As the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina approaches — a day that is seared in the nation’s memory, and has reconfigured the lives of people from an entire region — faith-based groups have learned some important lessons.
They understand that the recovery in the Gulf region will take years — and the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is committed to be there.
They have learned the importance of partnership — of working cooperatively with other faith-based groups and denominations, with government and community groups. They have learned that some groups are better at certain tasks than others — the PC(USA), for example, is concentrating on the long-term response, on recovery and rebuilding, rather than being first on the scene with food and water.
Katrina drove home that planning and preparation are key, both at the national level and locally — for this disaster and the next ones to come. One year after Katrina, as a new hurricane season has arrived, Presbyterian Disaster Assistance hopes to teach presbyteries and congregations the importance of having a plan in place for the next hurricane, flood, tornado, or fire.
And Katrina has made it clear that, in tough times, church folk show up. They will drive across the country to sleep in tents or on floors, taking time off from work, bringing tools and Bibles, their pockets stuffed with donations and gift cards for Lowe’s or Home Depot. They are retirees and college students. They show up to fix someone’s home without caring what race or religion or economic group that person comes from.
“In the past, it was too easy to get out our pocketbooks and write a check,” said Richard McClain, a minister from Pennsylvania who’s helped organize Katrina relief efforts from Lehigh presbytery. “With Katrina, we realized we had to get people down there and help out. … It’s part of our Christian responsibility.”
Deb Roberts, co-pastor of Knox Church in Naperville, Ill., has helped organize Katrina relief trips https://www.knoxpres.org/Katrina/disaster_response_and_recovery.html for Chicago presbytery.
She says of the people they’ve met: “Whatever discouragement they know, whatever disillusionment they’ve experienced, whatever anger and frustration … they are remarkably resilient. Grace abounds. They have shared grace with people. They have been grateful for everything, so they teach gratitude. They teach community.”
What’s still needed
The PDA website gives a breakdown https://www.pcusa.org/katrina/faq-funds.htm of how the $20 million given for hurricane relief in 2005 is being spent. Much of it is still in reserve, to be used for a long-term response that will extend through 2013 once other sources of funding for hurricane survivors has been exhausted.
And those on the ground say there still are significant needs.
With the arrival of the 2006 hurricane season, “people are pretty tense,” said Judy Fletcher, executive of Synod of the Sun; some are still trying to decide whether to move back.
In the Gulf region, and in parts of Florida recovering from other hurricanes, “volunteers continue to be an urgent need,” said John Robinson, Presbyterian Disaster Assistance’s associate for national response. Fletcher tells people three things are needed: money, work crews, and prayer. All three, she says, tell those devastated by the storms: “You are not in this alone.”
Cliff Nunn, pastor of First Church in New Orleans, has led what have come to be known as “Cliff’s tours” — taking volunteers around the city to show them first-hand the blows Katrina dealt. Even now, “there are some sections of town that look like ghost towns,” Nunn said. “The two big hang-ups are whether it’s going to flood again,” with the new hurricane season, “and second, what kind of buy-out or rebuilding money are they going to get?”
PDA has established six “volunteer villages” in the Gulf region and is trying to find a site for another one in New Orleans itself and hopes to open a village in Pensacola to cope with the aftermath of Hurricane Ivan. Those volunteer villages have shower and cooking facilities and plastic “pods” (like tents) with cots for sleeping, along with some tools workers will need. Each village can house from 90 to 120 volunteers — so work teams from a number of places can be there at the same time, sharing space and work assignments and devotional time at the beginning and end of each day.
Each group is asked to pay $20 a day per volunteer to cover costs. “It gives them a hot shower,” Robinson said. “It gets them a Port-a-Potty and a place to sleep,” with heating or air conditioning. Groups already are being scheduled into 2007, but more are needed.
The volunteers cook meals together, share each evening what they’ve experienced that day. Volunteers — who under PDA rules must be at least 18 — should expect to work hard, tearing out debris, hanging drywall, putting in insulation. “This is not disaster tourism,” said Susan Ryan, PDA’s coordinator.
“It’s hard work,” Robinson said. “It’s also the most meaningful. … Once you start on Mrs. Edwards’ house, you don’t want to stop until Mrs. Edwards is back in her house.”
And then you meet her neighbors, and want to help them too.
Katrina’s lessons
What are some of the lessons Katrina has taught?
“Go sooner,” Robinson said. “We used to wait until things had settled down a little bit. … Our niche really has been long-term recovery, staying with the community until they are rebuilt.”
But Katrina taught that trained advance teams need to go quickly to assess the needs and to build relationships on the ground, to help the presbyteries respond. Robinson said PDA has learned the importance of having “a fair amount of capacity beyond what we had before” — in other words, having supplies in place in advance — because “it really is easy to run out fast.”
Technology and equipment are important — satellite phones, Blackberries with e-mail access for key response people, trailers with generators on-site.
And disaster officials have learned to work cooperatively.
“Each organization has a niche, something they’re good at,” Robinson said. “Ours is hospitality” and long-term recovery. “The Methodists are good at case management. The Baptists are good at feeding,” as is the Salvation Army. “We have to develop good partnerships with reliable partners who are going to do what they say they are going to do,” including with local and community groups.
Deb Roberts, from Chicago presbytery, started with a scouting trip to the Gulf region in November — making contacts, figuring out “what’s going on, what do we need to know? … Our goal was to respond in a way that was meaningful at the other end. There was no need for us to go in as white knights and to know nothing.”
Local planning
PDA also is pushing presbyteries and congregations to get ready now — to have a disaster plan in place before the next storm hits. Sometimes people don’t see the need.
Robinson asks congregational leaders: “If your church burns down tonight, what is it you would regret not having already done?”
He asks, “Where are your historical records? Where are your financial records? Do you have backups of your computer records? Where would you meet for worship if you couldn’t use the sanctuary? … We have been telling people since Katrina no one is safe from disaster.”
PDA had planned to put two volunteer villages in storage in a warehouse near Little Rock– ready to be rolled out wherever needed, when the next calamity strikes. But one has already been sent to the Susquehanna Valley after flooding this summer wiped out homes and businesses in the Northeast.
Some presbyteries have learned the hard way what being unprepared can cost — and some are using their painful experience to lead the way in preparing others. Peace River presbytery in Florida, for example, has been hit by hurricanes so often it’s developed software and other ideas to help others with disaster preparedness.
Among the suggestions:
· Have a disaster preparedness plan on file with PDA — in other words, with copies stored away from the presbytery office.
· Come up with a communications plan that would be triggered by a disaster. It would include picking a place for pastors and other church leaders to gather within 24 hours to assess the situation, and collecting beforehand information such as home phone numbers, cell numbers and e-mail addresses.
· Name a disaster administrative commission in advance that the presbytery can use immediately rather than having to wait until the next presbytery meeting. Following Katrina, Robinson said, one presbytery didn’t meet until Oct. 12 — way too long.
PDA also is working on a system for establishing a “health and welfare” link to the PDA Web site so people from congregations can check in after a disaster, telling how they fared and how they can be contacted.
Roberts hopes the experience Chicago presbytery’s Disaster Assistance and Recovery Team has gained through Katrina can translate into being better prepared for local disasters as well — in part through creating a trained “first response” team.
It has been a season of learning — of forming new partnerships, of those who’ve suffered teaching those who were spared this time.
And each little bit, each volunteer, makes a difference.
“We come beside people,” Roberts said. “You can’t cure it, you can’t make it all go away or make it better. You can just do a little. … We’re like a drop in the bucket. But eventually the bucket is full of grace, and somebody’s house is rebuilt. And then you go on to another house.”
