We arrived at the UMCOR station this morning to get a safety briefing and our site assignment for the week. When we arrived, we joined a team from New York state that had already gathered in the office.
We were assigned a house of a Rayne Memorial UMC member, Mabel. It turns out that Mabel has recently joined Rayne...after returning to New Orleans from evacuation to Houston, and finding that her church had been flooded and her pastor reappointed to a church in Dallas. Mabel told us that when she walked into Rayne that first Sunday that she was back, she talked to Callie and was lamenting the fact that she didn't have a church to call her own. Callie immediately insisted that Rayne would be her church...and Mabel joined and has been in church every Sunday since she returned home.
Mabel is really a charming hostess...and that is really the only way to put it. She was there with us the whole day--even donning a suit, mask and gloves and journeying into the house and back shed with us throughout the day. She is always ready with a story...and we heard a number from her on our first day. Kathy and I were just recounting to each other some of the snipets of stories that we heard...
Mabel and her husband bought the land and built the house in the mid-fifties. There is now a major elevated roadway right in front of her home...however, when they first built their home it was a part of a quiet street with houses right across from them. Eminent Domain was declared and the houses across the street were razed to make room for the new road. Mabel recalls being relieved at the time that her side of the street was spared...but now wonders after all that has happened if it wouldn't have been better if she had been one of the ones to have been "bought out."
Mabel retired over 20 years ago from teaching...she taught Special Ed. You can see that teacher's caring way in the time and attention she took to talk individually with each member of the team. You can also see that caring when she talks about her family. She was recalling that during Hurricane Besty in the 60's...her sister's house (in the 9th Ward) was flooded and she came to stay with Mabel and her husband. But this time, her sister's house was destroyed by a house that floated off its foundation and slammed into her house. Mabel's other siblings lost everything in the flood as well. You could hear the pain in Mabel's voice when she said that they'd always been able to take care of each other...and now none of them have anything left to be able to take care of anyone. Mabel feels lucky, though, because her son owns a home on higher ground in the city. He was able to have a FEMA trailer moved onto his property for Mabel to live in while her home is gutted and restored.
She recounted for us the day of the hurricane and flood in her neighborhood. She had evacuated...but several neighbors did not, and shared their stories with her. The hurricane came and went and it was beautiful and sunny outside...and then the water started to pour in and didn't stop. One neighbor is in her late 80's and lived in a trailer a few blocks from Mabel. When Mabel called to tell her she was leaving in advance of the hurricane, she tried to get her to leave as well...but the woman refused. She said that she had made a cake, baked a chicken and made some potato salad and she would be just fine! Later, after people were starting to get in contact with each other and piece together what had happened and where people were living--Mabel talked to a man who lived next door to this woman. He was planning to leave before the storm as well...but decided to stay because his elderly neighbor in the trailer next door was staying. After the hurricane had passed, and as the waters came and continued to rise...it was obvious that they needed to leave. He walked in the flood waters and found a boat and came back to the neighborhood to evacuate his neighbor in the trailor. She didn't want to get into the boat until she could go back and get her potato salad! He told her that she needed to get into the boat and forget about the potato salad!!
There are a lot more stories to tell and to share...we'll post more as the week goes on.
This is another terrific, hard-working team that's managing to work hard, and have some fun along the way as well. We look forward to sharing all of our reflections and experiences with you throughout this week and when we get home.
We were assigned a house of a Rayne Memorial UMC member, Mabel. It turns out that Mabel has recently joined Rayne...after returning to New Orleans from evacuation to Houston, and finding that her church had been flooded and her pastor reappointed to a church in Dallas. Mabel told us that when she walked into Rayne that first Sunday that she was back, she talked to Callie and was lamenting the fact that she didn't have a church to call her own. Callie immediately insisted that Rayne would be her church...and Mabel joined and has been in church every Sunday since she returned home.
Mabel is really a charming hostess...and that is really the only way to put it. She was there with us the whole day--even donning a suit, mask and gloves and journeying into the house and back shed with us throughout the day. She is always ready with a story...and we heard a number from her on our first day. Kathy and I were just recounting to each other some of the snipets of stories that we heard...
Mabel and her husband bought the land and built the house in the mid-fifties. There is now a major elevated roadway right in front of her home...however, when they first built their home it was a part of a quiet street with houses right across from them. Eminent Domain was declared and the houses across the street were razed to make room for the new road. Mabel recalls being relieved at the time that her side of the street was spared...but now wonders after all that has happened if it wouldn't have been better if she had been one of the ones to have been "bought out."
Mabel retired over 20 years ago from teaching...she taught Special Ed. You can see that teacher's caring way in the time and attention she took to talk individually with each member of the team. You can also see that caring when she talks about her family. She was recalling that during Hurricane Besty in the 60's...her sister's house (in the 9th Ward) was flooded and she came to stay with Mabel and her husband. But this time, her sister's house was destroyed by a house that floated off its foundation and slammed into her house. Mabel's other siblings lost everything in the flood as well. You could hear the pain in Mabel's voice when she said that they'd always been able to take care of each other...and now none of them have anything left to be able to take care of anyone. Mabel feels lucky, though, because her son owns a home on higher ground in the city. He was able to have a FEMA trailer moved onto his property for Mabel to live in while her home is gutted and restored.
She recounted for us the day of the hurricane and flood in her neighborhood. She had evacuated...but several neighbors did not, and shared their stories with her. The hurricane came and went and it was beautiful and sunny outside...and then the water started to pour in and didn't stop. One neighbor is in her late 80's and lived in a trailer a few blocks from Mabel. When Mabel called to tell her she was leaving in advance of the hurricane, she tried to get her to leave as well...but the woman refused. She said that she had made a cake, baked a chicken and made some potato salad and she would be just fine! Later, after people were starting to get in contact with each other and piece together what had happened and where people were living--Mabel talked to a man who lived next door to this woman. He was planning to leave before the storm as well...but decided to stay because his elderly neighbor in the trailer next door was staying. After the hurricane had passed, and as the waters came and continued to rise...it was obvious that they needed to leave. He walked in the flood waters and found a boat and came back to the neighborhood to evacuate his neighbor in the trailor. She didn't want to get into the boat until she could go back and get her potato salad! He told her that she needed to get into the boat and forget about the potato salad!!
There are a lot more stories to tell and to share...we'll post more as the week goes on.
This is another terrific, hard-working team that's managing to work hard, and have some fun along the way as well. We look forward to sharing all of our reflections and experiences with you throughout this week and when we get home.
posted by Anonymous at
10:25 PM
1 Comments:
Lisa- Thank you so much for your reflections. I know this must be transforming everyone's faith in many ways. You and the team are in my prayers. Please let Callie know that the YAG would be interested in doing something for Rayne as our summer mission project. Do the families have a lot of students heading back to college who would need college-life stuff? Or many young children who would need school clothes/shoes/supplies? You can give Callie my email address is that helps. Looking forward to reading more posts. Take care.
By
Miss V, at 12:02 PM, February 21, 2006
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