Mississippi

I went down to Mississippi over my Fall Break with a group of students from the ASU Wesley Foundation and Boone United Methodist Church. Two Boone ministers and four men from the Western NC Methodist Conference went with us, making a total of 37 people. We stayed in Ocean Springs, MS, at St. Paul’s Methodist Church. There was a “tent city” set up outside the church, complete with 20 10-person army tents and a couple of shower tents. The church itself had experienced a good deal of damage and had only just held its first services since the storm the week prior to our coming. A church in NC has agreed to send 5 of their members per week for the next year to cook meals for the volunteers there, so we were well-fed. Members of a TX church are actually the ones who head up tent city and arrange for volunteers to come in. It was really quite amazing to see the organization of this operation as well as the coordination between churches.

Before we got down there, we didn’t really know what we would be doing, but we assumed that we would be helping homeowners clean up their properties. We soon came to find out that, at least in Biloxi, they’re not ready for home repairs. The goal there is more basic: getting food to people. Our group of 37 drove into Biloxi every day to work with the Salvation Army, who had set up their operations in a shrimp and oyster warehouse. We were fortunate to be involved with the Salvation Army, as they were very well organized, and we were able to participate in a variety of activities. Our main projects involved putting together food (canned food drive donations) boxes and cleaning supplies; delivering meals to different neighborhoods in Biloxi; and demolition/clean-up at the warehouse and another Salvation Army building in preparation for future volunteer housing. By the end of the 3 days, we had accomplished a lot. Our most noteworthy accomplishment was the production of 1200 food boxes, which they told us would feed 5000 people for 1 week.

The damage in Biloxi was just unreal, even 6 weeks after the storm. (I’ll hopefully be able to post some pictures our group took in a week or so). I think the most shocking thing was seeing the death toll spray-painted in orange on each house. Many houses we passed had zeroes on them, but we saw some houses with 2s and 3s painted, and some said “dog.” As we got closer to the water front, there was a lot more damage, and entire neighborhoods had been flattened. We saw houses washed into the road; cars in trees; a boat marina (the warehouse-kind with boats hoisted in the air) mangled and the boats dangling amongst the twisted steel beams; an old man in a wheelchair crying as he went through family photos; smelly trash and swarms of flies piling up on every street corner. On the positive side, we saw neighbors helping each other, the Salvation Army passing out food to hundreds of people every day, and volunteers from all over the country pitching in.

I’m very glad to have had the opportunity to go down to MS, and I appreciate your support and prayers. The relief efforts on the Gulf Coast will be ongoing for the next couple of years, and if you get the chance, I encourage you to take part. It’s definitely something that I’ll carry with me the rest of my life.

Two additional thoughts I came away with: when I see Salvation Army bell-ringers at Walmart around the holidays, I’ll definitely be tossing in some extra change this year; and the next time I have a chance to donate to a canned food drive, I will not be contributing green beans!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/16787744@N00/sets/1155164/