By Jared Johnson, with
photos by Steve Moffitt, Jason Shepard, and Ed Wilson
The lives of New Orleans residents
are continuing forward, long after the national media spotlight
has chosen to shine elsewhere. Most of the news anchors have
finally left town to cover more “pressing” stories in other
parts of the country, but thousands of Gulf Coast families
don’t have that option. The only issue right now is how to
rebuild their lives, just seven weeks after Hurricane Katrina
ravaged the area.
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With nothing left of any value, these homeowners
erected signs telling looters to take whatever they wanted.
What you no longer see on the
news ticker is what happens when the water subsides and residents
are left to sort through mountains of debris. It’s difficult
to comprehend their plight without witnessing it firsthand,
but many Latter-day Saints are learning the real stories
of hope, love and life following the worst natural disaster
in American history.
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The mold and mildew that grew up to the water line forced
workers to wear masks.
The response to the hurricane,
as many already know, has included the masterfully coordinated
aid of the Mormon Helping Hands. Each weekend for the past
six weeks, thousands of Melchizedek priesthood holders from
neighboring states have carpooled to hard-hit areas in Louisiana
and Mississippi. We leave mid-day on a Friday, pitch tents
around church buildings, work until Sunday afternoon and return
home mere hours before we’re back to our regular jobs on Monday
morning.
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Dawn breaks over this tent city, which was
was home to Mormon Helping Hands volunteers.
Every man who has been part of
this significant cleanup effort will agree that the amount
of work done in that short 36-hour timeframe is practically
inconceivable. It isn’t glamorous, nor could it be documented
in a reality television special, a la “Extreme Makeover: Home
Edition.” There are no cheering crowds lining the block,
no special “reveals” to pique our curiosity. There is only
Christlike service, which by definition does not draw attention
to itself.
Last weekend, nearly three hundred
men caravanned from their homes in the McKinney Texas Stake
north of Dallas to help make homes habitable in the New Orleans
area. Each of us who were part of that workforce could see
for ourselves that the portrait of the area has been painted
with too negative of a brush. The first thing we noticed
after meeting local residents was their lack of guile. They
didn’t waste their breath complaining about the mayor, the
governor or the president. They had no desire to involve
themselves in the dizzying game of political finger-pointing
that has emerged. These humble people wanted merely to thank
us for easing their burdens, if only for a short time.
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Team 3 of the Allen Third Ward takes a breather,
some of them still wearing their protective masks.
An Eerie Reminder of What
Happened
The Church’s response in Louisiana
and Mississippi utilizes a work order system. People of all
faiths request help using a Web site, and local members work
feverishly to link them up with teams and equipment that can
get the job done. My team from the Allen Third Ward responded
to three work orders last Saturday and Sunday. Each one had
a moral and a story. Take Jeanne Fourroux, for starters.
Our first order took us to her home in Metairie, which took
on two feet of water when Katrina compromised nearby water
sources. She needed help tearing out every square inch of
drywall and insulation below that level.
As our eight-man team began the
arduous task, it almost felt too normal. There was little
outward evidence of water damage. You could almost pretend
that we were simply remodeling, if not for an eerie reminder
that lay on the living room floor among her son’s scattered
baseball cards. A notice from the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s
Department that used to hang squarely in the window read:
Residence cleared … No bodies
inside.
Jeanne’s son paid no mind, preferring
to chat about the league championship series. It was obvious
that the disaster victims [or victors, rather] have every
intention of continuing life as regularly as possible. After
five hours of work, a pile of debris stretched along 100 feet
of the curb. The interior resembled little more than a frame
by the time we were done, but it was a necessary step toward
rebuilding. Jeanne’s every expression indicated her gratitude,
and we parted with best wishes for the future.
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Jason and Greg Shepard wield their tools at
the end of a long shift.
You Can Still Smile
Our second work order took us
to the home of Donna Anderson, where a crooked front gutter
bore two undeniable marks of wind damage. Another unquestionable
indicator of Katrina’s strength stood perpendicular to the
front lawn: a gargantuan tree stump slanted toward the house.
The sod within a ten-foot radius stood vertically after being
pulled up by the tree’s root system. It almost looked surreal,
but by then we were used to seeing objects in unnatural conditions
— boats along the freeway, buses overturned in parking lots,
and fences whipped horizontally, for instance.
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A big project for Mormon Helping Hands is the
removal of downed trees. This one was relatively easy because
it didn’t fall across any power lines.
Two looming 40-year-old pines
used to stand sentinel in Donna’s front yard. The first one
landed on her roof and car when Tropical Storm Cindy brushed
through the area in early July. She and her husband repaired
the roof just two weeks before Katrina hit, but the category-four
storm knocked over the second tree in a nearly identical spot.
It seemed justifiable for her to question why such extensive
damage happened — not once, but twice. Instead, she taught
us that you can still smile during life’s ironies. She was
simply thrilled to see that former strangers could spend several
hours on a Saturday afternoon making her yard more livable.
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Numerous boats were carried inland by the force
of the hurricane. This one is caught up in power lines.
Passing the Sacrament in Blue
Jeans
Our stake held an unusual sacrament
meeting early on Sunday morning. It had none of the trimmings
of a traditional church service, which only made it easier
to identify the unique spirit. We gathered in the chapel
and opened with the strains of “Because I Have Been Given
Much.” The first line of that poignantly appropriate hymn
choked up men who understood that they were heeding those
very lyrics: “I too must give.” It wasn’t the last
time on the trip where a hymn would convey the spirit of the
Lord.
The sacrament was blessed and
passed by men wearing T-shirts and blue jeans. The sight
drew no hint of irreverence; the spirit was as tangible as
though the Lord Himself were in our presence. We needed no
further reminder that we were gathered together as a powerful
priesthood union. After an abbreviated program, we dispersed
to head back to work.
Worth the Trip
It was worth the 1,000-mile roundtrip
to witness what happened at the end of our final work order
on Sunday. Our team’s final task before heading back home
was to remove every item from inside the Tatrons’ house in
St. Bernard Parish. This, of course, is the area of New Orleans
with some of the most sustained water damage. Water lines
on the front of the brick homes top off eight feet above the
ground. Damage could be described as “total.”
Emily and Brett Tatron have a
young family who moved into their house just three weeks before
the storm. They had spent months remodeling it to fit their
son, Jacob, and infant daughter, Sophia. Jacob turned two
years old on Saturday, August 27, and his parents had planned
a fun birthday party. Instead, they were forced to evacuate
the city because the storm turned eastward. They safely escaped
before Katrina made landfall on Monday, but many whom they
knew weren’t as fortunate.
Emily, her mother and her father-in-law
oversaw us as we removed everything from inside the house.
At times, they looked longingly at a wall hanging or china
cabinet and remembered something sentimental. It’s funny
how simple household items represent so much of our lives.
When we had removed every piece
of crumbling wooden furniture, every child’s toy and every
closet full of clothes, we asked if we could sing a hymn in
closing. Eight priesthood holders then joined in chorus,
“God Be With You ‘Til We Meet Again.” A grateful mother,
grandmother and grandfather tearfully smiled in return and
thanked us once again.
That moment represents the reason
we made the trip. We were reminded at that time that a loving
Father in Heaven is involved in our lives and knows how to
succor the weak. He issued a call to serve, and thousands
have responded already.
There is much good happening
in this part of the country. As Latter-day Saints continue
to help hurricane victims in uncountable ways, we would do
good to look past the politicking and instead remember the
individuals who are rebuilding from the ground up. We have
so much to learn from them.
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