Church Executive Travel

Short-term missions rebuild hearts and homes in New Orleans

From Volume 2008, Issue 12 - 12 2008

Three years after Hurricane Katrina, volunteers help the good times roll again.

By Bethanie Hestermann

In August 2005, when Les Palmer first saw footage of the devastating effects of Hurricane Katrina on the Gulf Coast, he said, "Okay God, here I am, send me."

Though he was hundreds of miles away on his sofa in San Diego, Palmer was brought to tears as he watched the people of New Orleans wade through the flood waters that had destroyed their homes, their neighborhoods and turned their lives upside down.

Since Katrina, Palmer, now senior chaplain and director of crisis care at Calvary of Albuquerque in New Mexico, has become an active participant in the home rebuilding effort in New Orleans and its surrounding areas. During the last few years, Calvary has sent more than 30 teams of volunteers ranging in age from 16 to 80 on short-term mission trips to Louisiana.

Calvary's teams typically build houses in waves. One group may work on the foundation, one on walls and another on plumbing or electrical work. Groups vary in size and levels of experience. Volunteers with plumbing or electrical expertise are especially valuable to the effort since houses must be up to code.

In May 2008, a 14-member group from Calvary spent five days helping a family in need in St. Bernard's Parish, a suburb five miles from downtown New Orleans. The group renovated the family's barn, finishing the framing and roof and adding doors, trim and paint. They also helped clean up a pond that was full of debris and rebuild a wooden deck that had corroded since the storm.

The team stayed at Camp Hope, a school that was gutted and turned into a camp for volunteers by Habitat for Humanity after the storm. For Summer Willis, group member and mission coordinator for Calvary of Albuquerque, the experience was surreal. "It was a really eye-opening experience," she says. "It brought us closer to God in the sense that we knew he was in control, even in the midst of this disaster."

Willis' group worked two straight days, from 8 a.m. until after dark, then took a day off before working two more days. On their day off the group went to New Orleans, took a swamp boat ride and ate dinner in the French Quarter. "We got to see alligators, eat some old-fashioned New Orleans food and listen to a live jazz band," Willis says. "It was really important to the family we were working with that we experience the culture of New Orleans while we were there."

The ultimate goal in New Orleans and its surrounding areas is not only to rebuild structures, but to help rebuild the lives of those affected by one of the country's worst natural disasters in a century. Willis' group also helped rebuild a structure the family can use as a dance studio for additional income - since the wife is a dance instructor.

The need is still great

When Palmer first arrived in New Orleans in 2005, the first thing he noticed was the deafening silence. As he watched people carry what was left of their belongings in a plastic bag, crying out for food and water, he was moved by the scene. "My heart broke for the people," he says. "Seeing the exhaustion on the faces of rescue workers, fire crews, police and first responders filled my heart with compassion."

Three years has not healed the wounds inflicted by Katrina on New Orleans. Palmer describes entire neighborhoods flattened and houses destroyed except for the front porch - an eerie reminder of what once was. Willis describes boarded up grocery stores and a make-shift hospital made of portable buildings in a Wal-Mart parking lot.

"There is a continuing and desperate need for churches to send groups to New Orleans," says David Crosby, senior pastor of First Baptist New Orleans and director of the Baptist Crossroads Project (baptistcrossroads.org), a Christian organization designed to help families in the greater New Orleans area. According to Crosby, 71,000 residential structures in New Orleans are still listed as "blighted"--this comprises 34 percent of the city's housing.

Beyond building structures, church groups that partner with the Baptist Crossroads Project can participate in renovation projects such as painting, yard work and carpentry, or organize backyard Bible clubs, vacation Bible schools and block parties. Such events connect volunteers with the community through practical deeds of kindness and love.

'God's Army' can answer the call

Volunteers build up physical walls and break down spiritual boundaries that may have prevented people from hearing the Gospel. "This work, done for Jesus' sake, transforms the lives of both the homeowners and of the volunteers who help," says Crosby. "Government agencies were slow to respond to Katrina, but people of faith became the 'army of God,' as one homeowner observed, and our entire city has taken note."

For Crosby, it is important that Christians head up the effort in New Orleans. "We have an opportunity in New Orleans to change the trajectory of a major American city. We want the new New Orleans to be influenced and impacted by God's people and the love of Christ. The way to do that is to get our hands dirty and help people back to their feet."

In Palmer's experience, when community members realize the group is willing to work for free, it opens up spiritual doors. "We bring the presence of Christ in the midst of their disaster," says Palmer. "In a time of crisis when people are asking why God would let this happen, we are able to say that we don't know all the answers, but that God has a plan for their life."

For those that have participated in the rebuilding effort, it is really a love for the people of New Orleans that keeps them coming back. "You see the faces of people hurting and it really touches you," says Palmer. "Buildings come and go, but we have the opportunity to make an eternal impact on these people's lives. That's why we need to keep going back."

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Volunteers experience the Crescent City

Volunteers to New Orleans, LA experience a unique, musically rich culture and native cuisine. For groups that wish to experience the city, the staff at New Orleans Habitat for Humanity (habitat-nola.org) suggests these attractions:

- St. Louis Cathedral at Jackson Square
- National World War II Museum (ddaymuseum.org)
- Louisiana State Museums: The Cabildo, Presbytere and Old Mint
- Natchez Steamboat--a two-hour cruise on the Mississippi River (steamboatnatchez.com)
- Riverwalk--shops and restaurants on a half-mile walk along the Mississippi River
- Audubon's Aquarium, Insectarium and Zoo (auduboninstitute.org)
- New Orleans Museum of Art (noma.org)
- Cajun Encounters: Swamp Tour (cajunencounters.com)

For more information on tourism in New Orleans, visit neworleansonline.comor bestofneworleans.com.

Photos courtesy of the New Orleans CVB.