WUMC youth replace damaged floorboards this summer in Mississippi. (Photo courtesy Westlake United Methodist Church)

UMC church youth help still-struggling Katrina victims
By Kevin Kelley
Westlake
Published August 16, 2006

Most people have seen television reports of the damaged inflicted on the Gulf states by Hurricane Katrina last year. But everyone who has actually been in the region, including people West Life has interviewed, say it’s impossible to comprehend the extent of the destruction without seeing it in person.

Westlake resident Jackie Schade, 14, had the same reaction.

“I didn’t think it would be that bad,” Schade said. “The pictures don’t even describe it. It was just horrible down there.”

Schade was one of 13 youths from Westlake United Methodist Church who traveled to Mississippi this summer to help residents there rebuild. Every summer, young people from the church go on a mission trip; this year the destinations were Bay St. Louis and Waveland, Miss.

Kay Martin, youth director at WUMC, lived in Mississippi when her husband was in the Navy before they moved to Westlake six years ago. Martin arranged the mission trip with leaders of her former church, Central United Methodist Church in Meridian, Miss., which is coordinating relief efforts of the Methodist Church in the region.

Traveling in two vans and two SUVs, the 13 youths and six adults left Westlake June 24.

Toward the end of their journey, a growing number of blue tarps on homes and trailers parked next to damaged houses were telltale signs they were going deeper into the disaster area. Fallen trees and debris fluttering in still standing trees were other indicators of the extent of the damage.

“It just got pretty quiet during the last hour because you just saw (the damage) getting worse and worse and worse,” Martin said.

Nearly a year after Hurrican Katrina struck, the business district of Bay St. Louis, Miss., still shows the effects of the storm’s damage. (Photo courtesy of Westlake United Methodist Church)

Danielle Stickler, 14, who went on the mission trip with her mother, Sharon, and sister Kristen, 15, was also awestruck by the damage.

“I saw devastation that I never thought I would see in my life,” she said. “After 10 months, there are still houses with water and mold in them. I was shocked.”

The emotional impact was hardest on Martin, her husband, Bill, and their daughter Kim, 16. They had lived in Mississippi and visited the once vibrant coastal areas.

“My daughter was almost in tears because she had lived there,” Martin said.

The group stayed at Gulfside Assembly, a former UMC retreat center that now houses recovery volunteers.

The WUMC volunteers were split into two teams and given work assignments every day. One team installed new floors and drywall in a nearly restored home which had been flooded up to 4 feet.

The second team worked 10 to 12 hours a day gutting the ranch house of a brother and sister, both in their 70s, who had survived the storm and flood.

“They had to go up into the attic and stand on the ductwork, and the water came up to their chest,” Martin said of the pair’s ordeal. The siblings, now living in a trailer on their lot, were not able to change their clothes for two weeks following the storm, Martin said.

Tearing apart the interior of their house had an impact on the WUMC team, Martin said. “It was hard because they still had some personal things there that couldn’t be salvaged,” Martin said.

Given the immensity of the damage Katrina caused, there was a temptation to feel overwhelmed by the amount of work that still needed to be done.

“Many of them made the statement that they didn’t feel like they did anything because there’s so much to do,” Martin said. “But we kept telling them, ‘You’re doing so much.’”

Schade was struck by the fact that some areas had seen little rebuilding in the 10 months since the storm. “Nothing has changed,” she said.

It was tempting to think a small group of student volunteers from Ohio wouldn’t be able to make a dent in the region’s reconstruction.

But Schade, who helped to rebuild the elderly brother and sister’s house, believed the group made a difference.

“I think we made a big dent in their life,” she said.

Upon their departure, the WUMC volunteers gave the brother and sister a Bible. Danielle Stickler recounted that in expressing their gratitude, the sister told them, “Ever since the storm I haven’t really had any feelings — they all went away after the storm But spending this week with you kids, they are now starting to come back.”

Helping the elderly siblings affected the youth as well.

“Seeing this elderly brother and sister be so close after struggling through a natural disaster made me grateful to have my little sister, Danielle, and mother, Sharon, with me on the trip,” Kristen Stickler said. “It was nice having someone there for me to deal with the emotional struggles of seeing the disaster and hearing stories.”

When they weren’t working on reconstruction of houses, the students performed smaller jobs such as unloading and delivering drywall. The group worked from June 26 to June 30 and returned to Westlake July 2.

The locals didn’t discuss the hurricane unless they were asked about it, Martin said. Once local residents realized the WUMC group were from out of state — something the difference in dialects helped to give away — they all thanked the volunteers for coming to help the region rebuild, she added.

Martin, who began as youth director in October, said she was really impressed by the work ethic of the youth. They were all up and ready to work each day at 7 a.m., she said.

“They didn’t complain,” she said. “And it was hot.”

Martin did witness one sign of hope to indicate the region would be back. Toward the end of their trip, Bay St. Louis held its annual Crab Fest, a popular carnival-like event. Bay St. Louis had at times resembled a ghost town because so many families had left the area so their children could attend school or to find work. But many drove several miles to come back for Crab Fest and help restore the sense of community shattered by Katrina.

“There were a lot of young people there,” Martin said. “For us, after seeing not a lot of people out, it has got to give people hope that there is still life here  — that they are going to come back.”

The other WUMC youth who went on the mission trip were Lexi Alonso, Sarah Alonso, Brittany Daniels, Ian Gaul, Morgan Lux, Halle Mitterholzer, Tom Richmond, Tasha Zudell and Jeremy Zudell. Other adults from the church who accompanied the youth on the trip were Bob Becker, Karla Lux and Sue Richmond.