Day Three: Evening at First United Methodist Church of Biloxi

For dinner tonight, we traveled east on the coast highway to First United Methodist Church of Biloxi. The church is right on the waterfront only about two blocks from the ocean. We had a delicious dinner of biscuits and gumbo and heard the pastor and members of the congregation speak of their experiences during the storm and working with volunteers afterwards.

From our 'Comments' section:

"METHODISTS HOST PRESBYTERIAN KATRINA VOLUNTEERS
Robert E. Adamski
Bay Ridge United Church Brooklyn, New York

The 1st United Methodist Church of Biloxi, Mississippi hosted the volunteers from the Presbytery of New York City for dinner on Monday January 14, 2007. The volunteers joined the Methodist volunteers in a gumbo dinner prepared by the Church. After dinner the groups heard about the retreat from Katrina and disaster relief efforts underway since.

Over 2,000 volunteers from all over the United States have come to Biloxi to help. They have repaired over 250 churches and built three new houses. The current Methodist volunteers are from Wisconsin and participate in a volunteer effort established to give adults opportunities to “go to camp” and do good works. They have committed to building a house. They began after the New Year and hope to finish by the beginning of February. Some are staying the whole time while others are serving a week at a time.

Ray Marshall and his wife briefed the group on the efforts since the storm. They evacuated north over 250 miles away and while they missed the Category 5 storm were still exposed to a Category 1 that caused power outages. When they returned they were hindered by road closures and security. Because the Church was in a “debris zone” access was limited to reduce traffic and so couldn’t be a distribution center. Using his name and a badge he brought from Texas, Mr. Marshal was able to get past the checkpoints. His wife used candy and chewing gum to get the National Guard troops to let her through.

They told how no house was untouched by the 24 foot “tsunami” on top of the 6 foot high tide and how the population of Biloxi went from 50,000 to about 25,000 and their church from 220 to about 100

They were struck by the first volunteers who came from New York City to repay those who had come to New York after 9/11. To this day they can’t understand why people would come to a strange land (being from Texas they felt Mississippi was strange) to help people they didn’t know. An example was that while the traffic lights were out each intersection was being directed by a different group, Florida Highway Patrol on one, New York City Police on another, and Park Rangers on another.

They are convinced that the legacy of Katrina will not be the destruction but the volunteer efforts to rebuild and the friendships made. The mission of the church has become helping volunteers fulfill their need to volunteer as well as to the people in need. While there are many obstacles to rebuilding things like the bridge to Ocean Springs and houses that FEMA wants 25 feet off the ground, volunteers don’t require paperwork they just want to know what to do.

To assist volunteers that wanted to come they redesigned the web site. To help their neighbors they went and got ice and water for them everyday. Because of the lack of water they learned how to “shower” using bottled water. When one-liter bottled water became available they were very grateful as they were when Red Cross trucks began bringing food.

In addition to the bureaucracy of rebuilding many residents are behind in that they have a mortgage on a slab where there used to be a house. Some who could leave and move to other locations (like some of the retirees) put their houses up for sale and were able to do so in hours. The volunteers keep coming and keep coming back. Some have returned two or three times. One has been back 14 times. Others go home and help organize teams that come.

The Salvation Army continues to provide support with food and paper goods. The United Methodist Committee on Relief specializes in case management and so received a large grant from FEMA to help with that effort.

The evening closed with a reading of “St. Theresa’s Prayer” from “Vehicles of Hope” by Carol and Larry Tebo (about RVers who respond to disaster), prayer by the Pastor and viewing the video prepared to show people what had happened.

The video can be viewed at www.fumcbiloxi.org."

Later in the evening, we held a brief worship service back at Handsboro.