Mission group travels to Louisiana in Isaac’s wake
It’s been more than seven years since one of the U.S.’s most deadly natural disasters struck — and victims to this day still seek relief.
USC’s Methodist Student Network sponsored a group of about 25 students and faculty to travel to New Orleans over fall break to help the communities devastated by Hurricane Katrina and, more recently, Hurricane Isaac.
“The people who we helped were wiped out by Katrina, and they rebuilt — and now they have been wiped out again by Hurricane Isaac,” wrote Tom Wall, United Methodist’s campus minister, in an email. “[Isaac] did not have the winds of Katrina but had as much as 18 feet of flood water that covered their homes for almost a week.”
The group traveled to Plaquemines Parish, a rural area about 15 miles outside of downtown New Orleans comprised of about 25,000 residents, to help rebuild five different homes.
“We mostly gutted houses, but we also spent time with the families hearing their stories and sharing their grief,” Wall wrote.
Those stories included a family that saved 120 people and 60 animals stranded on rooftops after Isaac hit by driving their boat around the area, said second-year biochemistry student Abby Snyder. That family, Snyder said, will be featured on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show.”
The group stayed at “Arabi Hilton,” a small church converted to a dorm for volunteers after Katrina.
“We also helped our host church clean up siding and debris that [were] left after Isaac’s 80-mile-an-hour winds that pounded the area for almost three days continuously,” Wall wrote.
Aside from working all day Thursday, Friday and Saturday, the group was given time to explore New Orleans and have some fun as well.
“The second night we were there, we went into the heart of New Orleans. We all split up into different groups to find places to eat,” Snyder said. “My friend dumped powdered sugar on my head since that is a tradition at the café [we went to for dinner].”
But back at their work sites, students said they were struck by the hospitality and the generosity of the parish’s residents.
“Most of them provided us with water and Powerades while we were working,” Snyder said. “We were treated to lunch, and one homeowner even donated $1,000 to MSN.”
Those attitudes, she added, were inspiring and carried a message that resonated with her.
“The ability to be so kind and hopeful in their dire situations had such a positive influence on me, and I want to be able to carry their outlook into my own life and the lives of the people I know,” Snyder said.