Columbus Mission to Mandeville, Katrina Relief

This is the last posting to this blog. It will remain, however, for reference and as a record of our history.

http://servantsunite.blogspot.com is now the official blog and new postings like today's are to be found only there.

John McGuire

Dear Relief Supporters:

Just wanted to let you know that we have created some DVD'’s designed to assist a group in taking a special collection for the ongoing efforts in LA (remember we need an additional $50K), and one to assist in recruiting volunteers to go to LA on one of our work weeks. Both videos are on one DVD and there are both a cappella and instrumental background song version available.

The purpose is to use in the collection of money or the recruitment of new workers. Our efforts are losing momentum but as those of you who have been there know the work is still great. Please, if you can get these in front of some new audiences send me your request complete with your name and address for sending.

Thank you

Brad Hayes

The first I posted the other day is the new URL for information: http://www.servantsunite.org

Second is the new blog site: http://servantsunite.blogspot.com I may only copy minimal information over from this blog to the new one, but will leave it as an archive of what I hope are only our initial efforts. Please note that you can post comments to blog postings for others to see. Look for the link at the end of the posting.

Third is a new communications feature, the Yahoo group or listserve. Click here to join servantsunite listserve. Clicking the link will take you to the yahoogroups site where you can log in or create a new account which is relatively simple and painless. There are three steps:

1. Enter your information and choose an ID and password
2. Click an additional link in the confirmation email that is sent to your email address
3. Login to yahoogroups to set up your preferences. Be sure to turn off all the advertising preferences.

If you've never used yahoogroups, it is a forum you can join and submit postings by email that are distributed to the other members. You can comment or reply to each other's postings and share files or pictures from the group. When setting up your preferences, you can choose to receive an email for each posting to the group, receive a daily batch of postings, or only check postings from the web interface.

The iMarketing term for all this is a "virtual community" and these three features along with bulk email have served this effort well in that regard. Please pray with me, "Lord continue to bless or efforts with the time, people, and other resources needed to do the work you have called us to. We thank you for the opportunity to serve and for inspiring in us the creativity to invent these tools we use, and the passion to answer your call. Please grant us wisdom and the inspiration of Your Holy Spirit as we endeavor to serve. We ask you to bless the multitude of recovery organizations helping to shine your light in the gulf coast and other places darkened by sin's evil touch and please bless those we are working to help who have suffered many personal tragedies. In Jesus name, Amen".

Hey Team:

See below posting for pictures. It is the best I have seen to tell the story of the "de-mucking" with pictures. They are taken in a sequence that give you a good sense of the Totalness of the mess. Enjoy and realize that there is still much to do!!! These pictures were taken less than a week ago!

I am sad to tell you that to date we have no volunteers signed up for our Nov 5 trip. We need at least 8 people to send a crew. I realize vacation time is short, the holiday's are upon us, and there is much for everyone to do. Please consider you schedule and this opportunity for service. If you can participate on the November 5 trip please contact me before Weds. The 26th as we will have to make a determination regarding the first trip at that time.

Suggestion from John: Lets wear our red T-Shirts Sunday morning and ask about making a very quick appeal at our respective church services. I did get two volunteers for other trips at Westerville Christian last week with that small effort. More beneficial long term is to work with our church eldership/leaders to build their support, participation, and focus on this project. Let us know if we can help you with this.

Praise for the day is that Tammany will be positioning more than 200 volunteers in various works beginning today and through the weekend. Praise God for He is good and He is faithful.

Brad Hayes

As some of you are already aware, David and I went back to the Gulf coast to help in the relief effort again. I took a few pictures while we were down there and I have them ready for your viewing pleasure - if you are interested.

They can be viewed at http://home.comcast.net/~thecomputerdoctor/Katrina2

Note that he capital "K" is important - the server at Comcast is case sensitive. Also note that the Comcast server is somewhat slow.

I noticed that I had "fat fingered" the URL for the first set of pictures in my original message. In case some of you had a problem getting that set to load properly the correct URL is http://home.comcast.net/~jwcarden/Katrina

Enjoy,
John C. (Pop)

That's the name were using for this ongoing effort. Hope you like it 'cuz the new domain name is registered and the site is copied over to www.servantsunite.org ;-) Nothing new there yet today, but there will be soon. This name was chosen as we believed it to be both descriptive of our work and a call to action and cooperative effort from all of the body of Christ as well as those with a servants heart who haven't claimed Him yet.

We're watching hurricane Wilma as I'm sure you are. Be watching here, on your email, and on servantsunite.org for announcements. Best guess is that it will hit St. Petersburg or points south as a major hurricane. Be praying that away and at the same time prepare for the eventuality that we will need to respond quickly with water, ready to eat food, and that all important Gatorade. If we do, we'll need the supplies, trucks, and drivers on short notice this weekend or early next week.

Everyone involved in this effort has been so responsive, those who have funded trips, the first 160 people to go, those at home, who during the third week filled half a semi trailer on 24 hour notice... I am so personally impressed with the hundreds of people involved in this project who are letting God use them freely. May He bless all of you.

John McGuire

Editor's Note: Janet is becoming legendary in this work. This letter is directed to the Bruce Willis Foundation, but is informative for all of us who have contributed to this effort and continue to. Pics and the supplies list she mentions are on the picture site: http://www.therenos.com/katrinaPictures/Janet/

There are times in our lives that God shows us how big our world is without making us feel small and insignificant. In our state of feeling perpetually frustrated and helpless, He constantly reveals Himself to us over and over again.

My name is Janet Hines and I am the director of the disaster relief program that we are conducting here at our church in Mandeville, LA. At our first meeting on the first Saturday after the storm, we decided that we were willing to take on the project of helping our community in a time of desperate need. We made it our goal to become a beacon of hope with Jesus as the source of our light to our neighbors.

At that time, none of us realized how God was going to use us in the way that He has. In the last month, we have housed over 800 volunteers here in our building. Let me explain that our building is really new. We had only met five times for worship prior to the storm August 29, 2005. Over 3,200 families have received relief supplies through our front doors. Services such as tree removal, yard cleaning, and house cleaning/gutting has been provided for over 200 households at no cost. This is ongoing in our projects daily.

We are no longer providing supplies to individuals directly from the warehouse as immediate needs in our community have been met. Our focus has shifted to serving the outlying communities with the items that they need. We are acting as a distribution center for incoming donations, which we sort, pack and distribute to areas in need.

Communities are still in crisis. Grocery stores are now open but often shelves stand empty. Schools have homeless teachers living in tents, without access to running water. These selfless professionals have returned to serve children without having their own basic personal needs met. Families who were blessed to experience no damage find themselves housing a dozen or more survivors.

Homes, which were flooded, stand stagnant with mold and toxic waste. These residences must be gutted. This process has been labeled “de-mucking”, and reduces a home to its skeletal framework. Often the elderly or the ill have no means to accomplish this daunting and emotional task. Shelters have been emptied forcing these individuals to return to unsafe living conditions.

Medical clinics and hospitals have been slow to return. Our program provided immediate medical services through a team of doctors, a nurse practitioner, a pharmacist and nurses who offered donated prescription medications and over the counter pharmaceutical items throughout the shelters and communities. Makeshift clinics were set up in fire halls. Nursing teams met before dawn to provide vaccines to the National Guard and other members of the armed forces before they entered New Orleans to search for survivors and victims.

We are so appreciative of your participation in the “Got Your Back” program sponsored by Nickelodeon. We are praying that you would be able to provide further assistance to facilitate our efforts here. Following this letter are photographs and categories and listings of items that are crucial to continuing the recovery. We thank you for considering further participation in our efforts as we continue serving our community.

God Bless You,


Janet Hines
Director

Several people have asked where to find news about relief/recovery in the storm damaged area since the national media has found other topics. Here are a few links that should help keep you informed. I'll also add them to the left bar of the blog.

The Times-Picayune news site is http://www.nola.com/t-p/
Think it says something when the paper's archives are divided between pre-katrina and post-katrina. There is a link to news in each parish that is handy.

WDSU is a local TV station at http://www.wdsu.com/news/index.html

The Sun-Herald covers the Biloxi, Gulfport area from http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/

Lake Charles is represented at http://www.americanpress.com/

The Mobile Register covers southern Alabama: http://www.al.com/mobileregister/

The Beaumont Texas/Port Arthur area are covered by the Beaumont Enterprise at http://www.southeasttexaslive.com/site/news.asp?brd=2287
and the Port Arthur News at http://www.panews.com/

http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2005/katrina/green.family/index.html Something of what happened to many families has happened to this one. This is hard to read, but illustrates the long term and permanent pain this disaster has wrought.

Hurricane Wilma is the season's 21st named storm and is projected to be a hurricane tomorrow and make its way into the Gulf of Mexico after crossing the Yukatan later in the week.
Even if it doesn't hit the target area of our relief efforts, it is going into the area that Stan already soaked with rain causing mudslides, flooding, and many deaths in Mexico and Central America.

Pray hard and pray often!

<sup>Stumbled over this section of Romans 12 today

4</sup>Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, ⁵so it is with Christ's body. We are all parts of his one body, and each of us has different work to do. And since we are all one body in Christ, we belong to each other, and each of us needs all the others.

And isn't it amazing how the body of Christ has come together in this effort! Thank you Lord and Amen!

⁶God has given each of us the ability to do certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out when you have faith that God is speaking through you. ⁷If your gift is that of serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, do a good job of teaching. ⁸If your gift is to encourage others, do it! If you have money, share it generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly.

All of us who have worked on this project have continuing responsibilities listed in verses 6-8. Also important, not everyone is called to each task. Some of us are called to serve. Some are not, but are called to other functions in the body. Some have funding to give, while others do not. We have to keep this in mind when the accuser tempts us to judge others by our own calling.

⁹Don't just pretend that you love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Stand on the side of the good. ¹⁰Love each other with genuine affection,^[b] and take delight in honoring each other. ¹¹Never be lazy in your work, but serve the Lord enthusiastically.

Our emotions about this project, the people we have helped, and the people we have worked shoulder to shoulder with are God given. Revel in them and use them to show others the passion we have found in this work. It helps to illustrate the fulfillment they can find in devoting themselves to work in God's Kingdom.

As of this Sunday morning, there is no-one scheduled to participate in the next trip. We need to be working with our friends, coworkers, family, and churches to build groups going forward.

I built a consolidated list and ran it by Tammany Oaks today. Here is the up to date list of requested items:

Water and Gatorade (still needed for areas just opening up to residents)

Food boxed to feed a family of 4 or 5 for a day. Some "MREs" (requires no cooking or refrigeration)

As many volunteers as possible to go for a week beginning on these dates: Nov 5, Dec 3, Dec 26th – Jan 2, Jan 14, Feb 4, Mar 4, and April 1 (no foolin :-)

Additional $50,000 in donations to fund the trips so that the volunteers have 0 financial pain
Gatoraid and water to cover volunteer's needs

Skilled trades people to go for 1 month trips with funding to cover their lost income and expenses

Cleanup supplies like:

• Utility knives
• Work gloves
• Rubber gloves
• Rubber boots
• Disposable shoe covers
• Safety goggles
• Heavy duty wheelbarrows
• Shop vacs
• Cleaning chemicals (bleach, toilet bowl cleaner, general detergents)
• Cleaning brushes
• Cleaning rags
• Dehumidifiers

Construction supplies like:

• Roofing supplies (shingles, tar paper, nails)
• Sheetrock supplies (drywall, tape, mud, knives, screws)
• Wall studs
• Electrical outlets

Odd request - Church pews. At least one Church in Slidel and one in New Orleans have had pews destroyed by flooding.

This article on CNN.com this morning outlines the results from a Gallup poll of people who were effected by huricane Katrina and have requested aid from the Red Cross.

Interesting excerpts:

• Most said they had been able to get through the difficult time with the help of family and friends as well as their faith in God.
• Roughly 60 percent said they had trouble sleeping and felt depressed; about two-thirds reported feeling anxiety.
• Half the poll's respondents were separated from family members for at least a day. Seven percent said they still didn't know the whereabouts of at least one family member. 6% of parents were still separated from their children, and 16 percent said they had been separated but had since been reunited with their children
  

The poll, taken by telephone between September 30 and October 9, had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points, unless otherwise noted which is frequently 5-6%

My personal experiences there tell me that normal will never be the same in New Orleans. The poor have been replaced and their twice-flooded homes and neighborhoods will be bulldozed and replaced by commercial development a city insider told me. While the mayor and others say the city is up and running, don't believe it. In the French Quarter they were somehow able to reopen bars with in a few days, but even though some areas do have water and electricity back on, I was told by this same city insider who lives next to the church we gutted, not to eat or drink anything in the city. While we did have running water in the minister'’s home next to the church, we didn't see any food establishments open.

Basically what you see each day is a stream of contractors, some hired by the city or FEMA others there trying to make a quick buck, insurance adjusters, people with signs "We Buy Houses" and very few clean up volunteers like our group that stream into the city after dawn from the outlying regions that have some services. They work in the city until almost dusk and then stream back out. Everything you need to work and survive that day you have to bring with you since everything is ruined or looted. Very few stay in the city at night at this point.

While you are there you will see huge piles of trash and debris at the locations of the few lucky owners that could get back in their neighborhood and salvage what little was left and try to start the massive undertaking of removing every part of their home or business that was damaged. Where we worked the water was 5 feet 8 inches high, which you can see frwater marksrks on the buildings. Everything has a putrid odor from decaying garbage, rotting food, and dead animals in the trash or beneath the structures were they apparently went for shelter and died.

While we were in the city I never saw a police car, Red Cross, or FEMA organization member delivering any services and we were 1 block from the cities highest traffic intersection at Carrollton Avenue and Canal just 6 blocks from the French Quarter. We saw no living dogs or cats and on my last day in the city I met 2 ladies from Chicago SPCA who were leaving food and water in strategic locations so the animals terrorized by the storm and hiding under homes and buildings during the day could eat at night. They told me that a looted Winn Dixie down the street has been turned into an emergency Vet Clinic. They estimated that 90% of the animals they are able to catch are so emaciated they have to be put to sleep and the others are being held until October 18 trying to match them with their owners on a website www.petfinders.com. After the 18th they will be shipped all over the US to try and find shelters that will hold them for adoption, but they assume that most will eventually have to be euthanized.

As you can probably tell by my rambling this was a very emotional and eye opening experience being there. While you can watch CNN or some other network and get a general understanding of what is happening, it's just not the same as experiencing it yourself. Now that it is 6 weeks old news and being replace by the Pakistan earthquake and other "new' news items it could easily be forgotten by most Americans, except for those whose lives were turned upside down by this disaster.

I hope to go back to help numerous times in the next year. The work a 150 volunteers did the one week I was there is like a grain of sand on a beach as to what still needs to be done. If you can make the time to go and help I urge you to do it as soon as possible. There are many tasks to be done, from hard manual labor to just being willing to let one of the storms victims talk to you about their experience to help them get closure. If you can't go personally send money to people who can go and you know it will be used for the right purposes. I need to thank those individuals who provided us with financial support and supplies and encouragement for are trip. If you have any questions or want to know more about how to volunteer and what is involved, please call me at 937-885-9494 or email me. We should have a DVD available early next week and I would be happy to show it to you or a group of people who are interested.

Gary

Brett White (aka "Hippy" aka "ministry hobo":-) is working at Tammany Oaks coordinating volunteers. He's been putting up postings at least once a day with ongoing activities and kewl stories. Check it out at brettwhite.blogspot.com.

News outlets are discussing parts of New Orleans approaching normalcy.

Dear Friends, don’t you believe it. While Bourbon Street is open, the French Quarter, and people are being allowed back in to most areas, the southern gulf area of the United States is nowhere near back to normal. People are still in shelters, camping in their front yards or living with friends. Restaurants and businesses remain closed. Semis line the streets picking up the waste of peoples lives ruined by the storm. I was just there and Slidell, Mandeville, New Orleans are nowhere near normal. I understand that Gulfport, Biloxi and other areas in Mississippi are worse yet. Just because the governor of LA and the Mayor of New Orleans need tourist traffic for the city to survive or revive, do not believe that things are “normal”. People are still suffering and need our help. And for the record the floods, winds, and other storm activities paid no attention to race, health, wealth, or other standards we like to use. It devastated entire communities. Rich, poor, black, white, Hispanic, and all those others that make America what it is have been affected.

A client of TTG’s is a hospital in Lake Charles hard hit by Huricane Rita. The hospital today remains only partially open, services are limited, and many many people have lost everything to Rita. We as a nation, as Christians, people of faith, or whatever you may call yourself can not just turn our eyes to the next disaster. Our help is needed and there are things all of us, all of us, can do!!

The following is a list of our needs for the area over the next 6 months and we need your help to make them happen. We are setting up Ohio as a central area to coordinate volunteers, supplies and services to Tammany Oaks and their outreach. Because of their success and your response they are beginning to branch out and act as a central warehouse of supplies and services for areas all over the affected Gulf Coast region. You have and can continue to make a significant difference. We cannot do it alone however so please pass this along to all those you know!

Volunteers – We have trips planned beginning Nov 5, Dec 3, Dec 26th – Jan 2, Jan 14, Feb 4, Mar 4, and April 1. We need people who can volunteer to go for a week of work. The work will consist of packing and distributing goods for other shelters and individuals, de-mucking houses, cutting trees, roofing, dry walling, and general construction. There is a great need for people to just be able to walk the streets in the areas where teams are working and hand out water and listen and encourage others. Everyone who can afford the time or get free will be able to find something to do. We need you. We will deal with the logistic and transportation headaches and God will use you to fill the needs. I recently went with my family and we will never be the same, consider taking yours. Email me or call 614-288-5825 to sign up for a week.

Money – We need to raise an additional $50,000 to cover the costs of these trips. We would also like to raise some additional funds to be able to sponsor some individuals to stay for up to a month and perform specialty construction work such as the dry wall and roofing needs. There are not enough contractors to go around, many homeowners had no insurance, and the insurance companies are in court trying to get out of paying these claims. In the meantime, we are needed. Donations can be sent to Spring Road Katrina Fund at 74 S. Spring Road Westerville Ohio 43081. Praise God and know that He is working on funding. Just today I had a church in Tuscaloosa AL volunteer to cover the costs of one of our 7 trips. If you want to earmark your funds for a specific purpose please send a note with your check. It can go for supplies, transportation, or for sponsoring workers. Please know that the Red Cross and other agencies are doing a great job with your entrusted donations but the affected people need more than food and encouragement, they need our help!!!!!

Supplies – while this list is ever changing and being met by God daily you can keep up with the needs by checking at the Tammany blog. If nothing else we will need food and supplies to take care of up to 100 people per week for each of our 7 trips. Donations are still being collected at the Spring Road Church Building.

There you have it, my shortest update in weeks. We simply need you! God needs you! The people affected by this tragedy need you! Read the testimonials on the site. The most common comment from those returning from trips is that they will never be the same. They are touched in a way by their service to these people that they have never before experienced. Find out what they are talking about and sign up!!!

May God bless you as you consider this need,

Brad

These stories were published today in the current edition of the New Englland Journal of Medicine and are available free here: http://content.nejm.org/current.shtml

Editor's Note: Around 20 members of Providence Road Church of Christ in Charlotte, North Carolina met up with us to join in Team 4's effort.

This past Sunday, I heard a powerful lesson from a man named Jodi Vickry from Campus Church of Christ in Atlanta. The title of the lesson was “A Perfect Storm” and he began by telling us myths about what to do in a storm, and how they are nothing more than myths. He went on to tell us that the greatest myth about storms is that the ‘storms of life’ Build Character. He clarified this by stating that “the truth about Storms of Life is that they reveal character rather than build character”.

There have been so many different reactions from individuals down here along the gulf coast that have illustrated the point of Jodi’s lesson. We have seen and/or heard about some of the worst behavior played out in the news. We have also heard about how many opportunists have taken advantage of others in desperate need, for their own personal gain. However we have also seen the great character of some wonderful Godly people that have sacrificed so much to rebuild, and give to others that have lost everything.

I can not think of many first hand examples that I have witnessed that have impacted me more than what I have seen down here in Louisiana. The character of these people has been revealed through this storm that has literally taken everything away from them. Luke writes in chapter 3 verse 11 “The man with two tunics should share with him who has none and the one who has food should do the same”. To see neighbors that have lost so much helping one another and offering such hospitality to those of us who have come to serve them is very humbling.

-- Ryan Preston


When we were on our trip “down on the bayou,” we had the opportunity to help an elderly gentleman, Mr. Paul. The floodwaters had filled his trailer home and rendered all of his possessions useless. The contents of his home were outside, covered in a foot of mud. We had to throw everything into trash bags and haul them away. One of the things I had to throw away was his water soaked, mud caked Bible. I noticed that the Bible was opened to the end of Psalms 119 through Psalms 123. That night I read through those passages and found in Psalms 121: I lift up my eyes to the hills- Where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth.

-- Terri Jeltrup

Dear fellow volunteers, associates, clients, and friends: Please see website for additional info and pics at www.springroadcoc.com/Katrina

Well I am fresh from the field in Louisiana and let me tell you God is at work. There are many relief organizations at work there as we speak providing food, shelter, and other essentials. So far the only group we have come in contact providing any wide scale physical assistance is the Tammany Oaks group we have associated ourselves with. This is essential because there are people without insurance, people fighting insurance companies, and contractors who are charging outrageous sums of money to perform work. Even if money is no object there are not enough contractors to complete any work in a timely fashion.

I want to share with you that the vastness of the devastation is beyond comprehension. Yesterday, we posted an email my daughter sent to her school teacher as to her thoughts on one of the days we were there. Please read it. It catches the essence of what we were trying to do. She was given that assignment from one of her teachers as Westerville South High School.

I have never been more personally touched than to work side by side with my wife and daughter in the work of the Lord. We serve often in various church capacities but never before like this. Each evening at the devotionals teams would share where they saw Jesus on that particular day. He was always evident in many places but I shared on Tuesday night that I saw Him in my wife and daughter as they worked in ways and in conditions that we would never consider doing for ourselves here. We would hire it done. But here we were among mold, dust, fallen trees, water, smells of all kinds and destruction beyond our comprehension working for someone else in a way we would not consider for ourselves. If you want to spend some quality time with your family sign up for one of our trips, I guarantee your family will not return the same.

With this email I am informing you that our team has committed to sending at least 6 more teams to LA. We are also beginning to look at areas in Lake Charles where we have contacts. The area was very hard hit with Rita and the loss of property, business, and homes is substantial. Our current plan is to leave on Saturdays and return on Saturdays for these next 6 trips which should allow for an additional half day of work on Monday. The proposed dates are as follows: Nov 5, Dec 3, Jan 14, Feb 4 and Mar 4. In addition we are looking into a trip over Christmas break leaving on Dec 26th through Jan 1. This trip will have to be coordinated heavily as work may be tougher to find with families potentially being gone for the holiday. If you want to sign up for a trip please email me or call at 614-288-5825

Please understand a few things about what is happening down there:

Things are not getting back to normal – in order to rebuild the infrastructure and business community it is important to “sell” that things are getting back to normal. Well it’s not. The fact that the French Quarter is open only reflects massive amount of moving of junk and displacing it. And besides open for who? Things will not be back to normal for a long time. To put it into a sad perspective I couldn’t even find a drive through for a hamburger at 9:00 at night!!!!!

The work we are doing is only a drop in the bucket – however, it is much more beneficial to us and those who go and work and experience how God is working through this event than it will ever be to the overall impact of the hurricanes. One of the Tammany leaders told the story of the boy who came upon a beach full of washed up starfish. One by one he threw them back in the ocean. A stranger observing him stopped him and said “little boy don’t you realize that you can never save all these starfish, there are far too many to even matter” The boy looked at the stranger bent over picked up a starfish and threw it back it the ocean and said “it mattered to that starfish”. Thanks for that great illustration Brett. And I would venture to say it mattered even more to the little boy. Know that you can contribute and YOU can make the difference in someone’s life.

There is something for almost everyone – there is a wide variety of work to be done in Mandeville from cutting downed trees, to de-mucking houses, cooking, warehouse work, organization and more. There are food boxes to deliver and people who just need to talk. If you can go and not need entertained then there is something for you to do.

To date we have accomplished the following:

• We have sent over 100,000 lbs of goods and supplies
• Sent over 160 workers to help families
• Collected just over $41,000 in monies or specific donations

In order to continue we will need significant additional funds to support these efforts. The cost of fuel and appropriate tools is significant. Donations of protective gear will most likely slow as other donations do. We however can not let what God has started slow within our hearts and minds. We will continue to need your help as we plan and organize these trips.

Here is what we need you to consider:

Talk to your church family – We have developed a DVD that is designed to be a self contained request and special offering. It contains images from the disaster set to music as appeals are made.

Promote – We are going to need additional volunteers. If you are students talk to your teachers about what it would take to be gone for a week. My daughter was able to do it and my son who goes to a different school was given permission but we decided he was too young (10). We also need promotion for additional funds. Promotion is not limited to central Ohio. I intend to visit some churches in Nashville soon hoping to secure volunteers and funds, send info to your families and friends in other states.

Pray – Pray for the safety of all those involved. Pray that God’s plan in this disaster will be clearly seen and followed, and pray that lives can continue to be changed as a result of the efforts being put forth.

We are in the process of setting up a separate organization to handle the administration of these items but for the time being continue to make donations payable to Spring Road Katrina Fund. They can be sent to 74 S Spring Road, Westerville Ohio 43081. May God bless you as you consider how you can make a difference in this event?

Because He first loved us,

Brad Hayes

I had fully intended to write updates while there, but between long hours of work and only seeing a laptop one time (and someone else was sending their story), I didn't find the opportunity.

Here is more complete information about a previously mentioned situation:

I had an opportunity to work with a young woman, probably mid 20's, named April, who came in to receive aid for 28 families. It was told in a previous update that she had come in to get supplies for 28 people, but it was 28 families ranging in size from one person to 18 people!

April lived in a trailer, and knew these people from church. She told me that if she didn't work, she would just fall apart. So here she was, notebook in hand, collecting things for people who had no way to get out themselves and get provisions.

There were two diabetics among them who April had checked three days before. One of them had 2 test strips left and the other had 3. According to one of the nurses, that was very bad and without checking their sugar levels could possibly be dead. I know that sounds melodramatic, but that surely could have been the outcome. It is something we probably will never know.

Another woman in her group was an elderly, grossly obese woman who wore Depends. When April found her, she had been sitting in the same Depends diaper for five days. She had no plumbing and no supplies. Needless to say, that was one of the things provided by the generous donations that pour into Tammany Oaks Church every day.
There were three infants, many 2 and 3-year-olds, and every age in between. We were able to give her food, toiletries, cleaning products, blankets, books, toys, shoes, dishes and water. These things could in no way fit into her little 5-seat car, so they were packed into a large Penske truck and several men followed her to her trailer.

She had cleaned out one room already, and was planning to clean out another to try and fit some of the things inside. The men took her some wooden pallets to stack things outside, and tarps to cover them.

The reason she didn't want the things delivered to each home was that there was not enough room to stack the boxes, so her plan was to drive the things to each family, or group of families (one home had 3 families living together, I think that was the 18-member family) so that they could actually use the stuff and still walk around.

This was an incredible undertaking for one person and one of the volunteers at Tammany Oaks called her "Angel April." Well, you would think that was a pretty exciting story, right? Well, April was wearing a large back brace over her clothing and when we were all finished loading her car and the Penske truck, I asked her why she had it on. She said she had been in an accident and was 100% disabled and was supposed to be in a wheel chair. She said she spends most of her time in bed. And here she was hauling heavy boxes and cases of water to 28 families.
And now you know the REST of the story!

Denise Rickard

For those of you who've been on work crews I'd like to encourage you to share your favorite pictures of your trips with everyone else and those who have contributed to make our trips possible. A friend of mine, Dave Reno has a server available on the Internet and has made space for us available. If you would like to post pictures, please send me an email at john.n.mcguire@jpmchase.com I can then get you instructions and help you around some of the pitfalls people have had, such as Macintosh machines and AOL ;-)

You can view the pics that are already out there at http://www.therenos.com/katrinapictures. There is a folder for each contributor that lists the files. You can click on each one in your browser to view the picture. These are actual resolution and some of them are quite big, especially if you have a dial-up link. I've found a way to build a "gallery" page for mine using Photoshop Elements which you can find at http://www.therenos.com/katrinapictures/johnmcguire/gallery/index.htm. I will be happy to help others build galleries as well. The gallery is good for simple viewing and is much smaller and more compatible with dial-up. It is interesting to look through the full resolution pics though as sometimes you see interesting detail. I found an airboat working a bayou in one of my pics behind the Citgo station at the St. Bernard Parish border checkpoint that I hadn't noticed while standing there taking the pictures.

Editor's Note: Whitney Hayes is 15 and a Sophmore at Westerville South. I'll add additional notes to this posting when I get them.

10/3/05 11:17:05 PM
Ms. Shankle and class,
Today we drove four more hours to our final destination. As we headed into Mississippi we began to see tree damage. We saw an area where we believe a tornado hit. The houses had whole sides ripped off of them. It looked like they had been hit with a wrecking ball. The closer we got to Louisiana the more damage we began to see. Trees had been snapped in half or uprooted. The interesting part was that many of the trees looked as though they had been snapped from the north side. More and more trees began piling up the further we pressed on. When we stopped for lunch we saw signs down and a church across the street had multiple holes in its roof. If the damage was this bad and we hadn't even hit the storm surge yet I didn't want to know what awaited us in Mandeville.

When we finally arrived my time was spent playing with some kids at the church and packing up cleaning supplies and toiletries. Emma and Christian are 2 and 4 years old. Their parents are working here and they were very grateful to have someone to play with. We ate dinner and had a devo. Tomorrow I get to go out and de-muck houses. I'm really looking forward to getting to come in contact with these people. I can't wait to hear their stories and be able to make an impact on their lives.

I'm also very anxious because I know there are dangers out there, but I feel that the positive outcomes greatly out weigh the negatives. Hopefully the updates will be more exciting as we get out into the work field. Hope everything is going well back in Ohio.

-Whitney

Tue 10/4/2005 6:08 PM
Today was amazing!!! A crew of about 20 of us left at about 8:00 and drove for 30 minutes to Slidell. There was the previously seen tree damage but nothing could prepare me for what we saw once we took our exit. Businesses were gutted and trash was piled along the street. There were several parking lots full of boxes of clothing that people could go through. Almost everything was still closed. We pulled into a neighborhood, and I sat speechless. Fallen trees were everywhere; almost every house had been hit by one. Trash was piled up to 10 feet high on either side of the road. A large semi and a machine with a large claw were working on the street we were on to pick up the trash and take it to a landfill. I put on my boots, mask, and work gloves and headed into the house to get my assignments. The house reeked. The walls were covered with mold. We had to move some furniture and other small items out before we could start tearing down the walls. Once we got started everything went pretty quickly. Our instructions were to tear down everything: walls, ceiling, and floor. I started hammering at drywall and using a crow bar to take off door and window frames. Mold was everywhere. All the walls were covered with green, black, and brown blobs. There was a room that still had carpet in it and when you stepped on it water and mud would rise up around your feet. We cut it in to strips and hauled it to the curb. It was extremely hot inside the house, especially since we had to wear masks. As if we weren't sweaty enough, the mask created a greenhouse effect around our noses and mouths. The sweat just poured from our brows. The mold was so bad in some places that many of the walls would come down just by kicking them. They were very soggy. E

Everything smelled like waste and sulfur (rotten eggs). The area we were in was hit by a 30-foot wave of water.

The hardest part for me was having to see the homeowner help tear down her own house. She mainly worked with the crew on cleaning up the outside of her house. She still had photo albums in the house and we had to throw them all away. How a woman could be there as people ripped up her house and threw away everything that was left of her life is still a mystery to me. I mean, its not like you can say oh it’s just my house I can live somewhere else. Well I guess you can say that but there are still memories that were made there that can't be replaced.

We are now back at the church. My dad and I are making dinner for all of the volunteers tonight. I am so worn down after all the hard work that was done today. I just feel like crying. Not really for myself, but for the woman we helped today, the people we will help the rest of the week, and all the other people whose lives have been affected by this horrible tragedy. Their lives will never be the same. Today, many people would stop and walk outside to take in some fresh air, but something in me kept telling me to keep on going. I couldn't let myself stop working. I had to help this woman who had nothing left. I have been blessed with so much and yet she has everything taken away from her. Somehow she still had a smile on her face and thanked us for our work. I have great admiration for people who maintain their faith in times of trouble. She could have been angry and ungrateful, but instead she was kind and loving. I gripe and complain because of the littlest things and here this woman's house was completely destroyed and yet she was thankful. I can't even comprehend what this woman has been through and I don't think I ever will be able to.

Until tomorrow
-Whitney

Wed 10/5/2005 10:12 PM

Today we went down to New Orleans. The most amazing part was driving on the 23-mile long causeway. It was the only bridge out of 3 that had survived the hurricane. As we crossed Lake Pontchartrain, you could not see anything but water on either side. In front of us, we could see the misty outline of downtown New Orleans. We could see a couple of high rises' and the pancake shaped Superdome. Once we were off the causeway the devastation hit me. We passed by many businesses that were gutted or yet to be gutted. Many had boards on the windows and tarps on the roofs. We ended up taking a detour that turned out to have been completely unnecessary but it gave us an opportunity to see things we would have missed. As we got into the neighborhoods everything began to hit home. We saw several people emptying their homes. There was so much trash piled everywhere that the streets were completely blocked. All the houses had the neon orange spray-painted "x's" that meant the house had been searched. You could tell that many of the homes had once been very beautiful. They had little gardens and decorative metal fences. We worked at church today. Because the damage was so bad we had to wear respirators, double-layered gloves, and the ever-lovely marshmallow suits. We were covered head to toe. Nothing could get in and nothing could get out which meant that all the sweat was trapped inside. The result was a sauna effect. Later we were able to escape that prison and took down some more walls in a duplex down the street. The inside of the house was very beautiful with a large staircase and oak and tile floors. There was molding around the chandeliers that hung from the ceiling.

We came home early again because dad had to cook dinner. I slept for a while because I was exhausted. I've decided to take this time to tell you about the wonderful showers that we have at our facility. There are five plywood stalls for girls and four for guys. PVC pipe and the garden hose is our source of water, there is no heater. Every shower is cold. The curtains are made of tarps and the stalls are outside. The cold water feels really good when you're all sweaty until the breeze blows. Then the tarps blow up and you are in full view of anyone on that side of the stall. I've also got to meet some children here at the church. Emma and her brother Christia. Their parents work her at the building helping the relief effort. I played with them for several hours yesterday. They are so adorable. They love the attention and their parents really enjoy not having to worry about them. We played several games of pretend including batman, castle, and hide and seek. At one point Christian wouldn't stop giving me a hug and when I asked him what he was doing he said, "I'm loving on you". They are just the cutest kids and so sweet. That’s pretty much been it for today. Last full day of work tomorrow. It'll be really depressing to have to leave.

Until then,
Whitney

At 2:25pm Saturday, Team 4 had just crossed the Ohio River. Look for them at the church around 4:00, assuming no more stops.

As this first phase of this project ends, let me offer a sincere thanks to everyone who supported those of us who have gone down to serve. Thanks to our families, contributors, employers, coworkers, churches, friends, and all those who have made this mission possible. Thanks especially, to those organizers and handlers who have been closest to this effort, donating many hours of their time.