When Hurricane Katrina slammed the Gulf Coast of Mississippi in late August 2005, no one could grasp the extent of damage done and how long it would take for local residents to recover. Now here we are in 2011 and there are still isolated families throughout Mississippi and Louisiana trying to find their way back to a comfortable home life that disappeared when wind and water destroyed what was once familiar.

Olive Branch, Clarksville, and Faith Community UM churches can take pride in knowing they have reached out and given hope and comfort to some of those families by supporting six mission trips to the area.

On February 26, 2011 ten volunteers left in the dark and cold Ohio morning and traveled to warm and sunny Picayune, MS for another week of work with Habitat for Humanity. From Olive Branch were Keith Largent, Judy Schaefer, Judy Schnecker, and Nick Williams. Doris Crothers from Clarksville joined the team, as well as five volunteers from Faith Community. We traveled in 3 vehicles and had a safe 13 hour trip to our destination. We settled into our quarters at the Family Life Center of the First UMC in Picayune. This was our third stay at the facility and we have developed close ties to members of that congregation. They are pleased to have us come and stay each year.

Monday through Friday were work days and we stayed busy all week working on two houses: painting, caulking, installing

floor tile, painting, storage shed construction, moving lumber, installing closet doors, and more painting! Two members of the team spent 2 ½ days at another location rehabbing two bathrooms for Ms. Bertie, an elderly lady who just recently returned to her home after Katrina winds and water had chased her out five years ago. Olive Branch member Amy Burgess and her son Tom drove over from Pensacola, FL and worked with us Tuesday – Thursday. Each morning and evening, a member of the team lead us in devotions, as well as a morning prayer at the work site every day.

On Wednesday evening, the First UMC church family invited us to be their guests at a weekly dinner. The local hospital provides the food for a nominal cost to those attending and we enjoyed the interaction with more of the church members. Thursday evening the two families who will live in the Habitat houses stopped by so we could meet them. They are both single parent families and are eager to move in to their beautiful new homes.

The weather was perfect with sunny skies and temps in the 70’s the first four days of the week. Intermittent showers on Friday moved most of the team to inside work as we wrapped up our weekly efforts. Our plans to attend a Friday night Mardi Gras parade in nearby Slidell, LA were cancelled as the rain intensified throughout the afternoon. That gave us time to clean up, pack up, and prepare for our early morning departure and journey home on Saturday, March 5.

It was a blessed and fruitful week. We thank the churches for their prayers and support, for buying the jams and jellies, the candy, the shirts, the pies, and supporting the Election Day lunch and our spaghetti supper. It’s a year round effort and anyone who has participated knows what a good feeling it is have the support of our church families as we reach out and touch the lives of those in need. In addition to the hands-on work completed, we had adequate funds to make a $1500 donation to HFH and $1000 worth of gift cards to the Mississippi Case Management Consortium. That’s the organization that facilitated our adoption of Ms. Bertie through www.adoptakatrinafamily.org

Even though the headline news today is scattered around the globe and no longer focused on the Gulf coast, the work continues. Wherever people are hurting, near or far…touching the lives of others in ANY manner, warms the heart of the giver and surely pleases God.

Judy Schaefer, VIM Coordinator