Hello Friends, 

            This past November just before Thanksgiving I returned from my third visit to the Mississippi Gulf Coast since Katrina. I was blessed to lead a team of 14 people from Calvary Community Church to southern Mississippi. God gave our tightly knitted team opportunities to help a few people out by fixing up their homes. The biggest blessing we had was to share the love of the Lord and give these dear people just a little bit of hope that they are not forgotten. Many of you asked me to share what I saw during this trip. It’s a little long but I hope you find it informative and that it will help you better know how to help and pray for the folks in the Gulf Coast.  The remnants of the worst disaster to ever hit the United States of America are still very evident everywhere you look in southern Mississippi. Some people have asked me how true the reports are they see on TV. My answer to that is, many of the reports are true but they do not show the big picture. You may see an interview on TV about a family struggling with living in a FEMA trailer while they are trying to rebuild their home. They tell their heart-wrenching story about their trouble getting help to rebuild and dealing with their insurance company that refuses to cover their losses. Seeing this makes some of us feel sad for them. Others of us may wonder if these people just want to “milk the system”. I have to admit that was my first thought until I went there and saw for myself what these people are facing. The people I have met are in the survival mode and need all the help they can get. The fact is that thousand of people have the same story to tell but they don’t have anyone to tell it to that will listen. I feel humbled that God has allowed me the opportunity to spend time with some of these folks and share in some of the burdens they face.

          There are many of untold stories that are represented by the thousands of concrete slabs you see as you drive down many of the streets. Each one of these slabs use to embrace the home of a family. Where is that Family? Where is their home? Most of these homes have been shoveled up and hauled away; others were sucked into the Gulf of Mexico when the floodwaters receded. Just because their home is gone they still may have a mortgage owed on it. The bank now has no structure on the property as collateral so they want their money. Many homeowners have taken the little bit of insurance money they received and other assistance to pay off the bank. This leaves them with nothing to work with to get back into a home they can call their own.

           In Pass Christian where we were working the population before Katrina was 6500 today it is just 2000. According to the FEMA web site, as of January 16^th there were 30141 families living in temporary housing units in southern Mississippi alone. If you care to see the print on that go to:http://www.fema.gov/news/newsrelease.fema?id=33308 This represents around 90,000 people.

           I passed through just about every coastal town between Pascagoula and Pass Christian during my visit and it was very sobering to realize that in the five days that I was there I did not see one child on a bike or a skateboard. This in it self makes the area seem lifeless. It has been fifteen months since the hurricane and the US government has given billions of dollars of aid to the area (see the above listed FEMA report) and I see little or no new residential construction. The businesses and wealthy have some projects underway but there is almost no new homes being built anywhere in the region. I still can’t believe that even after seeing it with my own eyes. I think, “This is America not a third world country, how can this happen?”

          You may have heard some people say on news reports that the government is doing nothing. That may be a true statement by some because they have not received enough direct help. But in general it is not true. Government agencies have been busy cleaning up millions of tons of debris, rebuilding bridges, roads and public buildings that were destroyed during the storm. There are programs in place to help people but they are not going to fix the problem. In Pass Christian the town’s courthouse, police station and library are now housed in temporary doublewide trailers. I believe just about every county building was destroyed. Every police car is lettered and stripped differently because they were all donated form different cities and states from around the country.

          We were connected with a Christian relief group but work out of a command center set up by the city of Pass Christian called the “Gray Hut”. These folks were wonderful to work with. One day while we were there we saw these dear folks visibly shaken. The storm that came through here last week, which poured about three inches of rain on Maryland hit us the previous day and as it came in out of the Gulf it dumped 7.2 inches on the area in a short time. I have never seen lightning like that before. We drove through up to a foot of water to get into town that morning. Folks that were there for Katrina were having flashbacks of the hurricane and felt very uneasy. It was the worst storm they have had since Katrina.

          Some of our folks were able to help organize a temporary warehouse that will be used to dispense relief supplies to groups that work in the town. An older lady came by the Gray Hut one morning asking if someone could fix a broken leg on a lawn chair she had in her yard. It was a little thing in and of it self but a big matter to her. She had a nephew who pass away and his body was coming back to Pass Christian for burial, she was having the family over after the funeral and needed places for them to set. I sent a couple of my nephews over to take care of that for her. I stopped by with another lady on our team and the woman invited us in to see her house. She was one of the fortunate ones that had the right type of insurance and an honest agent, which saw to it that she had her house completely, fixed up right after the storm. While in the house we noticed two doors that had not been painted and we offered to paint them for her. She was happy to let our ladies do them for her. She was so appreciative that she bought our whole team lunch one day.  We also worked in a home of a man named Craig that was in his home with his wife and four children during the storm. They had two inches of water on the second floor. They took a dining room table and laid it on its side at the top of the steps to block the waves as they forced water up the staircase to where they were held up. They looked out in horror as the buildings on both sides of their house came down and pieces of them were taken away as the waters returned to the Gulf of Mexico. We were able to correct some things another volunteer group did not do properly. Then we were able to frame in a doorway, hang sheetrock, spackle and clean up some. I shared with this couple that God has a reason for them to still be here because they could have so easily perished during Katrina. You may wander why they stayed. I did. The answer to that was that around 1969 Camille hit the Gulf Coast as a category 5 storm. His house survived that hurricane so he thought since Katrina was a category 3 storm at landfall he was safe and that everyone was over reacting. But the difference was that the eye of the storm passed to the west of Pass Christian. This put them on the east side of the storm, which causes a larger storm surge. Craig assured me that he would be evacuating the next time.

          There was a man named George who lived back in the woods about 10 miles from the coast that needed steps and a landing built to get to the door of his new house trailer. He could not have his electricity hooked up till that was completed. George had a tree fall across his original trailer during the storm. After removing the tree that just about split his trailer in half he lived in it for a year until he got a camper to temporarily live in for three months while they buried his old trailer on his property and moved in his new unit. The camper George had did not have running hot water so he was in much need of a bath. A few of our guys were able to build his steps and this week he should be able to have had his electricity hooked up so he can live in his new home.

           I am not telling you all this to say, “Look at what we did”. All of us came back home wishing we could have been able to do more. We wish we could have only helped one more person to get back into their home. The progress for those whose lives have been turned upside down as a result of Katrina is slow at best. It will take many years for some of these folks to get straightened out and back in their homes. Many more will be unable to return even though they love the area so much.

          Let me encourage you. If you ever get a chance to go and help or even send a gift or package take that opportunity. There is no government or social program that will be able to fix the damage that Katrina has done in the hearts and lives of those in the Gulf Coast. It is going to take the power of the Lord and His Church get it done.

            So as I pulled up in my driveway when I returned home after spending a week with people that lost just about everything they owned including some of their family and friends. Then I look around and I see all my stuff, my house, my cars, my wife, my wonderful family, my wonderful friends and I have to ask the Lord with tears in my eyes, “Why have you been so good to me? Thank you Lord for all blessings you have given me and the health and strenth to be a part of a small effort to help those in need as a result of Katrina.

So Blessed and Thankful!                                                                                                                                                                               Mark Wigley <><