New Orleans Mission trip April 17-23, 2006

Rick's Trip Report and pictures

First things first... I want to thank everyone who donated to the Mission trip Linda and I took to the New Orleans area. The hope that your generosity allowed us to bring will touch so many lives that need it so desperately.

Our entourage was made up of 20 people from many UCC churches and was sponsored and setup by and through the Worcester Area Mission Society. Our host in Metairie, Louisiana was the UCC Congregation of the Good Shepherd Church. Their church had been damaged by water when the canals overflowed. The canal pump operators had been evacuated during the storm and were found and brought back 4 hours too late to avoid the overflow.

It was an intense experience for all of us. There were highs and lows. Joy from being able to help individuals. Joy in knowing that we'd helped the people from the Good Shepherd church come closer to having their Sanctuary back... Sorrow in seeing the utter destruction of homes and lives. Shocked-wonder at seeing first-hand the absolute power of nature.

Nothing we saw or were told prior to making the trip with 18 other, now dear, friends, could have adequately prepared us for what we found in the lower 9th district. Tourism has returned... There's life on Bourbon street... There's life in the French Quarter. But a few minutes away are abandoned neighborhoods. Houses still waiting to have absolutely everything...clothes, photographs, toys, books, wallboard, insulation, flooring...everything but the studs, roof and outside walls, taken down and brought out of the house and piled at the curbside to be taken to a landfill and buried. Virtually nothing salvageable.

We saw St. Bernard's Parish, where the ocean storm surge itself travelled 30 miles inland and slapped an upper-middleclass neighborhood, hard, with an 8 foot wall of water. We saw the Beecher church in the lower 9th District. The remaining members of their Congregation are presently worshiping with our host, Good Shepherd. It was a virtual ghost town. Block after block, mile after mile of damaged or destroyed houses. Some that might be salvageable, some that will simply be bulldozed.

In the 20 mile drive back from St Bernard's Parish, we drove by abandoned malls. No reason to open because there are no customers yet and no reason for people to return because there are no stores for them in these areas.

The people of the New Orleans area, as well those from the more severely damaged areas in Mississippi where entire neighborhoods were literally washed out to sea, not even leaving debris, are still desperately in need of our help. And they will be for years to come.

On Friday morning I had the privilege of going to the Airline Elementary School to read to some of the kids and to listen to their stories and those of their teachers. It was a break for the teachers but it was also a chance for us to show the kids that there are a lot of people thinking about them and to let them know that they're not alone in all this.

Please... keep them all in your prayers. look for ways that YOU can continue to help. The spirit of God is alive and well in Louisiana. Even amidst the devastation we saw it. We felt it. And we were a part of it.

And please, when you get the chance ask Linda and me about our experiences down there. There is so much we both have to share. That is the final part of our Mission. To spread the word. To let the people in our lives known what it's like down there and how much the people of Louisiana, of Mississippi and of Florida still so desperately need all the help we can give them.

Peace.

Some links of interest:

Good Shepherd website
Volunteer opportunities
The City Park P.O.D in the Lower 9th