St. John’s volunteers help rebuild storm-damaged homes

 

Team members to share
experiences in Biloxi
at Sept. 10 gathering

The heat was oppressive. The days were long. The work was challenging.
But the accomplishments and the heartfelt thanks that more than 40 mission volunteers from Corpus Christi received provided a spiritual “high.”
The youth and adult volunteers from St. John’s UMC, Corpus Christi, spent Aug. 1-6 helping residents of Biloxi, Miss.
Mission team participants are to share their testimonies and reflections about their experience at a churchwide fellowship supper Sept. 10. They are to display photographs they took, share video footage from the five-day trip and tell their stories.
Biloxi needs skilled labor to recover from damage inflicted by Hurricane Rita in late September 2006.
“Our goal was to provide skilled labor in the form of dry walling, framing and finished carpentry to families’ homes,” said Catherine Albert, trip coordinator, “especially those families whose insurance companies had denied coverage because of the debate over flood and wind.”
The mission trip had been planned for several months by St. John’s Mission Work Area. Each participant paid for his or her own meals and shared travel expenses.
Proceeds from special fundraising events over the past eight months and special gifts from church members and Sunday school classes helped pay remaining costs.
The Rev. John Elford, senior pastor, said the team was following Jesus’ command to reach out to the last, the least and the lost.
“Not only were we able to accomplish all of the work projects set out for us, but we gave folks hope along the way,” he said. “There is so much devastation, and many people don’t have the resources to recover. One man, whose house we worked on for two days, said that he and his neighbors would be completely lost without the help of the churches.”
Sue Hoyt, St. John’s stewardship chair, said one event on the trip was a spiritual highpoint in her life.
After two days at one home—reroofing, rebuilding the laundry room, clearing the yard, doing many loads of laundry, and cleaning the kitchen and living room—the team added an extra touch, Hoyt said.
“Theresa returned from work to a bouquet of flowers on her dining room table that had previously been completely covered with ‘stuff,’” she said. “The first words she uttered were, ‘The gray has been lifted; I can handle this now.’  
“Tears flowed as we all hugged her. This to me was the essence of our trip—giving people a little bit of love and hope.”
Elford thanked Heritage UMC, Biloxi, for its commitment to the relief efforts.
“This church has completely sacrificed its church building and surely much of their staff time to assist volunteer teams that are coming to Biloxi to rebuild,” Elford said. “We could not have done near what we did without Heritage, which provided sleeping areas and meals for the team.”
Catherine Albert and her husband, Jim, of Albert Construction led the construction team. It comprised experts and other valuable helping hands, including six members of Catherine’s extended family who don’t attend St. John’s.
Volunteers who traveled 12 hours to Biloxi and 12 hours home and worked four full days were:
Ashley Albert; Jessica Albert; Oneida Alegria and daughter Oneida; Josh Beatty; Megan Beck; James Bryce; Madeleine Bryce; Robyn and Ty Cobb and their son Mitchell; Mike Exendine; Adam Garza; Melanie Granado; Jason Houlihan; Sue Hoyt; Tricia and Brittany Massengill; Sara Molina; Sydney Nisbet; Martha Oman, Ben and Dana Palotti and their son David; Sandy Peltier and her three children, Hunter, Jared, and Lauren; Stan Pence; Brenda and Chip Spence; Stephen Steadman; and Todd Weimerskirch.