Gulfport, Mississippi
Phil Venable reflects on ReConstruct’s relief effort
Click here to see more photos from Phil’s experience in the Gulf Coast.
Hurricane Katrina was reported to have been our nation’s worst natural catastrophe. After spending nearly five months in the Gulfport, MS area this past summer, I can understand and appreciate that assessment.
A few days after the August 29, 2005 landing of Katrina, we started receiving calls for our two portable shower trailers. Both were taken to Louisiana and one eventually landed in Gulfport, MS as its second stop. It was there that Paul Morris and I met Joe Brewer with Church Building Ministries, Inc. (CBMI). Joe was coordinating a rebuilding effort in Gulfport using volunteers. The members of Grace Memorial Baptist Church were allowing Joe to use their church for housing and feeding the volunteers.
After several trips to Gulfport, Paul and I struggled with what, if any, ReConstruct’s involvement should be in the Katrina rebuild effort. After discussions with various organizations, we committed to sending me to Gulfport for a six-month period. I would be assisting Joe Brewer in the effort he had started. Also, our home church, Brentwood Baptist Church, provided financial support and prayerful encouragement for us and for our work in the Gulf.
I arrived April 1, 2006 and was greeted by groups leaving and new groups arriving. As I soon learned, that was to be the norm. Each week was different. Groups from various churches from all across the country came to serve throughout the summer. The groups would arrive on different days of the week and would stay for as little as one day or as much as ten days. They slept on classroom floors in Grace Memorial Baptist and ate their meals in the church’s fellowship hall. We would usually have from 10 to 100 on hand on any given day.
The skill level of the individuals varied. Some from each group would help cook and with breakfast served at 6:00 am, the cooks’ day started early. Other groups brought carpenters, electricians, plumbers and drywall finishers as well as many with servant hearts and strong backs that were willing to do whatever needed to be done.
After breakfast, our day started with a devotion and share/prayer time, our most important part of the day. As the groups got to know the residents, they would share how their lives were being blessed and touched by serving those in need. The prayer times were special as we prayed for needs back home as well as specifically for the residents.
My role in the rebuild effort had different parts. My first and ongoing job was to visit the homes of residents that had applied for assistance and assess what needed to be done. During my time in Gulfport, I visited with between 125 and 150 residents. As the time drew near for a group to arrive, I would schedule which house they were to work on and what work they were to do and also get materials in place. It was also my responsibility to check on the active jobs each day.
Several things were impressed upon me during my stay in Gulfport. First, was the overwhelming thanks that the volunteers received from the people they served. Many residents stated to me that if it were not for the Christian churches with their outpouring of volunteers, the work to be done in the Gulf region would be far, far behind where it is today. Coupled with this thanks was an understanding, patience and appreciation for any work that was done for them that helped them get one step closer to moving back into or having repairs complete on their house. It would have been easy for the long-suffering residents to be bitter, but they were not.
The next point that was brought home to me was the gift of hope that the volunteers brought to a people whose lives had been turned upside down by the storm. As important as it was that a roof be fixed or a ceiling patched, perhaps of greater importance was the hope that was given to residents by the volunteers. Without hope, all looks gray. With hope, light outshines the darkness and there is reason to face another day.
There is still much work to be done in the Gulf area. I am thankful and grateful that I was able to serve in a small way. It is my hope and prayer that volunteers will continue to answer the call for those in need.
Click here to see more photos from Phil’s experience in the Gulf Coast.
