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As a nursing student at Point Loma Nazarene University, Cara Bute understands the difference between book smarts and street smarts. Even so, she admits her eyes were wide open when she and a contingent of 52 other PLNU students and faculty hit the streets of New Orleans’ Gentilly neighborhood, located smack-dab in the middle of the smack-down wrought by Hurricane Katrina.
Even 16 months after the wind and water thrasher made its indelible mark on the gulf state.
“I was surprised by the condition of the city, still,” the college senior said. “Maybe that’s my being naïve, but I thought more would have been done. The streets are still completely lined with garbage and everything that’s been tossed out.”
All of this in spite of the millions of dollars in federal and private aid and thousands of volunteer workers, many of them from faith-based organizations. From that standpoint, the PLNU visit was nothing more than another pilgrimage from Christians seeking to serve the needy. But this mid-December trip was unique for its scope.
Thanks to a $50,000 grant from Johnson & Johnson to the faith-based Heart to Heart International, the PLNU entourage toured the devastated Upper Ninth Ward to conduct health and safety surveys. In teams of two, the group fanned out across the neighborhoods asking residents a set of 55 questions about healthcare access, housing, status of family members and the availability of food.
The team also sponsored a daylong health fair providing free screenings for high blood pressure and diabetes, and providing information about AIDS. Children were entertained with games, coloring and face painting.
The survey results were to be used to determine short-term and long-term health needs. Many of the region’s medical centers and hospitals remain closed or understaffed in the wake of Katrina’s August 2005 arrival. Heart to Heart, a humanitarian relief organization has been operating medical services in some of the hardes- hit areas.
Telling stories
Perhaps the most telling information, though, was what wasn’t documented in the surveys. First, of the more than 1,200 contacts they made, only 225 or so surveys were completed, indicative of how many people are still displaced.
One man, Bute said, was showing his still-uninhabitable home to a friend.
“People are still suffering,” Bute said. “We found a lot of emotionally distraught individuals. I think that’s to be expected after suffering such a traumatic crisis.”
Another telling aspect were the number of people who apparently were at home, but unwilling—or too wary—to participate. Yet others seemed relieved at the opportunity to share their plight with fresh faces.
“I think they were more excited that people were there to hear their stories,” she said. “They didn’t really want to answer the questions as much as they wanted us to know what they’ve been through.
“The experience in general was a great way to serve others,” she said.
Enormous support
The blessing in serving others was a common theme for Christian churches and relief agencies that provide assistance, much of which came in the form of first-responders.
According to a report released last fall by Louisiana State University’s School of Social Work, churches were extremely effective in their relief roles for the tens of thousands of Hurricane Katrina and Rita evacuees by providing shelter, meals, money and spiritual comfort. The report, "Tangible and Spiritual Relief after the Storm: The Religious Community's Response to Katrina," attributed their success to a vast army of volunteers and a lack of red tape that often suffocates government response.
The survey, responded to by 157 of the 600 churches solicited found that 86 percent of the congregations provided hurricane assistance. Funding for their work came from in-house donations or by using church budgets. Less than 10 percent, the survey said, received any governmental assistance.
“At a time when everything was failing, the churches stepped up and did a good job," Daphne Cain, the study's primary investigator and an LSU social work professor, said upon the study’s release.
“I don't think churches have ever been called upon so heavily. They did and continue to do all they can with altruism. People turn to churches because it's working.”
While denominational efforts, such as the Southern Baptist Convention and the Salvation Army, were widely publicized because of the scope of the services they provided, hundreds of smaller churches anted up any way they could, providing shelter, showers and basic toiletries.
"We provided over 60,000 hot meals (and) supported several other shelters in our area," a respondent from a Full Gospel church in Baton Rouge told the surveyors.
"We staged truckloads of provisions to New Orleans, Gulfport, Ocean Springs, Waveland and surrounding areas."
First Baptist Church in Covington, La., which suffered major content damage when its worship center roof blew off during the summer, distributed $10,000 checks to 20 churches in greater New Orleans in mid-October, according to Baptist Press.
“Our church has been tremendously blessed, and that’s why we want to give,” said Waylon Bailey, who pastors the church of 1,600.
“To us this is a lot of money, but to them it’s just a drop in the bucket for their needs.”
The cash accompanied other services such as distributing food, water and diapers.
First Baptist members raised the money by adding 10 percent to their tithe amounts each week over the past year.
Help from non-profits
In addition to supporting Katrina evacuees with food, supplies and shelter, Christian ministries became involved.
The Louisiana survey did recommend better networking, including technological expertise, to help people reunite using database and Internet searches and to prevent duplication of efforts.
“Nonprofits can provide some of the things the government can provide plus some the things they can't," said Jim Richardson, a GulfGov adviser and LSU Public Administration Institute director. “Maybe nonprofit organizations can pick up the slack in the meantime because they did well in terms of helping people after the storms and in being the first true responders."
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