Mission News

Mission News: Katrina's Mississippi in June

By Chris Molling

My daughters, Sarah and Katie, and I joined 20 other people, mostly from Towson Presbyterian Church, and drove over one thousand miles to a work camp in Mississippi. The work camp was built and run by the Presbyterian Disaster Assistance group. It would be our home for the week of June 18th. Plastic tents, make shift showers and l'il Johnnies comprised the camp. There were about one hundred volunteers from Ohio, Michigan, Florida, West Virginia and Maryland. We all ate together and had daily devotions together. Both activities were fun before and after a long day at work. The first workday, we removed mold from a Catholic church that was one-quarter of a mile from the Gulf of Mexico, which Katrina had flooded with twelve feet of water. Wearing Tyvek body suits and respirators and armed with a wire brush, we scrubbed, wiped down and sealed the church's wooden surfaces. The second, third and fourth day, we replaced Jayleen's roof and retiled Linda's floor. The fifth day, we helped to rebuild Darlene's shed. The homeowners' fortitude and optimism surprised us. Between the gratifying work and the gratitude of the homeowners, we left Mississippi happy to have gone and thanking God for all that we have, can give and mostly, do to receive. Refer to the blog at www.towsonpres.org for fun and funny photos and more.

After Katrina

More than 350,000 homes were destroyed by Katrina. An additional 170,000 have major damage. Six months later, 55,000 families in Louisiana are still waiting for temporary housing units. Far fewer volunteer groups have registered than predicted. Presbyterian Disaster Assistance has established villages as a home-base for volunteers. Recently Chris Molling and his daughters worked on the Gulf Coast with PDA. Chris has offered to be a resource for anyone who would like to go and/or create a volunteer group.

Baltimore Presbytery is organizing a group to go the week of October 15th-21st. If you would like to participate, please contact the Presbytery Coordinator, Pete Berlowitz. The estimated time of recovery for the region is 7-10 years.

Learn more about ongoing hurricane Katrina recovery efforts
at Katrina Recovery Updates.