Katrina Snowbird Mission Trip

Our Snowbird Mission trip to New Orleans began with us reading Exodus 3. Moses was called by God to lead his people out of Egypt. Moses was hesitant. He didn't feel that he could do the task asked by God and he wasn't sure how it would go. But, with the Lord's help, he was successful. We left for Louisiana not knowing exactly what we would be doing and we weren't sure how our skills fit with the needs of the people there. Along the way we learned that we had abilities that we didn't realize and that we could make a difference.

Dale and Char Allen, Howard and Connie Reinschmidt, Niel and Beth Wiegand and Pastor Karen arrived at the Dove of Peace Mission Center in Slidell, LA just in time for dinner Sunday evening, Feb 4. We joined about 70 other volunteers for a meal of tacos, beans and rice. Most of us were not sure what we would be doing for the next week.

On Monday morning we found out that we would be helping Steve paint his home. Steve, along with many in Slidell, had had extensive flood damage to his home. The lack of schools for the first months after the storm forced Steve and his wife to send their children to Illinois to live with grandparents. Steve, we found, had taken the destruction of Katrina and turned it into an opportunity to remodel his home. He was expanding his family room and kitchen along with adding a guest room and bath. Six months into this project his wife was diagnosed with breast cancer and is just now wrapping up treatment. Steve continued to do most of the work himself but was now reaching the point that he needed help. We spent 2 1/2 days painting. We weren't able to finish all of the painting but Steve planned to get some additional help from his teenage children to finish the job. He's planning to move back together as a family with in the next two months.

After working with Steve we were asked to help Sammy. Sammy is a cajun matriarch. We learned that she had just gotten the final building inspection clearance allowing her to move from her FEMA trailer back into her home of 40 years. Because of her bursitis she needed help cleaning and moving furniture. Sammy's home is on a canal within sight of Lake Pontchartrain. When the Katrina storm surge flooded the lake, her home was inundated. We got to spend an afternoon helping Sammy. She was always upbeat and glad to be moving back into her house.

Helping Merry was much different from Steve and Sammy. Merry's mobile home is in a rural area several miles from the water. While there was no flooding on her community, a tree had fallen leaving a hole in her roof and a limb poking down into a closet. With Merry's fixed income she had lived with it ever since the storm. She couldn't pay to have it removed and she could not afford to move. At the same time the limited extent of the damage did not qualify her for a FEMA trailer. By the time we arrived at Merry's home the tree had been removed, roof fixed and two other volunteers were repairing water damaged and rotted flooring. We helped by doing general cleaning and painting. Merry herself was in the hospital recovering from pneumonia. By Friday afternoon we had found that Merry needed help beyond what we could provide. Her sewer line was broken and her septic system was failing. While we had worked hard to make her home livable, we were afraid that she would not be able to return home soon.

One afternoon we drove through some of the other neighborhoods devastated by Katrina. In some neighborhoods we saw blocks of homes gutted but little work started to repair the damage. In other neighborhoods we saw FEMA trailers in many front yards as families worked to rebuild. We even saw some neighborhoods with no sign of Katrina. Businesses are also struggling. We saw business districts with many storefronts still boarded up. Estimates are that it will be another five years before all of the area returns to normalcy.

Our Snowbird Mission Trip was more than just painting and cleaning. Everywhere we went people wanted to tell us their story. We heard of rescues in the midst of the storm, we heard complaints of government bureaucracy slowing down the rebuilding efforts and we heard of inadequate insurance settlements leaving homeowners to struggle to rebuild. Everyone we helped had been working since Sept 2005 to restore their home, neighborhood and community. They really appreciated someone taking the time to come help and listen.

During our week of working together our team made use of the skills of each of us. Sometimes we needed to know the right tool or technique to get the job done, a strong back or the right cleanser. Other times we needed a good listener and still other times we needed some joking around and a good song.

During our week in Louisiana we made a difference in three families' lives. Along the way we had a little fun and learned something about ourselves but through it all we knew that God was with us helping us along each step of the way.

Thank you Hosanna for your support and prayers for this venture.