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St.
Peter's Home
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Fr. Rick's Sermon Upon Return (mp3 format) |
Fr. Rick's Journal
June 18
We left Atlanta around noon. Fantastic. What great
hospitality. It was so good to see everyone, and to be at Epiphany this morning.
We arrived in the Mississippi Gulf Coast around 6PM. I was surprised as we drove
in, how we didn't see any real sign of devastation. I actually thought to myself
as we came in on route 10, "Should we have come here? Do they really need us."
As we came into the Biloxi area there was some noticeable roof damage - not
unlike what I had seen in Vero Beach a couple of years ago.
But, when we crossed the bridge into Biloxi proper I couldn't believe my eyes. I
was totally unprepared for what I was seeing. We drove almost the entire way to
Waveland, and for mile after mile it was just total and absolute devastation. I
mean there was nothing there! Nothing. Piles of debris, some tattered business
signs, and the foundations where homes and businesses once were.
Where there were buildings still standing, the entire first floor would be
completely blown out.
We went onto the 'island' to find something to eat, and to see some of the
sights. There was nowhere to get anything to eat. No business open.
Actually, that's a bit of a hyperbole. There were a few businesses - mostly
hotels, which had obviously gotten things back in order very quickly - places
like Holiday Inn. But, really, you could almost count the number of businesses
on one hand.
It was just blown out house, by empty foundation, by snapped tree.
There would be a business sign standing, but with nothing standing behind it.
Unbelievable.
Camp Coast Care is Spartan, but nice. Comfortable - though I'll have to let you
know about the bed tomorrow!
June 19
Well, they were asking for volunteers, and I raised my
hand first. I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I didn't realize that
I was committing my whole day to sitting under a tarp.
Ok, it was a little more than that. I was the intake person. If you lost your
home, or roof, or everything in Katrina, and you needed help, you would come to
me sitting under that tarp.
Pretty amazing that 10 months after the storm, and people are still coming.
It was a slow day though. Only one real intake.
This guy was a professional. He owned a large business. He had waterfront
property.
As the storm was on its way - as the outer rain bands started to hit, he and his
wife were finishing their three day job of getting all their furniture and
belongings up the the top floor, and boarding up all their windows.
It was all for naught though, because the house was completely destroyed. They
lost everything.
They are now living in a FEMA trailer by their business lot.
You know, I've been to 3rd world countries before. I've seen the malnourished
kids with bare feet on dirt floors. But, here's this upper-middleclass guy
living in a trailer, taking a shower in a cubicle 1 1/2 feet by 1 1/2 feet.
Anyway - tomorrow I get to put in an honest days work - no sittin' under a tarp
for me!
June 20
We just got back from celebrating Eucharist in the
ruins of St. Peter's-by-the-Sea. It was like standing on holy ground. The church
structure still stands, but there is nothing below 20ft besides the twisted
steel girders which hold up the roof.
There wasn't an Altar, so I lifted up a piece of marble (I think it was the
bottom piece of a baptismal font) and laid it across a steel girder. Western
Maryland folk gathered with people from Tuscaloosa and Virginia and had
Eucharist.
Today I was in two homes. In the first home we were pretty much finishing up the
home of a handicapped man - wheelchair bound. His home was about 5 miles inland,
and yet it sustained incredible damage by the rain and wind. He stayed in his
home, and he said the wind sounded like a frieght train, and the rain was so
heavy that you couldn't see out the window. It knocked down 70 trees on his
property.
He said that there wasn't any electricity for 5 weeks, and a helicopter came to
drop food off to his neighborhood because there was no way in or out.
The second place that we went was a development less than a mile inland. It was
a classic middle class development. Nice homes, on nice pieces of property - but
the flooding waters of the gulf reached the eaves of the homes. Roofs had been
raised, walls blown out, and every shred of sheetrock that the waters touched
had to be ripped out due to the toxicity of the waters.
It was another home that was nearing completion.
I walked outside to look at the rest of the neighborhood, and a middle aged
black lady was standing outside her home which was across the street from us.
She was screaming into her phone, "I have air conditioning - in MY HOME!" Then
she started jumping up and down (literally!), and then paced around the home she
was so excited. Almost 10 months after Katrina, and she finally had air
conditioning.
It was so cool to witness that. Even though it was hot as could be today!
Things are bad. Things are slow. But, even slow progress is some progress.
June 21
Oh boy. This was the hardest day by far. We 'finished'
3 houses in three very different neighborhoods.
One of the homes was on the western edge of Pass Christian, pretty much ground
zero - where the eye wall passed over. It was pretty incredible - we went from
the coastline, and as we traveled inland, there wasn't a standing home anywhere
in the first half mile. I mean nothing.
We did lots of sanding, and Dan and I did most of the sanding over our heads -
which makes for pretty tired arms.
The people we're working with are pretty good though. Lots of fun and laughs.
This one lady, Ro, from Tuscaloosa, is a hoot. She
starts talking and that's it, she just keeps on talking. She has a story or a
joke for every occasion.
Anyway, I'm really ready for bed.
Tomorrow we're going to be putting up siding in the blazing heat. I understand
that it was 100 in Atlanta today - it must have been every bit of
100 today here too.