Church volunteers make mission trip to La.
Nearly one year after the storm surged on Aug. 29, 2005, and the levies gave way, unimaginable destruction remains in towns perched on the Gulf of Mexico.
In many areas of New Orleans, Butler County volunteers who traveled south to help victims of Hurricane Katrina say it appears the waters from the sea and Lake Pontchartrain only receded recently — not a full year ago.
"One house had a huge tree that had crashed down on it, and they just tarped the roof right over the tree," said the Rev. Matthew Judd of Cabot United Methodist Church.
Judd and about a dozen of his flock arrived in Slidell, La., on Aug. 6 after a 21-hour trip in two vans.
Cabot United Methodist had adopted First United Methodist Church of Slidell as their sister church shortly after the hurricane, financially and prayerfully supporting the hard-hit congregation in the storm's aftermath.
In the ultimate gesture of support, Judd assembled a crew of volunteers from Cabot U.M. to pack up their work clothes and head south to help "the lost, the least and the last" among the hurricane victims.
Upon arrival, the pastor at First United Methodist told the crew he waded a few blocks in knee-deep water to the church to survey the damage a few days after the storm surge.
He found all the stained-glass windows gone and the Christian Education department heavily damaged, but he didn't stick around for a thorough assessment of the building."These giant muskrats that are so foul the alligators won't even eat them were swimming around in the sanctuary," related Judd. "And big balls of fire ants were floating around. When the water receded, there was four inches of muck on every surface."The crew worked on two houses owned by a pair of recently widowed octogenarian sisters, Eris Lajaunie and Germaine Pastoret, who lived next to each other before the 24-foot storm surge completely engulfed their homes.The sisters evacuated before the storm hit.They returned to find their homes still standing but in need of complete renovation. All their possessions, collected over more than 80 years, were destroyed or gone.To make matters worse, said Judd, a handful of contractors had swindled the women, promising to install new windows and rewire the homes before making off with the little bit of insurance or grant money the sisters had.So the enthusiastic crew from Cabot, made up of young and old men and women ranging from a veterinarian to a mechanic, set to work insulating and installing wallboard in the two homes.Judd said the heat was stifling, with the heat index on one oppressive day reaching 106 degrees. But he was proud of his crew members, who were encouraged by frequent visits from the elderly sisters."Everyone held up all right," said Judd. "They did a great job. The site director said the Cabot team did two weeks worth of work (in one week). We basically did a house and a half."Judd said the worst working conditions in the crew's 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. workday came on one airless day when they drywalled a tiny bathroom in 100-degree heat. Still, Judd heard little complaining from his co-workers."They were outstanding," said the young pastor.Judd explained that the Cabot U.M. crew was the first volunteer group to work on the houses, and the delighted ladies initiated a few rituals.First, they would not allow the work crew to clean up after themselves, insisting instead that they sweep up the fine, white dust and wipe down the new construction. Second, the sisters welcomed the neighbors into their homes each evening to take a tour of the work that had been completed.Michelle Shetter of Cabot served as chief cook and bottle washer for the crew, providing three square meals a day from the First U.M. kitchen and forcing cool water down workers' throats.Shetter said the southern sisters couldn't have been more gracious and charming."They were so sweet and so appreciative of everything," said Shetter. "They kept saying 'You just don't understand that we so appreciate you being here.' I said 'It's our honor to be here; it's out of love.'
"The one sister would just cry every time, and I would hug her."Karle Anderson of Clinton Township said as the team worked on the houses, motorists passing by would shout "Thank you!"Anderson said he was surprised at the reaction since a year's worth of work crews have passed through Slidell."But the people were still eager to tell their hurricane stories," he said.Of all the sights in New Orleans, Anderson found himself smitten with the huge and sparkling Lake Pontchartrain. The weak levies holding the 630-square-mile lake gave way during the storm surge and swamped the surrounding towns."The people's beautiful lake became their horror," said Anderson.Accommodations for the crew included two large Sunday school rooms at Aldersgate United Methodist, just a few miles away. Showers were taken in a special trailer across the street from the church and utility sinks outside the trailer served as shaving stations for the men.Thankfully, Aldersgate U.M. was air-conditioned."The team really appreciated that air conditioning after working in the houses," said Shetter.Judd said each night after returning to their host church for dinner, many team members would grab some tools and work on installing wallboard in the Christian education department at First U.M., which sustained more than $250,000 in damages in the storm."The pastor said we were the first crew he knew of who pulled double duty," said Judd.Judd said all tools, building supplies and water for the crew were provided by the North Shore Disaster Recovery Center, a United Methodist organization created to help with hurricane recovery. He said every home refurbished by Methodist volunteers received $5,000 from the denomination's Committee on Relief.That money, together with the rare insurance payout, frequently represents the total amount homeowners have to rebuild their homes from the studs out. That, said Judd, is why volunteers are desperately needed in hurricane-torn towns: to keep construction costs down."The one thing they said they need is volunteers," said Judd. "These people are trying to rebuild their homes with just a few thousand dollars. Without volunteers, the work won't get done. They kept saying 'We need people to come down here and keep helping.'"Dozens of Butler County churches, representing several denominations, have organized a crew and traveled south to volunteer. Some have gone more than once. Shetter said most of the volunteers they met were from the north.The Cabot team was treated to authentic pecan pie baked by one of the sisters as well as a traditional Cajun feast whipped up by a group of First U.M. women. But the activity that had the most effect on the group was a day trip over the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway into New Orleans, where the devastation is worst.Judd said there was much chatter in the van on the way to tour Katrina's destruction in The Big Easy, but the crew fell largely silent as they passed mile after mile of utter devastation.Once in the city, the workers saw a shrimp boat that had been washed 10 miles inland and came to rest against a house with a young family inside. Miraculously, no one in the family was injured in the terrifying voyage.Judd said mile after mile of destruction greeted every eye as the group made its way around what is left of New Orleans. He said whole neighborhoods were wiped out, and government officials are still trying to figure out what to do with the massive amount of debris.One experience that left an impression on Judd occurred when the group traveled to an upscale neighborhood of larger, two-story houses."In the house we were in, two blocks from a breached levy, the first floor was gutted to the studs, but the second floor looked like people still lived there," said Judd. "There were balls on the pool table and dirty clothes on the floor."A tour of the much poorer 9th Ward showed few signs of reconstruction, but nearly every home had a big red "X," meaning the property had been condemned. Also spray-painted on the homes were the name of the government or military unit that searched it after the storm, the date the house was searched, and in some cases the number of bodies found inside."It was very sobering," said Judd. "The TV pictures just don't show the overwhelming destruction still there."Judd said plans are already in the works for another mission trip to Slidell."We need to get the word out that people should organize and go down to help these folks."
