Katrina Photo Gallery

See photos from some of our mission trips to the Gulf Coast.

How You Can Help

If you wish to make a donation, participate in an upcoming trip, or have any questions at all about Nassau Church and its involvement in the Hurricane Katrina relief efforts, please contact Gretchen Sword (gretchen.sword@gmail.com) by e-mail or phone (609-921-3649). Families interested in partnering with families who are victims of hurricane katrina are also needed.

Youth Mission Trip July 2006

July 1, 2006 37 high school youth and adult advisors left for the Mississippi Gulf Coast to help in the rebuilding process after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. Work tasks changed daily and web updates were made daily! Check out the daily logs to see all the work! Or visit our Katrina Wishlist to see how you can donate.

March Gulf Coast Mission Trip
March 11 – 18, 2006

Participants: Holly Hardaway, John Lane, Claire Mulry, Gretchen Sword, Betty Thompson, Ron Zink, Sallye Zink

Saturday March 11th
Holly, Claire, Betty and I arrived at First Presbyterian Church of Ocean Springs by mid-morning, as we had taken a very early flight out of Philadelphia airport (with many thanks to Doodie Meyer for driving us to the airport!!). We brought our luggage (beds, pillows, work clothes, alarm clocks and all) into our living quarters and ate lunch while we waited for Sallye and Ron to arrive at the church their flight from New Orleans. John was driving down so he arrived late on Sunday night.

We began our Gulf Coast experience by doing a driving tour of the area. This has proven to be a good way to start the trips so that we remind ourselves of the reality and severity of the hurricane. We drove down Highway 90 in Biloxi all the way to Gulfport and visited Betty’s home growing up in Gulfport. A lot of the media coverage of Biloxi has been on this particular highway – it is home to thirteen casinos which generated $80 million a month ($960 mm/year) in revenue before the storm.

We settled into our comfortable accommodations and got groceries for the week in time to enjoy an authentic Mississippi Gulf Coast classic, Aunt Jenny’s…an all you can eat fried catfish joint.

Sunday March 12th
We worshipped at 8:00 with Tabernacle and at 11:00 with First Pres. Both services were moving. At Tabernacle, Pastor Kenneth Davis prayed for us, thanked us, and encouraged each of the families that lost their homes in the storm to come over and hug us. This created a hugging line of children, mothers, fathers, grandmothers and grandfathers which was, indeed, a powerful experience. He thanked us for being good Samaritans by coming – not just sending money, not just praying for them, but by coming to be with our brothers and sisters at Tabernacle. Pastor Davis preached on Psalm 46 which was educational and inspiring. We made it back to First Pres in time for a coffee break and the traditional service at 11:00. Pastor Tim Brown preached on the beatitudes in preparation for lent.

After church we changed into our work clothes and did a half day of work helping prepare the manse for insulation and sheetrock in the coming days. This included framing windows, cutting and stuffing insulation, removing old debris and old windows, sweeping, cleaning and prepping for the work 65 volunteers from Greenville, SC would do in the coming days. Greenville Presbyterian Church has taken on the former manse/future youth building as their special project for First Pres.

For dinner that evening, the group went to Mobile to visit some of Sallye’s favorite places and eat dinner. Gretchen stayed behind to talk with Linda Darphin and Robert Lee (First Pres volunteer coordinators) about identifying a specific project that Nassau could help provide for the church.

Monday, March 13th
Ready for our first assignment of the week, we were charged to go to Burdette Price’s house and see how we could help her. On our assignment sheet that Robert Lee gives each group each day, it listed a lot that needed to be done: install plumbing fixtures, install lighting fixtures, paint, install flooring, electrical work. We set out to tackle this big task. We also were given a little bit of Burdette’s background: she is a single mom with two kids, her house had 4 feet of water, she is an RN, and is living with children in the FEMA trailer on her property.

When we arrived at Burdette’s we quickly found that the family was much larger than we anticipated. Burdette’s mother was briefly living with them, Burdette’s sister and her twin 6 year olds, Rowdy and Dakota, Burdette’s 17- year old daughter was visiting from Dallas where she was evacuated after the storm and is still living there, and 8-year old Kenny, Burdette’s son.

Ron began on the electrical work; shortly thereafter he discovered major electrical problems and spent the greater part of this day in the unbearably hot crawl space/ attic. Because any house that took any substantial amount of salt water has to be entirely rewired, many unlicensed and untrained people posing as licensed electricians have done shoddy electrical work, leaving families like Burdette’s exposed to electrical fires. Ron fixed the problematic electrical connections while mumbling under his breath.

John, Sallye and Burdette head to Lowe’s for the necessary supplies while Holly, Claire, Betty and Gretchen start priming and painting the walls. Burdette’s home was one of the farthest along in the rebuilding process we have seen in our trips. Many more homes still need insulation and sheetrock, mold removal, or complete tear downs.

While we were preparing to install the first sink, we had a small accident…the sink broke. We offered to pay for it, Burdette offered to pay for it, but in the end a gift card donated to First Pres paid to replace the sink.

That evening, we ate Mexican and read Romans 12:1 – 13 and reflected on the day and our experiences thus far.

Tuesday, March 14th
We return to Burdette’s home ready to install the toilets...only to find that one toilet Burdette purchased yesterday at Lowe’s is cracked. Sallye and Burdette take another trip to Lowe’s to return the broken toilet. John gets busy taking measurements, cutting, and installing ceramic tiling in Burdette’s bathroom. Ron is ecstatic that he won’t spend today in the attic and he begins installing two new light fixtures; one in each bathroom.

Holly, Claire, Betty and Gretchen paint two bedrooms and finish the paint job in the living room and kitchen. Betty and Ron prep the cement floors for flooring, which will come after we’ve finished the paint jobs. Ron gives a very instructional tutorial on how to hang doors. The new toilet arrives and Ron and John (who by now have earned the nickname “RonJohn the dream team”) install it. They start on the sink for Burdette’s bathroom only to find that the pedestal sink she has chosen requires plumbing parts we don’t have. Lowe’s trip number three…but who’s counting?

We managed to finish a lot of work and grab a shower at the YMCA before we met D’Auby Schiel and her ya-ya counterparts for a delicious dinner at Phoencia’s. Meeting D’Auby, Barbara, and Becky was indeed, a highlight for everyone on the trip. We shared common history (D’Auby and Sallye were both raised in Mobile, AL), and talked about the reality in which people are living seven months after the storm. We gained unique insight from D’Auby who is the chairman of the finance committee for Governor Haley Barbour’s commission on Recovery, Rebuilding and Renewal. We tried, in vain, to pay for our meal but Southern hospitality exuded when the ya-ya’s shouted, “Your Yankee money is no good here!”

Wednesday, March 15th
We were fortunate that we were able to repay D’Auby in a small way by doing some work D’Auby and her husband John needed done around the house before they could start rebuilding. D’Auby and John were not as far along in the process of rebuilding as Burdette was. The irony is that Burdette is an RN at the hospital where D’Auby is on the board of directors. Lesson learned: it is hard to generalize at all about this storm – it affected black and white, rich and poor, Christian or not, without discrimination.

We helped take out lighting fixtures, tore down ceiling sheetrock, ripped out insulation, moved a generator, removed nails from studs, and tore out moldy sheetrock in order to prep the house for the electrical work and insulation that the contractor will put in.

Ron and Sallye went to help cut fiber-glass insulation for the manse while the rest of us finished up our work with John Schiel. When we left he was so thankful: since he is the only person doing the work on the home, he said, it probably would have taken him three weeks to do the work we did. Now they can get started on rebuilding.

On our way to the Wednesday night prayers service at Tabernacle, we brought medical supplies (from Betty’s doctor in Princeton) to a doctor working for a clinic in D’Iberville. The prayer service was a brief one (45 minutes) that night because Pastor Davis wanted the congregation to attend a rally at another church to protest the government’s promised, but not actualized, money. Again, the congregation thanked us, asked Gretchen to introduce her guests, and prayed for us.

We had dinner at the Mellow Mushroom pizza place.

Thursday, March 16th
At the Wednesday night prayer service, Sister Annie Stewart asked us to come over to her house in East Biloxi to see if the salt water had damaged her air conditioner to the point that she’d have to buy a new one. Because we have worked in this neighborhood before, and knew how much water it had taken (15 – 20 feet), we were doubtful that the air conditioning unit would still work. We were happy to check, though, and the RonJohn dream team got to work hotwiring the connection into the house. Later, we discovered the power had not yet been restored to this street, making it impossible to test the air conditioning unit.

Sister Annie and her friend have been living in the FEMA trailer parked in her old driveway since the storm. She is fortunate that groups from both Presbyterian Disaster Assistance and the Moravian Disaster Relief have helped to rebuild her home. They done all the demolition work, and reconstruction work, and she is almost ready to move back home.

Annie, like every one else in this neighborhood lost everything in the storm – including all of her furniture. She was ecstatic to show us the couch and chair set that Tabernacle gave her. One of the tiny storm miracles was this: this couch and chair came from a 30-piece donation that a landlord donated to First Pres of Ocean Springs. (The landlord’s connection to First Pres was through Barbara Delano, ya-ya sister). Because Nassau has made the connection with Tabernacle, Robert Lee (at First Pres) facilitated 15 couches and chairs to be given to Tabernacle congregants. And the only furniture in Sister Annie’s home was one of these couches and one of these chairs.

We then took out a rotten and corroded hot water heater that had also been covered with salt water, and hauled it to the street. There wasn’t anymore work that Sister Annie wanted us to do so we drove down the street to Sister Lasseter’s house, where we did some clean out in January as well.

Reverend Thurman at Tabernacle asked us to try to tear down a shed that still remained on Sister Lasseter’s property. The last time we were here we received a note that this home was condemned and will eventually be cleaned up by the city. We gave the shed our best shot: we took the poison sumac off the shed and started to rip off the rusted tin roof but soon enough, Gretchen was the party pooper who declared this job unsafe. So we left the shed for the bulldozers.

Unfortunately, Tabernacle did not seem to have more people who needed help. Our usual contact, Romeo Brown, had recently left his job as Harrison County volunteer coordinator to go back to his job before the storm, tourism director. We were disheartened but not ready to throw in the towel on the rest of the afternoon.

Now that we were all exposed to poison sumac, it was definitely time to take a shower. We shower up back at First Pres and eat lunch, and then divide up: one team to canvas the nearby neighborhood with door hangers that the church had just gotten in that read, “We want to be a good neighbor – how can we help you?” the door hanger went on to read that volunteer groups would be happy to help neighbors clean debris, start rebuilding, and help with more skilled labor. The other team helped clean up the never ending debris that was still all over the church property. We went to the creek with gloves and trash bags – though a tedious job, it is one that will have to be done (by hand) all over the Gulf Coast. While we were cleaning up one side of the creek, a group of about 100 college students were cleaning the creek itself and clearing debris – the end result was two massive piles of scrap wood, garbage, pieces of sheds and houses – and the creek turned from black to dark brown. Proof that, “We Can Do It, Y’All!!”

John and Gretchen drove to St. Martin’s Elementary School North in Ocean Springs to deliver the leveled reading books that Lynn Charles sent down with John. The school is still very much in disarray – the front doors and front office unusable. The two wings with classrooms were being used again, however the connecting hallway in between has been destroyed so the children have to walk out and around the building to get to the playground and other side of the building. The school office was very appreciative but clearly overworked.

We ate dinner at the locals-only BBQ joint, The Shed and had devotion on Psalm 138.

Friday, March 17th
Unfortunately, we hadn’t heard back from Tabernacle so we called Burdette to see if we could finish what we started: install one more sink, paint Burdette’s room, paint one more wall in Kenny’s room, finishing prepping the floors for flooring: some finishing touches to get Burdette and her family back in their home.

Come to find out, after all the hard work the RonJohn team did to install Burdette’s sink, it was too large to fit in the space designated for it in her bathroom. She suggested we move the larger sink into the other bath room and she’d go use her gift card to purchase a smaller sink for her bathroom. (Trip 1,768,901 to Lowe’s) So RonJohn worked on taking the larger sink out and installing it in the other bathroom while Sallye, Betty, Holly, Claire and Gretchen did the finishing touches on Kenny’s bedroom, painted Burdette’s bedroom, prepped the cement floors for flooring, finished up the kitchen painting job and generally cleaned up the house.

We finished in time for Holly, Claire and Sallye to support the local economy by buying Crocs, Life is Good© T-Shirts, and flip-flops. We then had our last dinner together at McElroy’s – an upscale seafood place right on the Bayou. We talked about how we will get the message out to people at home, how this experience changed our faith, the qualities of each participant that made this trip so successful and the importance of our ongoing trips. We said goodbye tonight as Sallye and Ron were waking up at 3 AM for their flight out of New Orleans, John was driving to Memphis bright and early the next morning, and Holly, Claire and Betty were hopping on the first plane out of Gulfport.

January Gulf Coast Mission Trip
January 10 – 17th, 2006

Participants: Christina Chilson, Meredith Doby, Gretchen Sword, Zach Sweet, Dave Wells

We arrived at First Presbyterian Church of Ocean Springs late Tuesday afternoon to a beautiful sunset along the hurricane ravaged coast. The group settled into our comfortable living quarters at the church by playing cards, doing puzzles and reading scripture.

Wednesday

The First Presbyterian Church’s volunteer coordinator, Robert Lee sent us to our first assignment – the Ocean Springs distribution center - which proved to be a good way to begin the week and really grasp the severity of the storm, 4 ½ months later. Here, we met the larger-than-life staff people, Ned and Brian, as well as swarms of volunteers helping to organize the warehouse full of donations. Our team was quickly assigned the personal care and hygiene palettes which were stacked in boxes with no organization, which made distributing the products a daunting task for Ned and Brian. We worked alongside a professor from Winston-Salem College who was leading a relief trip for college students during their January term.

While sorting through boxes of donated soap, shampoo, conditioner, lotion, toothpaste and toothbrushes, we discovered that many donations had been shipped from Princeton. Also notable was a shipment from a group called, “9/11 families for Hurricane Katrina victims.”

In the afternoon, we got to work with the families that were receiving the goods. This job entailed meeting people at their cars with a questionnaire about their family needs. We determined how many people were in their family (therefore how much food they needed), where they were from, ages of the children, and their needs. We went down a checklist: food, water, diapers, baby food, personal hygiene, feminine hygiene, cleaning products, paper products, and other. The ‘drive-thru’ format of the distribution center required that many volunteers’ hands went to fetch the family’s needs. One common request for the ‘other’ category was for linens – sheets, towels, pillows and pillowcases – all of these used donated goods from all over the country.

That night we experienced a highlight of the trip – Wednesday night church at Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church in D’Iberville, MS. Words were not sufficient to fully describe this amazing experience, but we were greeted with warm hugs and the grace of the body of Christ. Gretchen got to speak for her second speaking appearance in church – she introduced the group, explained what we’d been doing, and expressed gratitude for the warm welcome we always receive. Interesting to note, Pastor Davis (of Tabernacle) specifically requested for volunteers in the future with a legal background or simply the ability to read to help his congregation get through the cumbersome paperwork they will face in the coming months.

Thursday

In the morning, we helped with the construction crews working in the basement of First Presbyterian Church. Since the basement of the church had been underwater, the entire basement had to be gutted and rebuilt. The work has mostly been done by contractors, but we helped de-tile the now moldy floor tiles. We helped with some work at Pastor Tim Brown’s manse as well. Mostly, this was just bringing debris to the road but it was invaluable help as the debris was large and unmovable by machine – only by human hands. We also helped around the church – doing things that Robert Lee would never ask us to do, but we took the initiative to help out: clean out and organize the communal refrigerator, clean the kitchen, clean the bathrooms, clean the fellowship hall. We were happy we could help in small ways so that all the groups staying at the church could benefit.

In the afternoon, Robert sent us to Angie Simmons’ house to help rip out some moldy dry wall/sheet rock. We were introduced to her as an employee of D’Auby Schiel – steel magnolia, ya-ya leader, and CEO of Community Bank…more on D’Auby later. When we met Angie, she explained to us that she and her three little boys were living between their moldy, torn-apart house and their FEMA trailer in the front yard. She showed us the bathroom where she needed some help ripping out the dry-wall in crevices and hard to reach places. As she explained their living situation, she said she’d been using this bathroom also as her kitchen sink, and as she talked we watched as the tears welled up in her eyes. We later learned after we took out all of the sheetrock and the sink in question that she called Robert Lee and D’Auby Schiel with audible tears and many thanks.

Friday

We encountered our most difficult and emotionally straining job on Friday. Deacon Romeo Brown from Tabernacle Missionary Baptist church gave us a few phone numbers of folks who needed help. One of these numbers was Reverend Thurman. When we called the Reverend he said yes, he needed help cleaning his yard up but that Ms. Lasseter needed more help, since her house hadn’t been touched since the storm (four and a half months ago).

We got the directions and arrived at Ms.Lasseter’s – in Biloxi, MS a few blocks from the casinos, and next door to the Salvation Army’s makeshift headquarters (a former high school football stadium ironically named ‘Yankie Stadium’). Our first observation was that the roof was hanging on to the house by a thread – and blowing in the wind. When the key Deacon Brown gave us didn’t fit in the door because the door was so swollen, Dave Wells shouldered his way in – managing to still leave the door intact!

Words wouldn’t begin to describe what we saw at Ms.Lasseter’s but the pictures might shed more light than my words can. The team spent most of Friday bringing larger pieces of furniture out to the road and beginning to tear down the cockroach-infested walls. When I had to leave to go pick Zach up from the airport (he was arriving later than the rest of the crew), I left the group at Ms. Lasseter’s to work for the afternoon, and I was so impressed with their willingness to work on this project that seemed hopeless. But Meredith, Dave and Christina saw hope where there was none, walked in where others walked out, and truly embodied the spirit of Christ in this project.

By the time we got Zach (and his luggage), the crew and all the tools back in our cramped rental car, it was sunset. We arrived back at the church and headed to the local YMCA/YWCA where they have opened their doors (and showers) to volunteers and relief workers. We all enjoyed long, hot showers after some hard work. After dinner at Applebee’s (unbelievably – all the restaurants in Ocean Springs had hour-long waits for dinner!) we came back to the church where we played the card game Hearts, and made up the rule that after each round, we’d pass the bible from person to person and read whatever scripture each person wanted.

Saturday

For Dave, Meredith, Christina, Robert and me, Saturday was our rest day – and we took a road trip to New Orleans and stopped along the way in Bay St. Louis and Waveland to see where the eye-wall of the storm hit. While the destruction and devastation we’ve seen everywhere else was horrific, this was almost incomprehensible…there was absolutely nothing left. Places where one could conceive a house might have been – but no evidence of one anywhere. There are very few photos of this experience as we were all speechless and spellbound…and cameras seemed so touristy when people’s lives were completely washed away.

We enjoyed the road trip a lot, stopped at the Mississippi welcome center where we learned that free soda was a regular way to be welcomed to the state. We all noticed on the bridge coming across Lake Ponchartrain how high the water was even on a clear, sunny day. When we arrived, we went straight to the French Quarter, as folks had forewarned us that they were not letting people into the still ravaged 9th ward. We walked every street: saw art galleries, the Louisiana Supreme Court (where ‘separate but equal’ was upheld in Homer Adolph Plessy v. The State of Louisiana – commonly known as Plessy v. Ferguson – the judge who ruled the state could regulate railroad cars within Louisiana and separate but equal could stand – in 1896), we even got some true New Orleans street party flavor as Bourbon street was closed for ‘Pardi Gras’ (we’re still unsure if there was any reason for Pardi Gras).

While we were having a blast in New Orleans, Zach was hard at work with a fellow volunteer staying at the church with us, John. They hung doors and sheetrock all day and enjoyed the chance to work together. We met Zach back at the church by 9 PM.

Sunday

We were delighted to attend church services with the congregation at First Presbyterian Church of Ocean Springs. They recognized and thanked us for being there, we were able to witness a baptism (Nathanial Ethridge) and experience a different kind of church service than we are used to at Nassau.

After church, D’Auby Schiel (pronounced Dough-Bee) took us to eat at Al Fresco, a delicious Italian restaurant in Ocean Springs. D’Auby brought her good friend, Ms. Holly, clearly a saint of the church. We appreciated this long brunch where we were able to hear some of the storm stories, four and half months later from D’Auby. Some highlights (or low lights):
- Of 68,000 homes damaged or destroyed, 53 Small Business Association loans have been approved. These loans are supposed to be available, up to $200,000 with a 2.68% interest rate over a 30 year term.
- D’Auby, chair of Governor Barbour’s finance committee for the Governor’s Commission on Recovery, Rebuilding and Renewal, just got her yard full of debris cleaned out by the Army Corps of Engineers (who are contracted through FEMA). She raised this not for celebration but to say, if it took 4½ months for her, how long will it take for a person without a fax machine, an assistant to constantly send the fax (it takes most of the day to get through), or the education to know to be persistent and unrelenting in her efforts.

We left from lunch feeling renewed and inspired…and ready to tackle Ms. Lasseter’s house again. We changed from church clothes to work clothes and headed back to Biloxi for an afternoon of work. Unfortunately, though, as we got down farther and farther to the studs of the house, it was clear that this house had no hope. Not only was the roof off and the ceiling caving in (or gone in some parts) but the floor was weak in many places. The team did one last effort to clean out larger items before the sun set and then we threw in the towel on Ms. Lasseter’s house.

Monday

We went over to see Reverend Thurman to see if we could help clean out his yard – but the yard had already been cleaned by some other volunteer group, so we helped clean a few things from a shed behind his house and some debris still left there but mostly we got a chance to hear him speak. On the first trip we took in October, it was Reverend Thurman who gave the sermon at Tabernacle the Wednesday we attended church. Quick as a whip, he immediately recognized Gretchen and we had a wonderful chance to fellowship with him, see his new FEMA trailer, and see his gutted house beginning to be rebuilt. His was one of the only ones in the neighborhood that was actually able to be rebuilt and slowly but surely, he would rebuild. Rev. Thurman told us of the disparity of price quotes to repair his house, specifically his heating and air conditioning installation: price quotes came in from $15,000 to $6,000 and everywhere in between. We spent some time talking with the Reverend and then went on our way to Brother Cecil Coleman’s house.

On the way to Cecil Coleman’s we came to realize that his house needed electrical work before we could begin hanging sheet rock – our designated task for the day. The good Christian he is, he sent us to his next-door neighbors: Tom and Patsy Sphinx, who needed help hanging ceiling sheet rock – a particularly difficult task. Thankfully, we had some taller members in our crew (not Gretchen but everyone else was tall) so we took the ceiling task with ease. We also recruited Robert Lee to help us with the task as it required knowledge about the size of each piece of sheet rock to cut in order to fit it into smaller sized rooms. What seemed initially like a quick afternoon task ended up taking most of the day!! Ceiling sheet rock is HARD. But we got it done with team work and collective brain power. Tom and Patsy, the homeowners were wonderful people to work with and we found we had many similarities: Dave rowed crew at Rutgers, their son rowed crew at Boston University, Christina loves Diet Coke, Patsy also loves Diet Coke, Dave studied urban forestry, Patsy is dedicated to preserving the historic trees on the gulf coast, Gretchen and her grandmother use the women’s slogan from Rosy the Riveter “We Can Do It,” Patsy had a wonderful painted rendition of Rosy the Riveter on her front lawn, “We Can Do It Y’All.” The story behind this beautiful painting (which Patsy gave us a print of) was that an artist who owned an historic house in Gulfport that was destroyed by the storm painted this version of the painting – complete with magnolias, a tear and a pencil behind her ear – and hung it on her storm ravaged house. It became so popular that she made prints of the painting on signs that people could hang in front of their houses. We found many things in common with the Sphinx family and it was truly the hand of God in our midst that we were able to work with them for our final day of work.

Some People and Places on the Gulf Coast – October 2005
A Mission Report to the Congregation at Nassau Presbyterian Church

by Nick Van Dyck

Seven of us from Nassau Presbyterian Church spent a week in place new to six of us. Marti Reed Hazelrigg, our coordinator, introduced us to friends of hers from the days when she was Director of Youth Ministry at First Presbyterian Church in Ocean Springs, Mississippi. Among these were several strong women who are leading their community along the rough road to recovery after Katrina. We call them Steel Magnolias. Here’s why.

From the airport in Gulfport, Marti drove us through Bay St. Louis to Ocean Springs. At every turn we saw homes flattened by 100 mile an hour winds, then inundated by surges from the Gulf that reached 32 to 39 feet. After the surges many homes were left underwater up to their roof lines. Weeks after the water subsided homes and businesses remained soaked. Torn sheets and clothing, as well as the occasional sailboat, hung limp in the branches of sturdy Live Oaks.

For many, insurance was debated. “No, no. What you’ve got is not flood damage. It’s wind damage and it’s not covered. Sorry.” FEMA and many of their subcontractors were not following through five weeks after the fact. Red Cross hot lunches from friendly folk in roaming vans were seen often. Their clinics and subsistence aid stations were helping many. But homes had to be abandoned by thousands. We met them through our host congregations, First Presbyterian Church in Oceans Springs, and Tabernacle Baptist Church in D’lberville.

One of our Steel Magnolias, Daub’y, is the CEO of The Community Bank. Her main branch featured an sign that scrolled through the date, temperature and the “under His wings you will find refuge” text from Psalm 91. She took us to dinner one night with two other Steel Magnolias, her colleague Susan and another business woman, Barbara, who manages land sales in the area. At dinner and later in a circle at the bank we learned indirectly about the pressures they faced. A ninety day waiver on mortgage payments for owners of damaged homes gave everyone a short breather except the banks’ portfolios of mortgages that had not yet been sold to Fannie Mae or similar institutions. Would these mortgages ever be paid? January will tell. In the meantime business goes on. Loans go forward. Many of the financially hardest hit are middle class folk with ruined homes and businesses. Both of “our” churches face heavy reconstruction costs.

Our work team was divided one day. Half cleaned up the debris that littered the lovely garden of Mabelle, who that same day was back in the hospital for tests following her liver transplant. We never met, but there is small doubt how she felt about the bit of help we could give in restoring her garden. The other part of our team faced a yard of fallen trees with skilled chain saw work and promising efforts by two Nassau apprentice arborists. On another day the whole team tore out soaked sheetrock for a roofer who had been busy getting schools ready to open again, leaving his own home to suffer the ravages of mold and damp decay.

First Presbyterian Church not only providing a place to shower at the end of dirty days and a place to sleep, it also bought a large supply of face masks, pick axes, shovels, wheel barrows, hammers, crow bars and much more. All this was ably organized by another important player in this drama, Robert, a
volunteer from Georgia, who is spending his weeks helping teams from many churches hosted by this congregation. His efficiency is graced by a ready and often healing sense of humor.

Friends of Marti, Barbara, as well as Bob and Ann, took us out to dinner on two more occasions. Efforts to “go Dutch” were courteously but firmly rebuffed. Conversations gave more insights into the capacities of grace to help challenged and often beleaguered folk get up and do what needs to be done. Around those tables our bodies were well nourished, as were our souls.

Tabernacle Baptist members face similar reconstruction tasks, but for the time being the needs of members come first. Several friends of the congregation, including Nassau Church, have sent substantial gifts. These are to be distributed to members for their own needs first, while the congregation meets for worship in an undamaged nearby building that doubles as a relief supply storeroom for the community. Tabernacle Baptist’s relief work in their community, including our team’s work, was coordinated by another able manager of people and their feelings under stress, Deacon Romeo Brown. He not only gave us clear instructions for our assignment, he took precious time from his day to drop by and see how we were getting along and, as did many others, he thanked us and in turn the congregation at Nassau.

None of the women at Tabernacle Baptist are senior citizens, but many are pleased to be known as seasoned saints. Our team worked for a day and a half at the home of one seasoned saint, Shirley. She had carried out what she could to temporary housing. We gutted her home of its once-soaked, now moldy sheetrock, being careful to wear face masks to avoid breathing in cement dust and mold spores. Everything – grand Sunday hats, beautiful church dresses, costume jewelry, half full bottles of Cajun sauce or shampoo, books, magazines, illegibly soaked letters – all had to be thrown out next to the street for pick up by great cranes with huge jaws that opened into waiting trucks. It was a sad task, saying goodbye to memories of a lifetime for Shirley. Two strapping young men from a Hands On USA team down the street masterfully helped “seasoned” Nassau team members with this heavy task. Yes, we saw hundreds, there were doubtless thousands, of volunteers doing what we were doing. The residents we met knew that others cared in spite of the systemic failures of some reconstruction efforts.

Wednesday evening we worshipped at Tabernacle Baptist Church. The young people’s choir got us started with the stunning improvisational skills of the church’s keyboard artist. He continued to guide our emotional engagement with the service. There were testimonies about God’s grace at work in several harrowing circumstances, sermons by two fine preachers, news about the gifts to the church and singing with no hymnbooks. (We all knew most of the words. Some were lined out for us.) After the altar call, we all went forward for evening prayers. We began by holding hands with two others as each of us prayed. My partners were a young man, I guess to be seventeen, and his significant friend. A little later in the service when we returned to our chairs, he sat next to me. As the service drew to a close the pastor asked each of us to turn to a near neighbor and say “I love you.” He did. I did. Our eyes locked together for a moment. This account was shared with the members of our team at one of our devotional services that ended each day. Those words and the lingering look became a benediction for our week.

We went to give, and received much, time and time again. To you, our Nassau congregation, we say thanks for being where you are and sending us where we’ve been. Marti, Diana, Gretchen, Andrew, Bob, John and Nick.

Nassau's Ongoing Response to Hurricane Katrina

Under the direction of the Session, and with the help of an advisory task force and the support of the Mission Committee, our relief efforts continue to take shape. It is our intent to make plans that will nurture the most effective response over an extended period of time. To date, members and friends of Nassau Church have contributed almost $25,000 to hurricane relief. The first half of funds collected went to Presbyterian Disaster Assistance through our denomination’s national office. The second half of funds will be distributed through newly established partnerships with congregations in the Gulf Coast area.

Associate Pastor Marti Reed Hazelrigg has returned from a trip to the area of Ocean Springs-Biloxi-Gulfport. With fresh information and understanding we offer these updated plans to our congregation and any who would choose to join us in these efforts.

1. We are currently developing partnerships with the First Presbyterian Church of Ocean Springs and the Missionary Baptist Church of D’Iberville. With these relationships we hope to both honor our Presbyterian connectionalism and reach beyond cultural and racial-ethnic boundaries. Funds collected will go to the relief efforts of these congregations.

2. A mission trip for 12-15 adults is being planned for the week of October 23rd. Participants will help remove debris from flooded homes, look to meet sisters and brothers in these congregations, and do the necessary research for future trips and programs. Please contact the church office if you are interested.

3. Through the leadership of our church school and the Board of Deacons we are looking to develop and launch a family partner program. We will be connecting individuals and families with folks in these congregations. While not wanting to burden church leaders there, we will continue to make these plans and announce more information in the next few weeks.

4. We will establish an administrative team here to begin to arrange trips several times throughout the coming months.