Rebuilding Biloxi One House at a Time

For most of the world Hurricane Katrina and the aftermath is old news and mostly forgotten. For the people of Biloxi, Ocean Springs, Gulf Port, Bay St. Louise, New Orleans and other communities both large and small the aftermath of Katrina which struck in 2005 is front and center in their lives. The following is an excerpt from a web page from Elmbrook Church of Brookfield, WI that pretty much sums things up.

“Hurricane Katrina left hundreds of thousands of people suffering on multiple levels. Over 400,000 homes were deemed uninhabitable throughout the Gulf Coast and New Orleans. Personal possessions in the homes were lost, as well, and automobiles swept out to sea, or flooded. Many residents found themselves left with only the clothes on their backs. Closed businesses compounded the struggles of survivors by putting huge numbers of people out of work. And then came the news that most insurance companies were denying claims on houses damaged by Hurricane Katrina. Many Gulf Coast residents lost family, friends, or pets in the hurricane, and most children lost their sense of security. Over one year later, people find themselves overwhelmed with the resulting physical, emotional, financial and spiritual pain caused by Hurricane Katrina.”


The people of Elmbrook church from Brookfield, WI have been sending relief and teams of volunteers to Biloxi, MS as soon as the need was identified. Two of my best friends, Pam & Robin Knoll were leading yet another team to Biloxi and I asked to go along. I also asked that I might bring with me whomever I could manage to convince from my congregation here in Las Cruces. Three of us from Las Cruces and eight from Elmbrook church set aside April 26-May 4th for our adventure.

From Las Cruces, to Biloxi, MS is 1250 miles or a two day drive. Not much needs to be said other than it was a long drive. It was great getting to know Rick & Mike during the drive there and back. I am really glad they came along. When we were in communication range I called Robin & Pam to hear how their team was progressing. Everything was fine with them also.

Sunday afternoon, April 27th found us finally at LeMoyne Blvd. Baptist Church in Biloxi which was to be our headquarters for the week.

Up until Hurricane Katrina devastated communities up and down the gulf coast Lemoyne Blvd. Baptist was a fairly typical congregation. Then Hurricane Katrina opened their world. Biloxi experienced a 12 foot storm surge from Katrina while closer to where Katrina came ashore they experienced a 37 foot storm surge. In the Biloxi area the water came ashore at roughly 9 in the morning & retreated at about 6pm. When the people of Lemoyne Baptist managed to get to their building it had 5 feet of water in it. The grand piano was floating around the sanctuary. The neighborhood around the church was ravaged. Many of the members’ homes were destroyed. Businesses were wiped out and so on.

It was after all that that God worked His transformation. People from Lemoyne Baptist started to respond. They fixed up their building as best they could all the while helping people in their neighborhood with food and shelter. Katrina was the great equalizer – rich & poor suffered and as you can imagine the need was tremendous. First there was the cleanup, then the rebuilding began, one home or business at a time. While in the midst of helping one family someone would tell them of someone else in need and ask if they could help. Before you know it they organized their efforts and to date have helped build or restore 140 homes & businesses. 4800 volunteers from all across this country of ours have donated their time and skills to help. Some groups have been small like ours while other teams have been large. Some people have brought professional skills but whether skilled or not everyone has found a job they could do. To date the oldest volunteer has been 95 years old.

After greeting Pam & Robin we were introduced to the other team members and a few of our local hosts. Then it was get settled, look at the church, get ready for worship, eat and talk about the week.

The following email was posted by Pam & Robin on Monday evening after our arrival and our first day. It really lays out pretty clearly what we would be doing and experiencing during the week.

“Team 23 arrived safely on Sunday evening, attended a worship service featuring a Gulf Coast Youth Choir, then settled in for a good nights rest preparing for today. There are four activities that the team is involved with, and will be highlighted each day. The team is made up of 8 members from Elmbrook Church and three folks from Las Cruces, New Mexico (Pam and Robin's former Pastor and two members of his church).

Cheri Melchiona House - This house is nearing completion, and received a lot of attention today. The team moved a lot of construction debris from the kitchen to the outside so the floor could be scraped in preparation for the tile work. All of the other floors were swept so flooring could be laid and a 2nd coat of paint was applied to the walls.

Lillian Gray House - Ms. Gray is an 80+ woman whose house has passed rough inspection and is in the process of being dry walled and mudded. Lillian's house is right next door to the house that is being rebuilt for her son ... Pete.

Pete Gray House - Some rough plumbing was done today as was some electrical work. Of the three houses, this house is the newest to be started.

Foundation work for new bunk houses - Because of church growth, LeMoyne Boulevard Baptist Church is going to build two (2) 12--person bunk houses. The foundation work was started today for the construction, and will continue through the week.

The growth in church membership is a wonderful story of the "church" reaching out to the local community during post Katrina work. Membership continues to grow as folks that have been helped begin to attend and then join the church. In fact, at supper this evening, we heard the story of one couple and their 17-year old daughter who were helped by the church, and have now accepted Christ and are going to be baptized and are joining LeMoyne. We also heard tonight that the Governor has lifted the state of "emergency/disaster" of Mississippi, which would cause LeMoyne to lose the ability to have the RV's of the helpers in their parking lot, not to mention the new bunk houses. That being said, when LeMoyne petitioned the county for an extension, the county sent all of their neighbors a letter asking about the extension. These are all neighbors that have been helped by LeMoyne ... so there was an overwhelming "YES" to the request. Most said, "If it had not been for LeMoyne Blvd. Baptist Church, we would not have our homes." So ... extension granted. God is good!!!

The church is very quiet right now ... as it usually is the first night. Lots of "groans" from aching bodies that aren't quite use to this level of activity. We will all sleep good ... tomorrow is another day.”

Over the course of the week work was done on each of the homes listed and on the bunk house foundations. It was a good week.

Our team really worked as a team. We worked hard at whatever project needed to be dealt with. We laughed, we talked, we ached and commiserated together. We were a team.

There were many people helping our team accomplish what we could by making their church available to us, preparing us meals, volunteering their experience, getting supplies, taking us on a tour of the coast highway and treating us to dinner out. Without their efforts we couldn’t have done what we did.

I got to know Brother Tom, Brother Ralph and Brother Charlie a bit. You see how every guy there is my brother. Well Brother Tom is a local. He and his wife Margaret, who is a saint to live with that old boy by the way, live north of Interstate 10 and didn’t know the extent of the damage to the church and whole community until they were told about it later. Well I worked with Tom some on the bunk house foundation project. Tom & I got talking about grits. I asked him all about grits and how they were to be eaten. He shared his wisdom with me and then brought me a packet of instant grits as a going away present. Now I just have to take the plunge and go ahead and eat it. I actually tasted my first grits back in college. All I remember is that “no, they are not the same as cream of wheat”. Tom also regaled us with stories and jokes. He was a real joy to be with.

Brother Ralph is not a local but a long-term volunteer. Ralph & his wife came for a week and stayed two and a half years. They live in an R.V. parked in the back lot at the church. I believe they plan to make Biloxi their new home. I also believe he used to be in the construction business but then worked for Ford Motor in the Detroit, Michigan area so he could get a pension.

Brother Charlie is also not a local but from out of state and has been there a few weeks with his wife. He is also 84 years old and outworked everyone of us. I’ll always remember the site of Charlie using a saw horse as his ladder to do electrical work in the shower house. Go Charlie. He also wired Pete Gray’s house.

The work goes. With God’s guidance and blessing the work will continue as the people at LeMoyne Baptist say “as long as the volunteers and money keep coming in.”

I hope to go back for another week.