Hurricane Katrina Relief Report

relief report

2005-09-20T22:12:00.000-07:00

This is a day by day journal of my trip to Louisiana immediately following Hurricane Katrina. While on this trip I've seen a level of destruction that I never dreamed possible. I've also seen hope and faith at work in the lives of the survivors.
I went with a team from Santa Rosa California to Louisana. It was an amazing trip. We took lots of pictures and even a little bit of video. They tell the story better that I would ever be able to.

CLICK HERE for amateur home video footage of the storm.

CLICK HERE for footage of the aftermath from Gulfport Mississippi.

CLICK HERE for footage from our relief efforts in Bogalusa Louisiana.

CLICK HERE to go to WWW.UGO4GOD.COM and to read about subsequent relief teams.

Day 1

2005-09-19T22:12:00.000-07:00

The first thing to do is round up some supplies. The people of Santa Rosa gave so much that it was overwhelming. Thank you so much to everyone who gave sacrificially!

My family came to see me off! What a great way to kick off the journey!

Here is our team. Gregory, Brian, Rudy, and me, Jimmy!!! Brian, Rudy, and I know each other from church, we met Gregory through www.craigslist.com. He heard about our trip and hooked up with us to head down to Louisiana. His father lived in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans, very close to one of the breaks in the levy system, and had been missing since Hurricane Katrina hit.

Part of our mission was to pick up this motorhome from Southern California and deliver it to Pastor Troy, a New Orleans minister who had lost his home and his church. He had been staying in the Sunday School room of a church in Covington, LA on the North end of Lake Ponchartrain with his family of four and several other families from his church who had also lost their homes.

When we arrived in L.A. at about 3am we loaded up supplies from donations that our friends at STREETWISE MINISTRIES had collected. As soon as we were loaded to the point that the motor home could barely pull the weight... We hit the open road!!!

Day 2

2005-09-18T22:11:00.000-07:00

Maybe just a TAD too much weight... We had driven about 30 miles when we blew out a tire. We found an RV repair place and slept out in front of their store until they opened up. They directed us to a tire place around the corner. Where we met these guys...

This father and son seen here with the team, saw the sign on the side of the RV and asked us if they could pray with us for our safety before we left. When we went to pay the bill we found out that they had paid half of our repair bill!!!

While we were getting the tire fixed Gregory recieved news that his father was alive and well. He had been plucked from a rooftop in New Orleans. He and several of his family members had been trapped in the attic when the flood waters rose so quickly. When they heard helicopters overhead they scratched through the roofing material and were able to flag down a rescue team!

After we got the tire fixed we knew that we were going to be able to really make up some time now! Smooth sailing from here for sure...

YOU'VE GOTTA BE KIDDING ME!!! We blew the thermostat! We hadn't even covered 100 miles since L.A. and now the RV was overheating every five minutes! Bobby from Streetwise Ministries called his friend Pastor Jerry who is the Police Chaplain of Banning, CA. Pastor Jerry arranged for a tow truck to pick us up and then arranged for a place to get the RV repaired.

I caught up on some reading while we waited for the tow truck.

NOW THAT'S A TOW TRUCK!!!

Pastor Jerry went above and beyond the call of duty! He arranged for the towing, and the repair of the RV. He took us to his house and let us shave and shower. His wife even cooked us a steak dinner. Breaking down in Banning, CA isn't all that bad! And after all that, he even topped off our fuel tanks! A special thanks goes out to the good people of Price Tire in Banning for their generous donation as well.

Before we took off we stopped by Pastor Jerry's church for a quick prayer. The people who were there for the prayer meeting came out to meet us and pray for us and for the RV to make it to our destination safe and sound.

We were finally on the road, making progress, on our way... Louisiana, here we come!!!

Day 3

2005-09-17T22:11:00.000-07:00

Sunrise in the high desert of Arizona.

We were finally making some really good progress! We made it all the way across Arizona, and New Mexico without incident!

Once we got into Texas the RV overheated just a little bit. Probably from the hot dry air. We let it cool down, put a little bit of water in her, and back on the road!!!

Late on day three as we pulled into Fort Stockton, TX we blew another tire! The local Sherriff's deputy pulled us over as we hobbled along main street looking for a tire place that was open so late at night. We told him about our perdicament and he got on the radio and started looking for help for us. We weren't able to find any help that late so we stayed the night and got the tire fixed the next morning.

Day 4

2005-09-16T22:11:00.000-07:00

As we were waiting for the tire to get fixed we met up with Yvonne Acosta. She had heard about us from Zeke, the sheriff's Deputy. She worked at the local school district, and they had taken up a collection to help us pay for our blown tire. Thank you so much Yvonne!!!

Side note: If you ever end up in Fort Stockton Texas in the morning, Pepitos Mexican Cafe has some bangin' Huevos Rancheros!!!

Throughout our trip we were consistently blown away by the outpouring of support. Truckers came up to us at gas station and gave us gas money, people honked at us to show support, and this family even honked at us until we pulled over so that they could give us several bags of clothing for the Hurricane survivors. It was really great to see people giving sacrificially to help out our brothers in need.

Day 5

2005-09-15T22:10:00.000-07:00

Early on day 5 as we entered Louisiana the first signs that we were nearing the hurricane's path of destruction were the trees that had been snapped in half like toothpicks.

6am on day 5 we arrived at the Church of God in Covington, LA. This church was letting the people of Pastor Troy's church camp out on their property.

They had to make do with what they could. Here, they had constructed a shower out of a few 2X4s, a tarp, and a garden hose. There was no electricity or natural gas, so no laundry or hot water, and the septic system had overflown, so... no bathrooms.

The first order of business was to get the RV unloaded. We were anxious to get into the areas that had been badly affected by the hurricane. We were looking forward to actually putting some of the supplies that we'd been hauling into the hands of the people of Louisiana, and Mississippi.

These are some of the kid's who had lost their homes in New Orleans. Their families belong to Pastor Troy's church, and they were sticking together to help their neighbors through the storm.

After we were finished unloading the RV we ate a quick breakfast buritto and headed towards Gulfport, MS. As we drove along the damage became worse and worse. Lot's of torn up roofs like this one, and also billboards along the freeway that had the signs torn off of them, and the frame work bent up like it was tin...

When we got into Gulfport the damage was everywhere. We also saw this convoy of military vehicles.

As they drove past we saw that they were Marines. Rudy and Brian are both Marines and they said "I never thought I'd see Marines deployed on active duty in the streets of America!"

On the outskirts of town we came across a big church that had a huge relief effort going on. They fed hundreds of people for breakfast lunch and dinner!

When we left this church and headed towards the shore is when we started to see some of the really severe damage.

The destruction was unbelievable. The stench was unbearable. Rudy has been in combat situations, he tells me that's what decomposing bodies smell like.

This yacht was probably 200 yards from the shoreline.

This young couple was wandering through the rubble, stunned, dazed. We asked them if they needed water or any supplies. They said that they were with family so they didn't really need anything. I asked them what they were looking for. They replied, "Our house is in here somewhere."

They stopped here and said, "that's it. You can tell, because that's my truck on top of the house." They went on to tell me that her Great Grandfather had built this house over a hundred years ago, and they had just taken a loan out last year to buy the home. They lost everything. Their home, their furniture, clothes, wedding pictures, family keepsakes, everything...

There was a paper mill in Gulfport, and these rolls of paper were found up to, and over a mile away from the factory. It's hard to tell by the picture, but these things were HUGE. They had to weigh several thousand pounds each!

This young man and his mother were cleaning up their yard. They were almost a mile away from the water. The hurricane was so powerful that it picked up a section of the pier from the shoreline and dropped it in their front yard!

There weren't many people still in the areas that had been hit hardest by the storm. We offered what help we could to those who were left.

Day 6

2005-09-14T22:10:00.000-07:00

Today, pickup trucks, trailers, vans, and flatbed trucks full of supplies from Texas, Ohio, and Kentucky met up with us at the Church in Covington. We were headed towards Bogalusa, LA. Bogalusa is a very small, very poor town that had been overlooked when the larger relief orginizations came through the area.
This was really eye opening for me. I saw that a fairly small group of people could go into a community and have a huge impact.

We had seen the news reports about violence and looting. We were even told that relief orginizations would not go into these neighborhoods without an armed guard! We weren't sure what we were going to find. I'm happy to say that the whole time we were there we felt completely safe. We did not experience any hostility or feel threatened at all! The people of this community welcomed us with open arms, big smiles, and a few tears of joy.

You could see the excitement in these children's eyes as you hand them food, clothing, books, crayons, water, or candy.
They were happy just to have someone there to show them that they were not forgotten.

One of the hot items was new white T-shirts. These people had gone almost two weeks without laundry and it was over 90 degrees and muggy each of the days that we were there.

Sometimes, just letting someone know that you came from halfway across the states to let them know that you care about them, and that there is hope, is just as valuable as the supplies you brought with you.

After a long day of unloading supplies our team gathered togeter with Pastor Troy's team, and the people from Ohio, and Kentucky for a group picture. We would be back to a different neighborhood in the same community the next day with more trucks, and more supplies.

Day 7

2005-09-13T22:09:00.000-07:00

This young lady told me that her family had always lived in Bogalusa. She told me that she was 44 years old, the mother of five children, and the grandmother of eight children.

Today we busted out the chainsaws. There were several trees that had been blown over, or were about to fall over. They needed to be cleared from the lot for the semi truck full of supplies that was coming the next day.

Day 8

2005-09-12T22:09:00.000-07:00

Gregory is a nurse/practitioner and he went around doing simple medical tasks like checking blood pressure. Many of the people of Bogalusa had not been able to see a doctor or pick up their prescriptions since before the storm.

Bogalusa was at least an hour and a half north of New Orleans and the damage was still ever present. All these power lines were knocked over on the adjacent buildings. Bogalusa was going on two weeks without power.

We met Rev. John R. Perry, the Pastor of this church. His congregation had huddled in the sanctuary to ride out the storm. At one point they could literally see the roof coming off of the building then crashing back down on it. The pastors office, and the auditorium were destroyed.

Here is Rev. Perry hugging Pastor Troy. Pastor Troy stunned all of us when he wrote out a check for a thousand dollars to help repair the church building. Pastor Troy had lost his home and his church, but his heart was still overflowing with generosity. I was completely stunned. I still can't believe it.

2005-09-11T01:42:00.000-07:00

It's still too much to comprehend everything that I saw during this trip. Not only the power of the storm but also the power that poverty holds over a community, and the power of love and hope to break through those strongholds.

New Orleans opened up on the last day of our trip. We were not able to make it into the city. Pastor Troy and his team have since been able to move into New Orleans and set up camp at a campground with electricity, and showers. They are excited for the ministry opportunities in the months ahead as the people of New Orleans began to come back home. As of 9-20-05 WWW.UGO4GOD.COM has sent 4 more teams since our first team went. Even more team are preparing to go.

CLICK HERE to go to the "Trip Blog" that each team has been updating as they go.

It was truly a blessing to be a part of reaching out and touching a community in need. I'm so thankful that I was able to be a part of it.
Thank you to family, and friends that helped support this team. Thank you to Santa Rosa, and especially the people of Hope Chapel for the generous donations of all the supplies. Thanks to Rudy, Brian, Bobby Chance, Pastor Jerry, and Pastor Troy. And a very special thanks to Pastor Dan, and my dear friend Blake Angelos and his beautiful family. I would not have been able to be a part of this without your prodding, your love, and your support.

grace and peace, jimmy
www.culturedrivenlife.blogspot.com