As we enter the future
held together by our faith in God,
trusting in God's grace,
cherishing our love for each other,
and serving together as
disciples
committed to Jesus Christ;
we are called as a
community
to minister
in love, as he did, to all of our
neighbors everywhere.
Faithful in our heritage, we will work together
by gathering for worship,
faith development, and
missional scattering into the world.
Our Mission Trip to Slidell, Louisiana was a great experience!
We helped an older woman, Mrs. Cousin, a Slidell resident whose home was flooded, had no insurance and could not afford to rebuild her home by herself. The home had been gutted -- taken back to the studs, because a storm surge had flooded the neighborhood about 4 feet above ground level. Previous teams had put up vapor barrier, insulation and painted. The Columbus/Fall River group continued insulating and spent most of the week putting up drywall. They also painted fascia and soffit and caulked.
We stayed in bunk beds in a small building of Aldersgate United Methodist Church in Slidell. We were also able to use the church's commercial kitchen, and shared some of the cooking with other groups from Minnesota, Michigan and Pennsylvania. Most of those who have come have been from the upper Midwest, with many from Wisconsin. Fortunately, all the church's buildings were air conditioned, because the heat and humidity were both high!
We worked with United Methodist Committee on Relief and their local ecumenical partners. They are locally incorporate as Northshore Recovery, Inc. We brought with us checks totaling $2,120 from the Columbus Ecumenical Association, the Columbus United Methodist Church and others.
We found people in the area very appreciative of those who came to help. People in the grocery store and on the street thanked the group. One of the highlights was a concert put on by a local rock 'n roll group called Andre Bouvier's Royal Bohemians. They gave us a taste of local music, something they often do to thank visiting groups.
We also went into New Orleans, and saw the destruction, still evident almost a year later. In the lower ninth ward, most homes were gutted (down to the lumber structure). On some homes, you could still see debris on the roof at the level to which the homes were flooded. Some homes bore the request "please demo." Other homes said "do not demo" or "for sale." The French Quarter was spared the flooding, and we were able to do a little shopping and eating in that part of town.
The recovery is far from over. The city of New Orleans, which had about a million residents before Katrina, now has a tenth of that population. Those people are still displaced, and many have come to Slidell, which has doubled in size. Many decisions have yet to be made about which areas should be rebuilt.
The group consisted of Liz Caswell, Bailey Green and Jessica and Nancy Esveld from Fall River, and Wyatt Caldwell, Carl and Jim Cotter, Shawn Coyle, James Jensen and Mike Poser from Columbus. The group wishes to thank all those who supported them with their prayers and financial support, especially the members of the Columbus United Methodist Church.
