteers coming
in to help. It's not only helping them, it's helping their
neighbors. She said it was such a beautiful neighborhood and most of
the people haven't come back. The neighbors that have returned have
come by and see all the volunteer work and are very touched by not only
the progress but the spirituality, the caring and helping in the whole
area. Lulla wants to move into the small cottage when it's
done so she can have volunteers stay in her home to continue the
rebuilding of her community.
What a wonderful week of hard work and blessings it has been.
Out of Chaos - HOPE!
#2 — Today the collection truck came to pick up the debris at
the house where our team was working. The wood that was
stripped out of the house has been blocking our entrance to the house
as well as reminding everyone of the destruction around.
After the truck picked up the first load we were able to empty the back
patio and an outside shed that was loaded with waterlogged
trash. It is difficult knowing what to throw away and what
not to when you are dealing with another person's
possessions. But after we had dragged everything
out, found the driveway under the rubble, and swept off the patio, the
house began to look like it belonged to a neighborhood, and not a
demolition zone. The neighbor next to our house was
ecstatic. Her daughter is getting married tomorrow and she is
having out of town company. What a delight to have the
eyesore removed!
(click image to enlarge)
Team
leader Rich Lalley (far right, front row) and HPC volunteers
celebrate the completion of their house rebuilding assignments.
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