Iowa Methodists aid in rebuilding coastal regionBy Robert Jackson
Features Editor
Features Editor
The Times of Stone County & South Mississippi
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Page A10
A special bond has been established between a Methodist community in Cedar Rapids, Ia. and south Mississippi since Hurricane Katrina slammed into the region nearly two years ago.
About 72 members of St. Paul’s United Methodist Church (UMC) along with Lovely Lane UMC are spending a week of their summer, for the second consecutive year, working on homes damaged by the storm and subsequent tornadoes that have hit the region since Katrina.
This year residents of Wiggins and Saucier have been among the recipients of the good neighbor policy.
About 72 members of St. Paul’s United Methodist Church (UMC) along with Lovely Lane UMC are spending a week of their summer, for the second consecutive year, working on homes damaged by the storm and subsequent tornadoes that have hit the region since Katrina.
This year residents of Wiggins and Saucier have been among the recipients of the good neighbor policy.
The residence of Doris Daughdrill needed roof repairs and two of the five work teams that came down from Cedar Rapids spent two days providing her with the repairs.
According to Mark Novak of St. Paul’s, the group of 72 is divided into five work teams, one vacation bible school team and a kitchen team. And throughout this week (the vacationers from Iowa will leave Saturday) the Iowans will spend their vacation hammering nails, doing manual labor and working with Gulf Coast youngsters.
As he helped out those who needed guidance in installing shingles, Nowak, one of the adult volunteers, called himself a “youth geek” who chose to jump right in with the younger people doing the manual labor.
Phil Rogers, youth and young adult pastor at St. Paul’s, said that after coming down from Iowa to the coastal region of Mississippi last year there was no doubt that another trip would be scheduled in 2007.
“When we were here last year we saw the need was so great we decided to do it again,” Rogers said. “We chose to come back.”
This year’s delegation is 50-50, 50 percent young people and 50 percent adults with the youngest being 14 and the oldest 74.
"They are a joyful group,” Rogers said of the younger members of the vacationing Iowans who brought hammer and nails rather than beach clothes with them to southern Mississippi.
Rogers estimates that between five and seven different projects will be completed or worked on during the group's one week stay in Mississippi. He said he knows the amount of work that needed to be completed in the aftermath of the hurricane and from storms that hit the region in 2006 was tremendous and that what his group will achieve is small, but he said the overall impact of outside charitable aid has been significant.
Rogers estimates that between five and seven different projects will be completed or worked on during the group's one week stay in Mississippi. He said he knows the amount of work that needed to be completed in the aftermath of the hurricane and from storms that hit the region in 2006 was tremendous and that what his group will achieve is small, but he said the overall impact of outside charitable aid has been significant.
“It’s amazing what God is doing,” Rogers said. “It’s like the loaves and fishes, a small ripple in a pond that spreads out.”
In addition to roofing work, the Iowans from Cedar Rapids are doing general home repair work, dry walling, ceiling work, general carpentry and flooring.
The VBS team led by St. Paul’s Assistant Pastor Carol Sundberg is working with youngsters in the region, teaching them and promoting Christian values, Rogers explained.
Some work teams are working individually, while others are working together.
Some work teams are working individually, while others are working together.
According to Rogers, the goal is “to get the job done.”
“We are down here with the people of Mississippi,” he explained, in other words “assisting the people of Mississippi” as they recover and move back toward a normal way of life – a Pre-Katrina way of life.
“We are down here with the people of Mississippi,” he explained, in other words “assisting the people of Mississippi” as they recover and move back toward a normal way of life – a Pre-Katrina way of life.
The sights chosen for work were provided to the Iowa group by the United Methodist Council on Relief and its coordinator for the southern district of Mississippi.
Providing a home to the work teams is Gateway UMC in Gulfport, and the Iowan’s kitchen work team provides the volunteers with a hot breakfast in the morning and supper at night.
Rogers came down to the Magnolia state in 2006 with fellow members of his church and said he has seen major changes since then.
Rogers came down to the Magnolia state in 2006 with fellow members of his church and said he has seen major changes since then.
The southern Mississippi community has a lot of new commercial buildings, a coastal tent city is gone and the rebuilding of homes is well underway and moving forward, he said.
Rogers said he sees “new life and new hope” in the area slammed by Katrina.
Rogers said he sees “new life and new hope” in the area slammed by Katrina.
The adults in the group paid their way, Rogers explained, while the young people under the age of 20 conducted fundraising events to pay their way.
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