Southern Comfort Mission and Ministry Team

Glorious Weather for Day One

2011-03-20T19:37:00.000-07:00

Choose your Car!

Blew into New Orleans this afternoon and haven't slowed down yet!

The sign at the Alamo Car Rental said, "Choose your Car!" so Jean and Colleen decided on the red convertible. Rick wanted the Dodge Challenger, but we ended up with a couple of vans.

Charlie unloads the car top carrier full of sleeping gear

We had a bit of a delay leaving the Syracuse airport due to a computer sensor but we arrived in Cincinnati in time for our flight to New Orleans. We arrived at the Olive Tree Village east of New Orleans about 5:30 and were met by the folks who had driven down. Their only glitch was running out of gas - conveniently right by a gas station - but unfortunately for the Good Samaritan who stopped to help push the car, it was on a hill so he really got a work out. We unloaded the car top carrier and stowed our sleeping gear in time for dinner at the Village - burgers and hot dogs cooked on the grill.

Following the meal, the Village Managers gave a brief orientation and we learned our work assignments and chores for the week. We're getting ready to head for bed, knowing that breakfast comes early tomorrow. We expect to have an orientation to Project Homecoming about the work done to help families rebuild their lives and their homes from Hurricane Katrina.

Out of Chaos, Hope

2011-03-05T04:10:00.000-08:00

We gathered last weekend for an orientation with the group heading to New Orleans March 20 - 26, 2011. There will be 10 of us flying south, and 5 driving. Those driving will carry sleeping gear - right now it's piled in our front living room like a sleeping bag display at a sporting goods store. There are family connections - two father-daughter pairs, a couple sisters in law, and a pair of sisters. Some friendships have been cemented by working side by side on past trips. We range in age from 17 to 65. Our hometowns are scattered around central New York. All are united by a calling from God to go to the Gulf Coast and serve God's people.

During introductions, we reflected on Presbyterian Disaster Assistance's slogan, Out of Chaos, Hope. The group, some newbies and some repeaters, shared thoughts on times in their lives when it was chaotic, and when they found hope. Topics shared ranged from home remodeling projects completed, to job loss, and to serious legal issues, now resolved, for a family member. We all try to imagine the sense of chaos in the lives of those we'll help - being uprooted from home for more than 5 years since Hurricane Katrina. We wonder how we can come alongside and be of service, aware that rebuilding the house may not be as important as helping the people rebuild their lives.

"Can you imagine me in a hurricane?" I've asked my husband. Smiling, we agree it would not be pleasant - I like planning and order as evidenced by my "What to Pack and How to Pack it" demonstration for the team. All I need to add is clean underwear and my devotional book and my luggage is ready - neatly rolled into Ziplock bags. Our trips to the Gulf Coast have made me a little more flexible, but not yet ready for my own hurricane, I don't think!

As needs change in the New Orleans area, PDA's intensive involvment with the recovery is winding down. Project Homecoming, a ministry of the Presbytery of South Louisiana, will operate the Olive Tree volunteer village where we will stay. A former church and preschool complex, it's a far cry from the pup tents pitched on a baseball field that housed the first Southern Comfort team in the fall of 2005, or the corrugated plastic huts and dining tents that were the feature of the trips through 2009. It will be our home base for a week later this month - our place of refuge as we help bring hope out of chaos for sisters and brothers in New Orleans.

God Doesn't Call the Equipped - He Equips Those Who are Called

2010-03-22T04:21:00.000-07:00

Sleeping in the men’s dormitory room at the Olive Tree Volunteer Village, I was awake in the wee hours of the morning. I was trying to drift off to sleep again as I attempted to disregard the rumble of some snoring going on. I had the words and melodies of Fernando Ortega’s song reflecting the imagery of Psalm 63 going through my mind:

The Shadow Of Your Wings

Oh God, you are my God,
Earnestly I seek you.
My soul thirsts for you,
And my flesh yearns for you;
In a dry an weary land,
Where there is no water.

I remember you at night,
In the watches of the night;
In the shadow of your wings,
I sing because you help me.
My soul clings to you,
And your hand upholds me.
You alone, You alone.
You alone.

As my memories of previous mission trips intermingled with my experiences of this week’s mission trip, I remembered the vast devastation we experienced on my first trip to the post-Katrina Gulf Coast region in February 2006. Team members were in a state of shock and awe and the immense scope and severity of the damage all around us. We saw the horrible aftermath that the waters of the hurricane storm surge left behind. The entire contents of people homes were reduced to a messy, moldy, muddy ruin; families’ lives were in turmoil. A dry and waterless land it wasn’t, but the people and the communities they lived in were weary from living in emergency shelters, FEMA trailers or other less- than-ideal conditions.

This week, at the home my crew is working, we were originally scheduled to install sheet rock on the bare, wooden studded walls (the “dry boned” skeletal structure of the house). Due to a backlog at the city of New Orleans’ housing inspection office, our house’s inspection hadn’t been done so we couldn’t proceed with that. The situation as described by Dan March, our construction manager, was that the city’s Inspection Office hadn’t renewed their software license to do their paperwork. So instead, we did exterior painting, installed some new exterior doors, and laid floor tiles in the bathrooms and kitchen areas.

God’s presence has been powerfully present in the work and ministry of the Southern Comfort team members and with both the long and short term Presbyterian Disaster Assistance staff members we’ve worked side-by-side with: God’s love is being poured out upon the peoples of the Gulf Coast. The people we have served have spoken of how God is sustaining them through these difficult times.

Through the Presbytery of Southern Louisiana’s Project Homecoming(PH) public relations and marketing officer who spoke to us one morning before heading out to work, we learned that PH is fully funded to continue it’s operations of case management and construction management through 2011. Fundraising and awareness projects are underway to continue telling the story. One of the ideas promoted was conducting a mardi gras party at our local churches toward that helping them meet their fundraising goal for 2012 and beyond. Learn more a Project Homecoming at http://pslrecovery.org/

We’ve been hearing stories from the Project Homecoming workers about many of the homeowners they’re working with who had previously paid contractors for work repairs to be done, only to be ripped-off with work never done, never completed, or with shoddy materials and/or workmanship that needed to be redone. What a setback for these people and what a blessing that Project Homecoming is able to assist them!

Members of this trip’s Southern Comfort Team are already formulating ideas about the next trip and thinking about who else they might encourage to bring along. How about you? Is God speaking to you, and encouraging you to be a missionary?

When God spoke to Moses out of the burning bush, Moses asked:

“"Who am I, that I should go ?” "O Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue. "

“The LORD said to him, "Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the LORD? Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say. "

When I have an opportunity to speak with someone about going on a mission trip, sometimes that individual expresses some hesitation and uncertainty about their individual set of skills. I try to assure them, that if God is seeking, calling and encouraging them to serve others, God has a plan for that individual; God has a specific task in mind for him or her. I ensure them that “God doesn’t just call the equipped, but that He will equip those who are called.”

Paul Dungey, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Auburn, NY

A Labor of Love

2010-03-17T20:21:00.000-07:00

March 17th St. Patrick’s Day in New Orleans
We had green potatoes and cabbage for supper (vegetarian cabbage!?) in the kitchen. Some came with (and some got) green stuff to wear. Danny Boy was sung. Some are looking for a way to celebrate more fully this evening. That plus a hard day created lines at the showers. Women’s line 12 deep, Men’s line 3 deep. Four showers each. This camp has only 31 men and 55 women. Women care more? Men too busy? Coincidence?

Met the family that will be in the house our team is working on. Ruby, Velma, James, and son. All very nice and very appreciative. Sad story of their loss. Son swam from the superdome to the house to check it out. He said the water was gross. They are living in a “poor” apartment now. Hopefully we can help them out. Puts faces and lives in mind as we work.

Got to use power tools today. Hardboard cutters, skill saw, saws-all, and drills. Finished the hardboard underlayment for the tile in the bathroom and did the kitchen. Then made a header for an existing door that did not have a support member over it. All this in preparation for the framing inspection due some time tomorrow. We are on the list for the electric inspection. After these it will be sheetrock city. Certainly change the way we walk through the house. Instead of passing through the studs we will have to go by doors. Others did all sorts of projects on the house. Our team has 12 (including two Americorps) that Dan (our construction assistant (a Young Adult Volunteer (a Presbyterian program akin to the Peace Corps (but much smaller at 67 world wide) ) keeps on task. The generator has four cords running from it (one goes to two chargers for the battery packs). Painting, cutting, pounding, drilling, sawing, made for difficult conversations and double checking of dimensions (“Was that seven sixteenths or eleven sixteenths?”).

This evening Gloria, another Young Adult Volunteer, came by to give us a presentation on the problem of disappearing wetlands in the Gulf. Fascinating. She did a good job. Another example of human impact (with unintended consequences) on our world. She says the wetland loss (the size of the state of Delaware) since the 1860’s accentuated the impact of the hurricane. Each mile of wetland reduces the storm surge by 1 foot. Hurricane winds going over the wetlands loss their punch. The losses are manmade from controlling the Mississippi (no bank erosion, docks and dams that hold sediment back) and levees to prevent flood waters (and their delivery of sediment) out to the delta. Canals and pipeline construction in the wetlands and salt water intrusion. If only we knew. What unintentional consequences am I causing? What will I do about it?

Peter Wright, Auburn, NY

Today felt like a more productive day for our work team on State Street Drive. We learned how to lay floor tile – a knee bruising endeavor that was very satisfying by the end of the day, following a steep learning curve. A couple people learned to cut tiles for the ends of each row – harder than it looks, said Mary! Ted and Bronwyn continued to install the remaining exterior siding – large sheets of a substance that gives the appearance of stucco – a hole needs to be drilled before each screw can be applied to hold it to the wall.

The temporary stairs to the second floor have been removed, but the new stairs haven’t been installed yet. This necessitates the use of an extension ladder propped against the balcony on the front of the house to gain access to the house’s only working toilet. This is a luxury for those of us who on previous trips have worked at homes without plumbing, and the resulting need to pile into a van for a trip to a nearby Lowe’s or McDonald’s or even the local fire station to use the bathroom. Simple things make a lot of difference.

It’s a blessing to be working to help bring our family home. Due to the husband’s illness, we have not met the family, but each task is a labor of love for them.

Kim Dungey, Auburn United Methodist Church

Saints All

2010-03-16T18:53:00.000-07:00

March 16th, Second Day of doing God’s work here in New Orleans (home of the Saints ( more on this later). The weather is delightful. The people are congenial and friendly. They are all uniquely the same (this is a classic). People come here for different reasons and may leave with different outlooks. Some come with high expectations, some will leave with renewed faith.

One is an expert carpenter upset (but patient as he fixes it) by workmanship that he finds on jobs.
One is emotionally connected to New Orleans and despite not being a sports fan was wildly excited over the Saints victory over the Colts.
One delights in serving others, another, needs to be served.

One runs a multimillion dollar business yet accepts directions from a college freshman.
One paints all day with a tendinitis in the elbow.
One organizes and buys tools in anticipation of the need.
One is going to be a city planner and wonders where the plan is here in New Orleans.
One found a four leaf clover on the grounds in preparation for St. Patrick’s Day (she is ¾ Irish).
One has narcolepsy (a sleep disorder) and lives through it to serve.
One lost her keys and sent the whole camp searching only to find them on the nail by her bunk.

One is a Catholic who doesn’t think women should be pastors (she is also brave because she told me this after I told her about my pastor wife).
One wants to work harder.
One is really sore.
One knows that just being here sends the message to the community that we care.
One is a professional Santa Claus.
One laughs at all my jokes.
One has been here seven times before and came this time in a wheel chair (she does much needed clerical work).
One speaks honestly during devotions.

All of them saints of God, and I mean, God helping, to be one too.

Peter Wright, Auburn, NY

Hi all! This is Charlie writing from Olive Tree, New Orleans. What a week it has been so far. There are 87 volunteers here, and come from all over the globe. Groups represent San Rafael, CA, Kansas State University, University of Maryland, western PA, and upstate NY (us). Individuals can be found from Cameroon, China, Ukraine, and Russia. The age runs from older than me to freshman in college, in fact a lot of the people here are kids on spring break, and every one of them is fantastic.

A typical day for me is to get up at 5:30 and shower ( I am first up in our barracks). The showers are in a trailer equipped with showers for men on one end and the other end for women. The middle is a communal sink area for shaving and brushing teeth, etc. Then back to the barracks for getting completely ready and preparing for breakfast at 7. The breakfasts are good and a lot liked home. At 8AM we are on the road heading for our work assignments. Everybody is doing something different, but we have excellent construction assistants showing us what to do and instructing us on how to use the various tools.

Lunch was prepared at breakfast time, each person doing there own, and put in a cooler. Lunch takes about ½ hour and we have a chance to share thoughts and experiences. And then back to work until 4:30, and then our return to Olive Tree.
Dinner is at 6:30, and then devotions and free time. Lights out at 10PM. Does anybody snore? You betcha, but who cares. Sleep comes easy, at least for me. And I feel good.

Thought you might like to know that as I sit here typing there are five college kids playing bongos, guitars and singing. Other groups are talking, and other people sitting around reading. Kim, one of our leaders, is sitting across from me wondering if I will ever get finished. I am.

Have a good night and think of us.

Monday, March 15, 2010

2010-03-16T16:28:00.000-07:00

Our first day of work out in the field and we were productive. The Olive Tree (Presbyterian Disaster Assistance) Volunteer Village is cooperating with the Southern Louisiana Presbytery (Project Homecoming) to accomplish great things. They have an Operations Director, Construction Managers, Construction Assistants, and AmeriCorps*NCCC. Volunteers. With this much organization they can get us going with tools and materials quickly.

Our Construction Assistant (one for each site), Dan (from Virginia), is an on-the-ball type. He had the site organized and us (6 adults from NY state and 4 Kansas State Students that are here on spring break (very inspiring) on task within minutes of arriving (by an alternate route since we missed two turns. (Can you say “recalculating”). We hung the front door, prepared the existing studs to receive sheetrock (tomorrows task), and painted the exterior (one half done (but this is a secondary task)).

The camp is vibrant with 87 people. The volunteer village managers, a married couple, are well organized (and also inspiring), volunteering 3 months to help us help others recover from Katrina. Chores are organized and meals are delicious. Sleep was a precious commodity last night. There are bunk beds and snoring in stereo that send the top bunker into turbulence when the lower bunker rolls over. The mattresses come from the Indiana prison system. They don’t call it hard time for nothing.

We ate breakfast, packed our lunch and headed into the city. Our house is double wide but long. Instead of referring to it as a “shotgun house” we call it a double barrel. An extended family will live in it. It is completely gutted, but coming back. It still is amazing that after this much time there is still so much to do. We keep hearing how much it means to the people here that they are still cared for by those of us from around the country. We have groups from Kansas State, University of Maryland, Pennsylvania, California, and Oklahoma to share the volunteer village with. Part of the return for this mission trip is hearing the stories of those others who come to help (also very inspiring). This is an inspiring trip for me. I trust it is for those we serve.

Peter Wright-Auburn, NY

Our crew is working on a home owned by Toni and Jack. Jack, ill with mesothelioma, is hospitalized now. Each person scattered to work on various tasks – redoing ancient plumbing so toilets can be installed, building stairs, cleaning caulk from the new shower, removing adhesive from floor tiles so grout can be added, and taking paint spatters from a laminate floor, followed by mopping (repeated efforts!) to clean the drywall dust. Kneepads were helpful for the tile and floor work – we expect to discover muscles we didn’t know we had when we return to that work today.

The weather was perfect – mid sixties and sunny. We enjoyed lunch sitting on the sidewalk, and some in our group met the neighbor, Henry, who told his hurricane and recovery stories as he moved some dirt to fill in a low spot along his sidewalk. He refused to shake hands as we introduced ourselves, saying he didn’t know what was in the dirt – we said we didn’t know what our hands had been in either. We expect to hear more from him as the week goes on.

Kim Dungey, Auburn United Methodist Church

We Arrive in New Orleans!

2010-03-15T06:01:00.000-07:00

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Pictured at right is Suzanne - powdered sugar from her beignet and cafe au lait at Cafe du Monde.

Wow, our group arrived in New Orleans on Sat. just as the sun was setting and the breeze was blowing. For those of us fortunate enough to have a window seat while we were landing, the view was spectacular!! We dined at Dot’s diner, (a local favorite), and enjoyed comfortable beds at LaQuinta Inn and Suites on Sat. night. Waking up Sunday morning was a pleasant surprise as the sun was shining and the temperatures were in the mid to upper 60’s. After an incredible service at St. Charles Ave. Presbyterian church we split up and spent the afternoon roaming New Orleans. The group I was a part of, Jerry, Charlie, Clay and I, I being Mary, had a blast as we wandered through the French Quarter, Bourbon St., and the surrounding area. At every turn we had the surprise of different groups of people performing everything from miming, to break dancing, to musicians of every flavor, both young an old playing any instrument you can think of. And don’t even get me started about lunch! Yum, Yum. At last we had to make our way to the Presbytery camp but we were pleasantly surprised by our accommodations. Tomorrow the weather looks fantastic as our group begins yet another journey. Good night till we update again.

Mary Benedict
Marcellus Presbyterian Church, Marcellus, NY

We attended the worship service at St. Charles Presbyterian Church in NOLA this morning. I learned that they to, are providing hosting services for volunteers who are participating in the long-term recovery efforts here in the city.

This afternoon, we spent a few hours in the French Quarter enjoying the street performers and doing a little souvenir shopping. Our daughter Heather, who lives and works an hour up the road in Bay St. Louis, came to join us for lunch.

Upon arrival at the Olive Tree Volunteer village at 5PM, we were met by Kerri and Kelly, the volunteer village managers, who gave us a quick tour of the campus, and then put us to work preparing dinner. Other volunteer teams began to arrive too as the dinner hour approached. Following dinner, Kerri and Kelly provided us with an orientation to “village life”, telling us that we should keep these for “R’s” in mind:

1. Rebuild: the homes and lives of the families we’ll be working with.

2. Relationships: build relationships with those we’re working with and for.

3. Recreation: Yes, we’re here to work, but set aside time to unwind, and recreate.

4. Recruit: Continue to tell the story about the work and ministry being done here.

After breakfast at 7AM tomorrow morning, the Project Homecoming constructions managers and case-workers will be providing an orientation about the work and worksites we’ll be at.

Now, it’s off to bed to get rested for a full day tomorrow.

Paul Dungey

Westminster Presbyterian Church-Auburn, NY

Mission Trips are...

2010-03-12T13:46:00.000-08:00

What are Mission Trips?

windows through which to see the world and God's vision for it in new ways;

What are Mission Trips?

mirrors in which to see ourselves, our church, our culture more clearly;

What are Mission Trips?

doorways through which we enter into deeper fellowship with God and our neighbor;

What are Mission Trips?

voices through which we may hear God's call to us.

Who are Mission Team Members?

bridges between those they visit and their congregation, between God's activity in one part of the world, and God's activity in their own community.

Two members of our group hit the road this morning, driving to New Orleans. It's lucky for the rest of us as they can carry sleeping bags as well as a couple guitars for us, saving the extra baggage fees the airlines now charge. We pray for their safe travel and will rendevous with them upon our arrival after flying out of Rochester.

The rest of us had an extra day of work - finishing up projects and leaving things ready to step back into when we return. We're tucking last minute things into suitcases, maybe arranging for the cat to be fed or mail to be picked up in our absence, drinking the last of the milk in the refrigerator - doing all the little things that give us the illusion that we're ready for this adventure. The excitement has been building and I think most of us just want to get there and see what God has planned for us in this week of mission work.

For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:10

The Hope of the Gulf

2010-02-21T14:20:00.000-08:00

(Sandi Yingling, organizer of the first Southern Comfort Ministry and Mission Team trips from central New York to the Gulf Coast, recently shared this information with the group preparing to go to New Orleans in March 2010.)

Sandi said, "I'm going to give you a little background on Hurricane Katrina.

On August 29th, 2005 Hurricane Katrina hit the United States. Five states were severely impacted: Florida, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, and Texas all sustained damage from the hurricane. In fact, the affected area is the size of Great Britain.

One thousand eight hundred people died from Hurricane Katrina and 700 are missing. Ninety three of the deceased are still unidentified.

I had been watching the news about Katrina when I saw the flooding in New Orleans. I just couldn't watch any more. I asked at a church meeting if anyone wanted to go with me to Mississippi and 3 women responded. Eight weeks after the hurricane I left with those three women and another from New York City. We called ourselves Presbyterian Southern Comfort because it was the only name I could think of.

We spent 8 days in D'Iberville, Mississippi living in summer tents on a baseball field. We ate dinner at a Red Cross feeding station across town. We made breakfast and sandwiches for lunch at a concession stand that was overrun by roaches. We showered at a gym in the next town. Survivors of the storm stopped by every day and asked if they too could live in one of our tents because that was so much better than what they had.

Between 50 to 60% of D'Iberville, Mississippi had been destroyed. The remaining buildings were mostly covered in blue tarps. There were no street lights, traffic lights, or stop signs. There were whole houses sitting in the roads. There were no streets in some areas because the streets had been pulverized and washed out to the sea.

Homes were demolished first by the hurricane, then by the four tornadoes that were spun off and then the storm surge that was between 20 and 40 feet deep, depending on where you were standing. When the storm surge arrived it came in quickly. The story goes that if you ran to the kitchen to get your purse, you never got out of the building. Many people drowned in their homes.

The storm surge lasted for 6-7 hours and then retreated taking with it anything in its way. What remained was coated with slimy, contaminated muck. There were reports of farm animals swimming in the ocean as far as 40 miles from land. They obviously had been swept out to sea when the waters retreated. Every tree was bare of any greenery but they all had little white flags of paper in the treetops where the branches had snagged papers floating in the water.

PDA is Presbyterian Disaster Assistance. In D'Iberville PDA set up a tent village that could accommodate 100 volunteers. They provided the sleeping tents, meeting tents, tables, chairs, tools, gloves, masks, cots, blankets, port-a-potties, bio-hazard suits and a site manager. It was the first volunteer tent village on American soil. They didn't know how to do one so they asked for help from the Norwegian Government who sent experts to tell them how to set up and manage a tent village. Before the year was out, 5 more tent villages were either planned or established. Some were on public ground, some were on church grounds. They all were run by volunteers for volunteers.

PDA was the only organized volunteer group in D’Iberville. There were other groups in other towns... Catholic Relief, Islamic Relief, Jewish Relief, Lutherans, Mennonites, Methodists, Baptists, Church World Service, Hand and Feet Ministries...and more. It seems that each group took a different town so there was more coverage.

The rules have been the same from the beginning. Help is given to those who ask. There is no distinction made for the religion, if any, of the requester. We work on only one house per family. If they owned multiple houses, they'll only receive help for one. We do as much as we can do within our limitations. If a bricklayer is needed, then a house may wait until a bricklayer volunteers. Likewise for electricians, plumbers, roofers, and carpenters.

All the monies used for the houses and the camps have come through the Presbyterian Church or volunteers. You will pay a nominal amount at the camp for food. The tents, supplies, tools, electricity, and everything else has been donated.

At first the camps were used just by Presbyterians. Then they were opened to mixed groups. Now they are open to a variety of groups. They have had Jewish groups, college groups like Syracuse University who took 50 kids down on break, and folks from foreign countries like Mexico, Malaysia and Denmark.

On that first trip I handed out school kits in the pouring rain. Two women held a poncho over my head and the inventory so we could hand out school kits to children and the survivors.

Some people handed out food. There wasn't any food to give away on some days. But car loads of people drove from all over the country to bring food and blankets and baby food and bottled water and toilet paper and everything else. Yes …we know the Red Cross said not to do it. Thank God no one listened. I was standing there telling a family of 6 that I only had one can of soup to give them when a car drove up filled with canned goods and can openers.

We all did "spiritual accompaniment" which means that we listened to a lot of stories and gave a lot of hugs. You will do that too. People still need to tell their stories so they can move on. Some people have just stopped talking. It’s hard to carry that kind of loss with you for five years.

I remember a little boy, barefoot, wearing a skinny t-shirt and shorts who showed up for meals every day. Once he came with a little girl. He said that his family had died…he was the sole survivor. We couldn’t find an agency to take care of him. We gave him shoes and clothes and told the Red Cross Volunteer. She was one of us. And then he stopped coming. We don’t know what happened to him.

Another story…

A young woman was watching TV when the storm surge arrived. She didn’t realize it at first. Then the water rapidly rose up the couch. She retreated to the highest point she could find. Finally she had just a couple of inches of air to breath between her and the ceiling. Her little dog was with her and she was standing on furniture. When the water retreated, she left her house. But she didn’t know which way to go because it all looked like soggy shore line. Everything had changed. She wandered for two days trying to find a place to eat, a toilet, a place to sleep.

After the first Southern Comfort trip there was another one and another and another. Paul and Kim have been instrumental in keeping Southern Comfort alive and active. The upcoming trip is solely because of their efforts to put together another work group.

We've worked in various places on the Gulf and in New Orleans. We've installed doors, floors, and baseboards. Many of the participants have been hooked so they go on repeat trips. Many people in the group have been there 2, 3, or more times.

Mississippi had $125 billion in damages. There were 65,000 homes that had major damage. After the storm, some people slept in tool sheds. Others slept in their moldy houses. The government brought in FEMA trailers. These were not new FEMA trailers. Many had been recycled from Florida where they had been used for the prior major disaster. Some were leaking. Apparently they all had formaldehyde problems.

Let's talk about New Orleans. New Orleans was impacted most by the flooding that occurred when the levees broke. But they also experienced damage from the hurricane itself…devastating winds, rain damage, lost roofs. We worked on a house in the 9th ward. The family across the street lived in a FEMA trailer at night and in their house during the day. The house looked ok from outside. Inside, they didn't have a floor. I don’t mean that the floor was damaged. I mean that there was no floor. It had been flooded and rotted away.

Jean Marie Peacock is the former vice moderator of PC(USA). She and her husband lived and worked in New Orleans. Her house was a total loss and everything inside was destroyed. The water level in the house was at least 7 feet. Even solid wood furniture disintegrated. What was left was piles of rubble throughout each room, with a layer of mud and slim over everything. It was still very wet after three weeks, and the stench was terrible. She said she was struck by the needlepoint that hung in her kitchen. Everything in the kitchen was a pile of rubble, with furniture broken in pieces, the refrigerator fallen in, with rust covering the stove, and mold growing everywhere, with cupboards broken and things strewn in the mud and dirt on the floor. Mold covered the walls, as well. Yet in the middle of the wall, in the middle of this mess - the needlepoint still hung. It was untouched, a pristine white in the midst of the mold. It said, "God bless this home."

They had trouble finding an apartment to move to. They called about one apartment, and it was being shown to 50 people.

The company where her husband worked (small company with 8 employees) took a hard hit. They had not been allowed back in the building where the lab and offices are located for several days. When they arrived, they received a lease termination notice. They had only 4 hours to get everything needed to set up temporary laboratory space. The elevators did not work, nor was there any air conditioning. The office and lab were on the 14th floor - so they had to lug everything down six flights of stairs to the 8th floor of the parking garage.

Eighty percent of her congregation lost their homes and belongings and one member drowned in his home.

In New Orleans 300,000 homes were destroyed. Sixty-five thousand dwellings are still vacant. The rest have been torn down or are being repaired. The homeless population is between 6,000 and 11,000 depending on which newspaper you believe. During a recent weekend (2010) when the temperatures dipped to the 20’s, 63 organizations worked together to shelter the homeless population and still 2 men died. One organization, UNITY, gets 5 new housing vouchers a week for disabled homeless people, but there are 900 completed applications. At this rate, people will be without a home for many more months or will die before a voucher is available. Those who were lucky enough to get a voucher have nothing and need everything to make a house a home.

Three quarters of the public housing was demolished and not replaced.
Three quarters of the physicians left town.
Forty four million cubic yards of debris was created. That's enough to line up dump trucks end-to-end across the US 4 times.
The new landfills are in the former residential areas.

My minister uses a benediction that says in part…”may God take your lips and speak through them. May God take your hands and work through them. May God take your hearts and set them afire”. You are God's hands and feet and lips. It is an awesome responsibility and privilege. Those of you who have been there have already been set afire. Those of you who are going for the first time will be overwhelmed.

In summary, the federal agencies are not rebuilding Mississippi. The faith based organizations are. That's you. You are the hope of the Gulf. "

Wanted: Gulf Coast Missionary

2010-01-10T11:27:00.000-08:00

Hardy and resilient; willing to live in primitive conditions which may include scorching temperatures one day, followed by freezing conditions the next. Willing to wear a hat to bed when the temperature plunges below freezing and the heater doesn’t work, or sleep under a down sleeping bag just to keep off the mosquitoes even when it’s 85 degrees and so humid eyeglasses are dripping.
Able to pack a week’s worth of work clothes, boots, shoes, raingear, casual clothing and outerwear suitable for CNY departure temperatures as well as Gulf Coast living conditions, all in one manageable suitcase. Mindful enough to remember to put the toothpaste, chapstick, shampoo, and other liquids or gels in a 1 qt ziplock instead of inside the carry on bag.
Gifted with the ingenuity needed to pry, chisel, crowbar, sledge hammer, and finally man-handle a corroded bathtub out of place for disposal (not to mention brute strength!)
Insightful enough to work in the office, shop at WalMart or Lowe’s, cook dinner for 63 on 2 gas burners and a slow cooker, shovel moldy debris, tape and mud drywall, cut crown molding, and count it all progress toward rebuilding a devastated region.
Able to hold a table saw on one’s lap for the ride home in a crowded van following a day at the jobsite.
Not afraid to drink sweet tea, eat grits or alligator, or try fried dill pickles.
Willing to do for free, what most normal people would pay someone else to do at their own home.
Weep with those who’ve lost everything but their faith and their hope.
Laugh with those who can see the amusing side of opening their front door to 3 feet of water.
Celebrate with those who’ve finally made the call to say, “FEMA, come get this trailer out of my front yard!”
Must be young enough to have the idealism need to think they can change the world.
Must be old enough to know that no matter how small the effort, it matters to the one you are able to help, even when countless others wait for assistance.

For Such a Time as This - Answering God's Call to Serve

2009-12-14T18:27:00.000-08:00

The first envelope arrived in October 2009. As registrar for Southern Comfort’s March 2010 mission trip to New Orleans, I was excited to see the registration was from someone I did not know. It still amazes me that people continue to respond to the need to help rebuild following Hurricane Katrina, now more than four years after the storm.

Southern Comfort started when Sandi, a central New York woman, thought to herself, “I have to do something!” as she watched the horror unfold on television in the aftermath of the hurricane, which we all thought at first, “missed” New Orleans. She is active in the Presbyterian Church and quickly organized a Mission and Ministry Team from the Cayuga Syracuse Presbytery that would travel to Mississippi to do what they could in October – not yet two months since the hurricane. She didn’t have a clue what she was starting. And the storm didn’t miss New Orleans or any of the other communities along the Gulf Coast. The damage and destruction stretched from Alabama through Mississippi, across Louisiana and into Texas. It went inland 10 or 15 miles in some places, affecting everyone and everything. Lives were changed – even lives in upstate New York!

October 2005 - D'Iberville, Mississippi
Sandi’s group of 5 women stayed at one of the first Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) Volunteer Villages, in D’Iberville, Mississippi. In response to the hurricane, PDA quickly decided to establish self contained headquarters for volunteers who would travel to the Gulf Coast to lend aid. This was to avoid burdening local churches with the task of rebuilding their churches, their homes, and their livelihoods, while simultaneously playing host to an almost endless stream of volunteers. Eventually, there were villages scattered across Mississippi and Louisiana. And Southern Comfort would visit several of them over the course of the next few years.

On the first trip, they slept in leaky pup tents pitched on a ball diamond in D’Iberville, Mississippi. They helped at the Red Cross feeding center, eating there themselves. They handed out School Kits – those bags of school supplies church ladies have been assembling for decades to send to school kids around the world. This time, the need was in our own back yard and Sandi revealed that she was told to hand them out only to kids. Yet adults, whose homes and possessions had been flooded to the roof rafters, were desperate for anything like a dry piece of paper and a crayon with which to write information such as insurance agents’ phone numbers or instructions, and she handed them out to nearly everyone, asking, “Do you HAVE a child?” “Do you KNOW a child?” Practically before she returned to New York, another trip was being planned for February 2006 – 6 months after the hurricane.

February 20006 – Gautier, Mississippi
It was a total of 36 volunteers that assembled in the PDA Volunteer Village, a collection of little plastic huts clustered at the edge of a cow pasture on the outskirts of the small Mississippi town of Gautier. Because of a long standing cooperative mission relationship with the central New York Presbyery, five people from Campaeche, Mexico rendezvoused with us there, in addition to a small group of people from the Houston, Texas area. (Somebody there read a copy of an upstate NY church newsletter, and that’s how that connection was made.)

The devastation along the coast was nearly overwhelming. We drove the coast road, which was passable since debris had been cleared, but saw mile after mile of totally destroyed homes and businesses. Where houses once stood, only a staircase or brick porch remained. Clothing, plastic and other debris hung tattered from the live oak trees, which had been stripped of their leaves. Some of our group did the back breaking, heart breaking work of helping muck out houses. A couple crews helped families at the rebuilding stage, and many of us helped run the Volunteer Village – answering the “office” phone, pulling out work requests and trying to match the skills (or lack of skills as the case may be) to the jobs that needed to be done. Others used one of the vans we had rented to go shopping each day, and cooked food for the 100 plus volunteers in the make shift kitchen set up in the corner of our dining tent. We showered in a trailer outfitted by a church in the Carolinas with two sets of showers along the side, and a sink room on the end. We stood elbow to elbow beside men shaving as we dried our hair or brushed our teeth. We slept in huts that leaked when it rained, and sloshed our way across the village to the dining tent, and one of our volunteers prayed one night, “God I ask your help for all those sleeping in less comfortable surroundings than we have here.” We knew we’d be back.

October 2006 – Luling, Louisiana

October 2006 saw a group of 28 travel to a suburb of New Orleans, and stay at the PDA FISH Camp, in Luling, LA. All of us mucked out houses on that trip – there was a sense of urgency – we were told there was a looming deadline after which the municipality would no longer pay the fees for hauling away debris. We discovered NOLA in October can be both HOT and HUMID – and later, it turned cold to the point of wearing a hat to breakfast, which made the mucking out a bit easier to handle. Or maybe after a week we had just become used to tearing all the possessions out of a house - walls, ceilings and floors included - and piling them at the street for the refuse trucks to haul away.

April 2007 - Jefferson Parish, New Orleans, Lousiana
April 2007, a group of 4 returned to New Orleans, staying in the Jefferson Parish and doing some rebuilding work on homes – yes, even a group of four can make a difference!

December 2007 – Luling, Louisiana

A group of 17 descended on Luling once again, and this time, helped rebuild two houses. Laura, whose Upper Ninth Ward home was just a shell, was thrilled when the crew installed a front door over the plywood-covered opening, “You’ve made my house a home!” She served red beans and rice, sweet bread and fried chicken when our entire mission team worked there on a Saturday, painting the newly installed siding, and preparing porch poles for painting.

March 2009 – Pearlington, Mississippi

Nineteen people went to Pearlington, Mississippi - surely one of the most unique communities I’ve ever visited. This trip gave us an intense feeling of community as some of our crew were close enough to walk to their job sites and we all gathered each day at the local Baptist Church, to eat lunch prepared by the pastor’s wife, Miss Idella Rawls. She’s been putting on a weekday noontime spread for local folks and volunteers ever since the hurricane. People come in the back door, circle the room to be served, sit at tables, and stand up, leaving their chair to used by the next guest. It is a study in miracles, how that woman serves hundreds of meals each week, in a tiny church kitchen without running water, using a standard kitchen range and refrigerator. They eat on paper using plastic cutlery, but the pots and pans are washed in a shed out front – I hope the health department doesn’t look too closely at the water temperature, and lack of prescribed three bay sinks for washing, rinsing and sanitizing dishes.

The Village hosts a weekly Neighbors' Night when families whose homes are being worked on are invited to the village to share the evening meal, and tell their stories. The high point of the week was to hear about Hezekiah’s joy in seeing all the lights turned on in his house for the first time since the storm, or hearing of Socks, the dog, being able to climb independently a new set of stairs to the new deck on his owner’s elevated house. Before the volunteers came it was accessible only by an extension ladder, and Socks' owner had been carrying this medium sized dog up and down the ladder. Again, it was clear that God wasn’t through rebuilding and restoring the Gulf Coast.

March 2010 – New Orleans, Louisiana

So now we prepare to return, this time to a new PDA housing unit in the eastern suburbs of New Orleans – closer to the work that remains to be done. (A frustration when staying in Luling, which has since been closed, was the long commute to get to the worksites. The hurricane badly damaged the eastern side of the city, leaving the western suburbs largely untouched. That’s where they could put the first NOLA PDA village – there was electricity and municipal water and sewage there, and it wouldn’t be restored to the hardest hit areas for months.)

Our deadline for registrations is this week - we expect to hear from a few more people, and look forward to meeting the folks God calls together for this trip. I love contemporary Christian music, and am reminded of a song by Wayne Watson that speaks of being in a particular place for a specific reason:

For Such a Time as This

For such a time as this

I was placed upon the earth

To hear the voice of God

And do His will

Whatever it is

For such a time as this

For now and all the days He gives

I am here I am here

And I am His

For such a time as this