Missouri Disaster Assistance to New Orleans
On Sunday, May 4, 2008 TWELVE volunteers from Covenant Presbyterian Church of Marshall, Missouri arrived at Olive Tree Volunteer Village to give of their time, talent and energy in the on-going recovery effort of rebuilding New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
Five of our group were experiencing a mission trip with Covenant for the first time and the other seven were veteran participants. This huge endeavor to rebuild is a joint effort of the Presbytery of South Louisiana, Presbyterian Disaster Assistance and Project Homecoming.
In 2007, churches in the Presbytery of South Louisiana hosted 4,446 volunteers, contributing 156,640 hours of work ($2,662,880.00 worth of labor) to gut 212 homes, reconstruct 59 homes and working on another 40 more in various states of completion. One wonders about how the home owners feel toward this myriad of people who come here to help put their homes and lives back together, and I quote from our home owner's daughter Jarlene Crawford, “after all we've gone through, I really think the renovation is done better with volunteers. The work is just better.†(There were seven members of her family who lost their homes and have had to go through renovation.)
On Sunday evening our very capable and knowledgeable Village leader, Kerry Herdegen, 25, gave us a very in depth report of all the work that has been going on in New Orleans over the past three years. He prepared us emotionally and spiritually to be ready for our week's work.
The next morning we met Jessica Jennette, the work site manager, who assigns the work projects to each to the groups living at Olive Tree for the week. Our group was divided into two groups of six and then we spent the rest of the week working hard; meeting, relating and learning about the life stories of our families of the homes we were working on; experiencing a little of the flavor of New Orleans; and laughing and having fun with each other. Having organized mission trips since 1999, I can tell you that you form very special bonds with those people who participate in them.
I strongly encourage anyone who has the opportunity to experience a mission trip to do so. You'll be glad you did.
Pam Stouffer,
Covenant Presbyterian Church
Marshall, MO