Hurricane Relief

Hurricane Ike cause significant damage to multiple Texas Gulf Coast communities. I recently traveled with my oldest daughter and two other members from my church to that area to help with the Hurricane clean up. I thought some folks might be interested to hear about the trip.

The four of us left from SW Fort Worth at around 7:00 AM on Friday, 17 October. We arrived in North Houston at the Lutheran Intercity Network Coalition (LINC) Mission Center (Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church) about 11:45 AM. LINC has set up a food distribution there. There was probably about 150-200 people waiting in a line when we arrived. We helped sort and bag food for distribution to the largely Hispanic crowd. Approximately 200 bags, along with cases of water bottles were handed out by around 1:30 PM.

After helping at the food distribution center they sent us off to accomplish one of the work orders in the local community. It was also for a Hispanic family (mother and grown son) not far from the Mission center. They lived in a very old, small mobile home that had sustained roof damage during the hurricane. Someone had tried to temporarily fix the roof with various tarps and such, but with only limited success. They were still getting water in the home during any significant rain. The home was in very poor shape -- I'm sure any knowledgeable health/safety official would probably condemn the home. Nonetheless, we proceeded to use tarps and wood slats provided by LINC to at least temporarily provide a dry home. We had to be very careful on the roof as a potential roof cave-in was a significant concern. I think we were able to secure a temporary roof that will keep them dry for the near term -- hopefully for at least a year or so. This may be the only roof they have for some time, as they do not qualify for FEMA assistance. Although the mother spoke no English and the son only a little bit, we prayed with them before we left. I believe they were very grateful for the help.

We headed back to the LINC center and dropped off all the tools, etc. We left for Beaumont sometime after 6:00 PM and stopped for dinner on the way, so we did not arrive in Beaumont until almost 9:30 PM. The LINC Mission Center in Beaumont is set up at St. John's Lutheran Church. When we arrived, no one was in the facility. We had expected a group from Flower Mound (Lamb of God Lutheran). They arrived a little while later, having gone to enjoy a local football game. St. John's has two rooms set up with bunk beds (~32 beds). The Flower Mound group had taken one room, so our group took the other room. Since there was only one shower facility I had to make sure that my daughter had undisturbed shower time.

LINC-Houston had given us two work orders in Orange, Texas. After a good breakfast on Saturday morning, provided by St. John's, we headed to Orange. We got lost, but eventually arrived at the first home just before 10:00 AM. It was small home -- probably 70+ years old. Pat LaVernge, an older single woman (late 60s) lived there by herself. The home had been flooded by about 2 feet of water during the Hurricane. All the flooring had already been removed along with all the furniture in the home; however, Pat was still living there. The remaining sub-floor was beginning to mold. She was also experiencing some roof leaking in the back part of the home. The other two men in our group covered the back side of the roof with two tarps, hoping to get the home dry as quickly as possible. My daughter and I tore out paneling in a bathroom / utility room / closet. After finishing the roof, the other two guys tore out the dry-wall in a closet. This home was difficult in that there was a lot of work that needed to be done, but the homeowner was wrangling with insurance so we weren't exactly sure what we should/could do. We really had no guidance on this, so we did what we felt were obvious things. I expect once she works things out with her insurance she will need further help. We finished up at this home around 3:30 PM on Saturday, praying with Pat before we left. She was very grateful for our presence, our prayers, and our help.

After finishing at Pat's home we headed to the 2nd home, which was a couple of miles from the first. Iva Hogg was the single resident here. I'm guessing she is mid-to-late 70s. She seems in relatively good health and was doing a lot of work herself. Her daughter and son-in-law were there helping her the entire time we were there. This home had had been flooded by about one foot of water, but was not covered with flood insurance. They had previously had another group (from a different organization) out to help them, so they already had most of the home gutting complete. They had already torn out most of their walls down to studs -- in some cases they left the top four feet or so. They also had almost all the flooring removed. We began to tackle a room that needed the wood slat flooring removed. We also removed the sub-flooring as it had significant termite damage and was deteriorating across the room. Some of the joists also had termite damage. We stopped around 5:00 PM on Saturday evening and returned to complete the work on Sunday morning. After finishing tearing out the wood floor we also helped with a few other miscellaneous tasks. We left Iva's home around 12:00 noon on Sunday. It happened to be her daughter's birthday on that day, so we sang happy birthday to her and prayed with them all before we left. Again, their gratitude was very evident and they were clearly touched by our care and concern for them.

St. John's accommodations were simple, but more than accommodating. The provided breakfasts and dinners were excellent. They also provided us bread, lunchmeat, condiments, etc. for lunch; along with ice for our ice-chest. We took advantage of these both Saturday and Sunday. It was 2:00 PM before we got out of there on Sunday and we arrived back in SW Fort Worth around 8:15 PM Sunday night, 19 October.

In closing, there is a lot more to do -- in Houston, in Bridge City (near Beaumont), and in Orange. LINC has also set up a mission center in Texas City for clean up in the immediate Galveston area. I’m sure needs there are very significant. I expect there will not be any lack of work for many, many months to come. The trip was a great blessing to us as we were able to fellowship with one another and as we were able to be Jesus' hands and feet to people in their time of need. I would strongly encourage anyone who desires to put their faith into action to set aside a weekend and experience it themselves.