Blessed Trinity Students Continue to Rebuild Gulf Coast

publication date: Mar 17, 2008

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author/source: John Fox / SPECIAL to the Beacon

By John Fox / SPECIAL to the Beacon

Another hurricane found its way to the Gulf Coast over the most recent Christmas holiday school break, but this one did not carry high winds, torrential rain or destruction of any kind. This one carried construction, teamwork and love. Hurricane BT cut a swath all the way from Roswell to the Gulf Coast, and what the Blessed Trinity mission trip accomplished in four days was a blessing to many – not just those who benefited directly, but also for those who participated.

Twenty-five Blessed Trinity students (11 girls and 14 boys) and six chaperones, which included one 2007 BT graduate, ventured to the Gulf Coast and spent the days between Christmas and New Year’s helping others while most people spent their time shopping, partying or relaxing or otherwise enjoying the time off.

Anne Birth, who works in Campus Ministry at Blessed Trinity, served as a chaperone and came away from her first mission trip with fond memories, a sense of accomplishment and, unexpectedly, calloused hands. “I really just thought I was going to be supervising kids,” Birth said, “but [the chaperones] did a lot of work, too. I was using a sledgehammer, was up on a ladder pulling nails out of beams, stuff I had never done before.”

(Top) BT alum Charlie Kelderhouse and current BT students prepare to get to work. (Above) BT senior Ginia Taylor takes down a wall inside the home so that a

The BT troupe arrived at St. Ann’s parish hall in Lizana, Miss., on Dec. 26, where they bunked on mats and air mattresses. There were two dorms, one for the girls and one for the boys. Three other mission groups converged as well: one from Atlanta, one from California, and one from Maryland.

BT’s Father Kevin Peek has accompanied the students on all their missions to the hurricane-torn areas, and this spring he will be with them again on the school’s fifth Mustard Seed mission trip to Jamaica during spring break.

“After Katrina hit, I saw an opportunity to begin a Christmas break mission trip, which we have done three times,” Peek said.

On Dec. 27, the groups were dispatched to their respective projects. For BT, it would be an elderly woman’s house devastated by Katrina.

“When we came in, it was totally overgrown and unlivable,” Birth said. “The woman, Betty, was living on the property in a trailer. She had no insurance to cover the damage to her home, and the trailer she was living in (not a FEMA-supplied trailer) was going to be repossessed soon.”

A tree had fallen on the roof during the storm which created a large hole. The water damage was immense, not only from the storm itself but from nearly two and a half years of exposure to the elements.

“We totally gutted the house,” Birth said. “We took off sheetrock, brought down beams, took shingles off the roof.” The BT crew worked two full days on the house and, by the end of day two, the house was ready for a construction crew to come in and rebuild.

“When you first looked at the house, you would say, ‘Man, this is going to take all week,’” Birth said. But BT was done in just two days.

“You look around, seeing one of the kids chopping weeds; it was inspiring to see them work,” Birth said. “It gave me motivation to keep going. They would take a break, but just jump right back in and keep going.”

While Birth was not afraid of hard work, there was one thing she was a little squeamish about. “I’m not a handy person, nor do I like bugs. There were some roaches in the walls and I would scream. The kids would say, ‘Oh, it’s just Mrs. Birth; she saw another bug.’”

The owner of the house, Betty, expressed her gratitude to everyone.

“She was just so thankful and grateful. She would come to Mass at the church with us – that was her parish – and she would stay and eat with us,” Birth said.

Because they had finished their project early, the BT mission trippers headed for Gulfport, Miss., over the next two days, about a half hour away from Lizana.

A man there named Skip had his house washed away by Katrina, and he has dedicated the rest of his life to rebuilding the area. He set up a center called Project Hope & Compassion in what used to be the library.

The BT group split up, some working on the foundation of a house, and others taking on other little projects. Those working on the house foundation spent the next two days chopping and chiseling mortar off of used bricks so that they could be used again.

On Dec. 30, after finishing up their work, the group rewarded themselves with a little trip to New Orleans. They ate beignets at Café Dumont. On Dec. 31, with their mission accomplished, they headed back for Roswell.

“It was amazing to see how many people had not rebuilt yet,” Birth said about her starkest memory of the trip. “There was a set of stairs that went to nowhere, must have been a grand mansion or house; the set of stairs just loomed up.” There were miles and miles of no houses, Birth said, and then you would see a house that was rebuilt that would shine like a beacon of hope in the area.

“People there say it may be 10 years before everything gets back to how it once was,” she said.

But there is reason to be positive. “The most discouraging thing one can do upon arriving in the aftermath areas today is to comment on how little has been done in two and a half years, and how destruction and evidence thereof remain; yet this truly is a temptation, given the state of affairs there,” Peek said. “However, the trained eye can see the truly amazing amount of work that has been accomplished there, in the re-establishment of the power grid; the restoration of roads and other infrastructure; the development of beachside apartments for those needing housing while they wait to rebuild; and the continuing of restored signs of normal commerce and convenience.”

“The devastation truly is impressive, and makes you reflect on the power of nature,” Peek said. “In many ways, it was our own tsunami and left 90 miles of coastland, at least in a great many places, uninhabitable. But little by little, the volunteer groups continue to take back a piece of property at a time, and with love and energy, give birth to a new generation and direction of the region. I find that Mississippi is improving faster than so many areas of Louisiana simply because of the political wrangling and stipulations they have imposed. The graft, greed and confusion as to how to get started in New Orleans has damaged the supply line of their greatest and most economical recovery resource – the volunteer. Many still go down, but find that their ability to help is limited greatly.”

Peek said his fondest memory of the trip involved revisiting a family that a past BT mission trip had helped.

“One afternoon, after we had completed our work, we called another family that we had helped on a previous trip. Seeing their house restored and their kids happily playing in a home they had sworn never to return to (because the destruction was so great) was a blessing.

“Mission trips usually bring together the best kids in the school as far as generous spirit and charity go, and so each trip is a spectacular revelation of the true depth and value of our kids and what they are capable of,” Peek said. “This trip was no exception, with great humor and lively banter, we eased the continued frustrations and suffering of the Mississippi people in their attempts to rebuild, and brought them one big step closer to that reality.”