A work crew from St. John, Sumneytown, at Camp Victor in Ocean Springs, MS.

December 7, 2008

Dear Friends of Our Gulf Coast Brothers and Sisters,

November 22nd I returned home after serving one week in Ocean Springs, Mississippi. As many of you know, I have been going to the Gulf Coast since Hurricane Katrina. Each experience there is different, rewarding and sometimes more challenging than usual. 

I traveled to Camp Victor with the volunteer work team from St. John’s Lutheran Church, Sumneytown.  The team worked on two houses still uninhabitable three years and three months after Katrina. One house belonged to a 92-year-old woman who recently said to her daughter, “I want to go home now.”  Her daughter, Marianne, and husband lost their entire home to a tornado that followed Katrina.  Marianne was hoping that if two rooms and the kitchen were finished, they could move her mother back into the family home.  Our team fixed doors and windows so they could be opened, and repaired an area in the ceiling where water leaked after the roof was replaced.  Two team members discovered the lack of a seal around a vent pipe.  Another project was preparing kitchen cabinets for staining or painting. Volunteers who had worked there previously made new doors for the upper cabinets.

Marianne’s mother is closer to returning to her home.

The other house our team worked on belongs to a young couple with two children, ages two and eight.  Both children have health problems and mom keeps busy caring for them.  They are living in a mobile home with a blue tarp on the roof.  The inside of the mobile home is rotting and moldy. The family is anxious to move back into their house. Our team spackled, sanded and painted.  The bathroom and kitchen are just empty rooms.

The family is closer to returning to their home.

Then there is the third house.  Three generations of women live in this home greatly in need of repair. The roof leaks and shorts out the heating system.  Although the autumn days in Mississippi can be quite pleasant and warm, the night temperatures do drop to the 20’s and 30’s. I was not inside this house, but Evelyn, a volunteer from Washington, visited the ladies at their home and here is what she wrote:  “The grandmother, Ms.Gwen, just had a second pace maker put in.   Her daughter, Erica had a third surgery on her knee which was damaged at work five years ago.  The first two surgeries were not successful (2003 and 2006). She has had no rotation all this time. The high schooler is a gentle sweet girl, very quiet.  The squirrels get in through the holes in the roof and siding and probably through the floor. I suggested to her that she put anything squirrels might eat into plastic containers to foil the little critters.  She thought that was a good idea. It must be like living a B movie with critters running inside the walls at night and imagination running loose.  It wouldn't give me a good night's sleep.”

Who will fix this home?

In Mississippi, 5,503 families are receiving assistance from the Mississippi Case Management Consortium.  The case management services are part of the FEMA grant that will conclude in March 2009.  Eligible recipients under this grant are families living in FEMA temporary housing.  FEMA plans to remove all trailers by February 28, 2009.  I asked a case manager her thoughts about the outcome.  She said there will be many more homeless people in MS living in cars and tents.

The good news is that volunteers continue repairing homes and total rebuilds may soon begin. Please tell others about Hurricane Katrina recovery. Tell them everything is not OK.  There is a need for housing, a need for volunteers, and a need for advocates.

Let’s make it our purpose to pray for those families and individuals in recovery from Katrina and all disasters.  For many, there will be no return to normal.  Community as it existed, favorite gathering places, favorite restaurants – all are gone.

I thank the Lord for being able to travel to the Gulf Coast and serve families who are having their homes repaired.  I also have the opportunity to revisit families who are residing in their newly renovated homes.  On behalf of these families, I want to let you know they are truly grateful and appreciative of all blessings received through the generosity of volunteers.  I am constantly hearing “if it would not be for the volunteers we would not be where we are today.” 

“He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way for your great generosity, which will produce thanksgiving to God through us; for the rendering of this ministry not only supplies the needs of the saints but also overflows with many thanksgivings to God.” 2 Corinthians 9:10-12

 In Christ’s Love,

 Linda

Linda Frey
Lutheran Disaster Response
Southeastern Pennsylvania
(610) 847-5775
(610) 657-4730 (c)