Immanuel helps rebuild communities in New Orleans

Monday

August 27th

 
This morning – early at 4:30 AM – 14 people assembly at the Rochester International Airport to begin a journey to Slidell, Louisiana. They include 10 members of Immanuel, 3 members of Transfiguration (Irondequoit) and one member of a Lutheran Church in Buffalo. Among the members of Immanuel are 6 young adults. The purpose of this trip is to help rebuild homes damaged by hurricane Katrina two years ago. While they are in Slidell, they are staying at Peace Lutheran Church.

As we have learned from the two trips already made by Immanuel to the Gulf Coast, the damage remains. Many families are years away from receiving the assistance they need to rebuild. Lutheran Disaster Response continues to be a presence with groups from across the country traveling to provide labor. In addition to the labor our group will provide, they have access to the funds needed to purchase the materials they will use. Through the generosity of members and friends of Immanuel – $4,800. Through the generosity of Thrivent for Lutherans - $4,200. A total of $9,000! This means they will work on the homes of families who do not have the insurance settlements or their own resources to purchase materials – in other words they will be working with the poor and needy in Louisiana. All because of your offerings and second-mile giving!

Wednesday

August 29th

    

Hi all!

Our first day in New Orleans has been great and exhausting at the same time! We are staying at Peace Lutheran Church located in Slidell, which is the nearest suburban community north of New Orleans, and they have been wonderful. There are two floors in the church, and on the second floor there are two huge bedrooms with bunk beds where we are staying. There is a kitchen downstairs, along with a sanctuary. In the backyard, there is a mission center that was built just after the Hurricane Katrina. There is a large kitchen along with quite a few tables, and two bedrooms which have housed more volunteers in the past. There are also more bathrooms and plenty of showers to go around!


This morning we got up at 6 am to eat and made our way over to Bethlehem Lutheran in New Orleans for our orientation. There we were able to pick up our work kits, which consisted of work gloves, goggles, sunscreen, bug spray.. and much more. We learned to be careful of poisonous snakes and spiders, and to drink lots of water! We were also given a brief history of LDR (Lutheran Disaster Relief) and the hurricane. LDR is an organization that has helped set up and fund many camps in the Gulf Region, and has provided much relief to hurricane victims. However, they are pulling their funds from these camps at the end of this month. This is a problem as Christine, the girl at Peace Lutheran who organizes the volunteers, has been funded by LDR and will lose funding as of Saturday. Also, the only camp that will stay open in the Gulf Coast Region is Bethlehem. In other words, we are the last group that will be able to stay at a church/mission center for next to nothing (our group contributed $1000 to help offset the expenses of the center during our stay). The next work group that comes down will have to pay about double what we are paying. That's a lot of money! Especially with the amount of work that STILL has to be done.


This is my first time coming down here, and I am absolutely awed at how much has NOT been completed. Our first job of the week was to help a 67 year-old great-grandmother rebuilt her house as it had been greatly damaged by the flood. She has custody of three of her five great-grandchildren because of an unfortunate family incident. The youngest child has a disability and just recently had open heart surgery. The four of them are currently living in a FEMA trailer, which they just found out is dangerous to live in. Apparently FEMA did not test the trailers for long term use, and there is formaldehyde in the plastics found inside the trailer, which has caused the great-grandmother to develop a cyst behind one of her eyes. They also applied for aid to rebuild sometime last year, and found out this past June that their application had not even been processed yet. Thank goodness we're here to help!


On the way to her house, the road she lives on is occupied probably by only 20%. Now that's a rough estimate, but everywhere we looked there was evidence of a hurricane. It was hard to imagine that almost 2 years ago there was 8-10 feet of water in the exact spot where we were. Once we got there, we walked in to a house that looked ok from the outside, but was gutted on the inside. There were belongings scattered in the rooms, so the first step was to consolidate it into one room. The electrician is coming later this week, so all of the electric stuff had to be taken out. Then we started to take off the wood on the outside of the house, which took awhile! The frame was altered so we could fit two brand new windows, and plywood was put up on the outside. Meanwhile, others were left the dirty job of mucking out the back shed. A lot of belongings had been placed in a metal shed in hopes to save it during the hurricane. Unfortunately, that shed had been under water. That means that all the moldy, gross stuff in the shed hadn't been touched in 2 years. Gross. So all that stuff had to be taken out and brought to the curb.


Speaking of curbs, the city of New Orleans has been picking up debris on the side of the road for free since Hurricane Katrina. That ends tomorrow. As of tomorrow, it is going to cost anyone that needs debris to be picked up, or else they'll have to get a dumpster, which also costs money. While some people may think that 2 years is plenty of time to rebuild, MANY people have not received the aid that they need and deserve! Officials are saying that it is going to take 15 years to completely rebuild this area. I certainly did not believe that before I came down here, but I most definitely believe it now.
Even by Bethlehem Lutheran, about half of the houses are empty and ruined, and in front of the rest there are trailers where the residents live because their house still isn't safe to live in. Can you imagine? Office buildings, stores with names still on them, a New Orleans library, even a high school still remain standing, all of which are boarded up. I feel like I'm in another country. I am extremely thankful to be given this opportunity to help others. We are very blessed to live in a hurricane-free area! (And in this humidity I actually miss the snow.)


So for the rest of the week, we are going to work hard to try to get as much done as possible. Our plan is to put up vinyl siding on the entire house, and hopefully do more. There is also another house that has dry walling to finish, but not enough workers to finish it. The sad part is that there is SO much more work to do in the city, and not nearly enough relief. We are all thankful to be down here helping as much as we can, making one difference at a time. Thank you Immanuel for all of your support!

God's Peace to You,

Kim Rafferty

Thursday

August 30th

    
Today (Tuesday) started off with everyone at the same house we worked at yesterday (Monday). We continued with putting up the outside walls on the side of the house. By midmorning a group of 5 of us went to another house and started putting up drywall on the bathroom ceiling. The group also finished some mudding that needed to be done in a few of the other rooms. We had to cut our work short today due to the weather. When we came back to the church we all got ready for dinner. Tonight was the 2 year anniversary of the hurricane so they had a community dinner and a service after. We got the chance to talk to a man whose house had been flooded several times and he is not able to get insurance. A lot of the insurance companies are refusing to give people money. The wind and hail insurance on his house alone is $3500 per month. He also shared a story of how he had no trees before the hurricane and after there were 25 downed trees in his yard. He received $500 from insurance to remove the trees but that was not nearly enough. It cost him $4,000 to remove the trees from his yard. Everyone worked really hard today and we’re all looking forward to starting work at 7 a.m. Please continue to keep us in your thoughts and prayers.

Stephanie Volpe

Friday

August 31st

    
Hi ya all! Greetings from New Orleans. Today was an exciting day. After a few mishaps on each of our work sites (everyone is fine), we are feeling as though we have accomplished a great deal. Even though our bones and muscles are tired and some are aching, we are excited to get back to work Friday.

I met Dan in the Church after he returned from the dry wall site. I asked how things went today. His response was, with a big smile, "we finished a room today!" Bob is the team leader at the dry wall site. He said everyone is working very hard and learning a great deal. They have been working with Darrell from Lutheran Disaster Relief. There is no electric or water at the site. The home owner stopped by to say hello. She has been living in Texas and anxious to return to her home. Her housing assistance runs out this month. It has been a hard two years for her as she tries to recovery from Katrina. It will probably be another month before she will be able to move back home.

Jenelle's house is moving along. Today we installed four windows, started the siding on one side of the house and started the back wall. We worked with nail guns, punch staplers, jig saws, and hammers. Frank has been nick named The Hammer. Check his thumb when you see him. We were going to leave at 2 pm, but the troops had an up rising. We finally saw the fruits of our labor.

I rode shot gun today. I was able to get a good look some of the buildings everyone was pointing at as I drove-unbelievable. We also took a ride up to Gulf Port. All the headstones in a cemetery we drove by were tipped over. If the house was not in process of rehab, there was a cement slab where it once stood.

We discussed many times on our travel into New Orleans what would we do it all our possession were destroyed. Our photo albums, our Bible, the purse someone had your name engraved on, or the record collection of your favorite singers. These were some of the things we put to the curb and which the City trash collectors picked up today. Your whole life gone.

I feel very fortunate to have this opportunity to make a difference with the fine group of young adults and adults that have made this trip. Would I do it again? Yes. Maybe it is the people who pass by and beep the horn and wave. Maybe it is the new friends we have made. Maybe it is a plan God has to keep all of us aware of how lucky we are and how the Katrina victims still need our help.

See you soon and thanks for keeping us in your prayers.

Linda Belmont