Pearlington is just inside Mississippi on the border with Louisiana. The Pearl River provides the border between these states. Pearlington took the direct hit from Katrina. It is only a few miles from Waveland which is to the east and was reported in the news at the time. The Pearlington Recovery Center is a totally volunteer operation located on the grounds of the former high school, which no longer exist. It is near the work and provides housing and dining for the volunteers. Conditions are very rough in the camp. Housing is either in some windowless plywood building or in the former library. The kitchen and dining is in a US Army tent, and the showers are in a trailer and a limited to four shower stalls for men and four for women. We had 160 volunteers in camp during our week the wait time was often long and the hot water long gone Restroom facilitates are a row of portable potties. The former gymnasium houses the program offices, tool crib and some supplies storage.
Team
We had a great team consisting of six men and six women. The age’s ranges from 19 to almost 69 (two days shy). Four of our members were from Hood College in Maryland, one was from another Methodist church in Massachusetts and one became aware that we were going and hooked up with us. Three of our group were part of the 2006 mission trip. We shared a single bunkhouse, splitting it with some blue tarp for privacy.
We had so many good experiences during the week and so many warm and wonderful feelings. We came together as a team very quickly and everyone worked very hard and migrated naturally to the areas where their skills could best be utilized. It was so uplifting to have the college students with us. Our Recovery Center as well as others had a very large number of college students since it was a spring break week.
One of the hardest moments was going our separate ways at the end of the week after having shared a common experience and having been together all week.
Pam Gosssman, Deborah Capozzoli, Deb Boyea, Bill Mikesh, Al Totten
Jennifer Chickering, John Chickering, Jeff, DJ Johnson, Kara, Linda Passmore
Norm Passmore
Saturday
We flew into New Orleans on Saturday, arriving at the Pearlington Recovery Center late in the day and soon met up with the group which drove down from Maryland. After some housekeeping we quickly settled in. It was a cold night (about 55) and most of us realized we did not have enough blankets. Luckily there were more so that problem was corrected. As it turned out the nights were mild all week until our last night there.
Sunday
We attended the United Methodist Church in Bay St Louis. Bay St. Louis was well covered in the Katrina news. The church survived quite well having lost its’ steeple and suffering some damage resulting from the slate roof blowing off the courthouse nearby.
The church warmly welcomed our group as they did other groups in attendance. After church we went out for a very nice lunch at a place that seemed to specialize in Po Boys. Our plan was to get on the job site Sunday afternoon, but there was much work to do around the Recovery Center to get it ready for the groups coming in. We did meet Jessie, the home owner late in the afternoon and some of us went to the home he is building to access the situation. He is building a two bedroom ranch on his property. He and his wife Evelyn are living in a FEMA trailer on the site. The sheetrock he had acquired with a grant form the Salvation Army had been delivered and was stored in several of the rooms. We developed our plans and hoped to return the next morning to get started.
Monday
Well, plans change.
The Recovery Center is building a new kitchen and dining area on the slab that was the school building. The new kitchen is a trailer and our assigned task was to disassemble an Army tent, move it to the new location and then reassemble it after devising a design to attach it to the trailer. In addition the trailer needed to be painted before we attached the tent. These projects took all day and I think everyone was surprised that we were able to complete this in a single day. Later in the day we did send some of our group over to Jessie’s to get started on the sheetrock. They made good progress on the garage ceiling.
Lunch was served at the Baptist Church site. This was excellent, but very crowded. We learned later they served 700 on Monday and decided not to return for the remainder of the week.
We were all pleased with our progress, but the highlight of the day was yet to come. John’s friend, from his days at the Merchant Marine Academy, and his wife and children live in Long Beach Mississippi. They like to show their appreciation by hosting dinners for volunteer groups. Long Beach is split by a raised railroad bed. Homes on the gulf side were heavily damaged or lost; those on the other side were spared. When Bob and Brita returned to their home after Katrina it was completely gone with all of their possessions. They have since bought a different home on the safer side of the tracks. They invited some of their friends in addition to our group and cooked a wonderful southern dinner for us. We enjoyed gumbo and pasta jambalaya along with great company and interesting stories of their experiences. There were many amazing events during the week and an especially fortunate one occurred there. One of Bob’s guest just happened to own a sheetrock lift (used to hold the sheetrock up against the ceiling until it can be attached) and he offered to loan it to us for the week. Wow.
Tuesday
We were off to the work site early in the morning and we all felt great to be on the project. As the day progressed everyone honed their skills and by the end of the day we were becoming very efficient. We discovered the screw guns we picked up at the Recovery Center were not up to the task so we decided to buy two more which at the end of the week we would donate to the Recovery Center. This was a smart decision and made for some very neat work.
Wednesday
After dinner we held a communion service in the dining tent we had constructed at the beginning of the week. We had about 70 in attendance, with excellent music lead by some folks from the University of Florida, and a beautiful and thoughtful service.
Thursday
Thursday was a beautiful day and we continued with the teams developed the previous day. Work progressed well. We knocked off slightly early so we could go into New Orleans. We of course headed for the French Quarter where we had a wonderful dinner and enjoyed a stroll up and down Bourbon Street taking in the sites and sounds. It was clear that a large proportion of the crowd were volunteers. We recognized several people from Pearlington.
Friday
This was our last work day. Jessie and Evelyn had planned a catfish lunch for us. We knocked off work around noon and cleaned the site. We signed and attached the last piece of drywall, took pictures, prayed together and then enjoyed a wonderful lunch. We all ate too much as all of the food was delicious. Keep in mind Jessie and Evelyn are living in a FEMA trailer and the kitchen space is extremely small and the area heats up quickly especially cooking several pounds of catfish. We had been invited to a crayfish boil later in the afternoon by the Catholic Diocese near Kiln, MS so we packed up and said our goodbyes after lunch and headed back to the Recovery Center to get cleaned up. We had completed all of the ceilings and maybe 85% of the walls. Another team was scheduled to complete the sheetrock project the following week. Jessie has had enough experience to know this may or may not happen when planned.
The trip to the Catholic Diocese was a nice break. I think we all tried at least a few crayfish. They have a very nice center well away from the disaster areas with good accommodations for their volunteers.
Saturday
This was our return home day. We were up and on our way early so we could all enjoy one last meal together. We stopped at Shoneys in Slidell. After breakfast the group from Hood College started their two day drive back to Maryland and we were off to the airport. Travel went well and we arrived in Boston behind the snow storm that had severely disrupted travel the night before.
Thoughts
One statistic the program leaders at the Catholic Diocese asked us to pass on and one which I think tells a lot if you cannot directly experience the situation in Mississippi and Louisiana, is that in Mississippi alone there are 80,000 people still living in FEMA trailers. This is 18 months after Katrina.
Everyone we met in the area was quick to express and show their appreciation for our efforts. It was also evident they are working very hard to help themselves and want desperately to get their lives back in order.
The spirit and enthusiasm of the college student, both our and those from the other groups shows theirs and our futures are in goods hands.
We are thankful we had the opportunity and it is an experience we will never forget. I am hopeful to get another opportunity.
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