Len Thompson recently sent us some pictures of the April Cooking Teams trip to Trinity Church where they cooked for the many volunteers working in the Covington, LA area. They were down in LA April 16-22. You can see the pictures here.
Len also shared some of this thoughts about the trip:
I stayed at a church in Covington, LA, which is across Lake Ponchatrain
from New Orleans. There were about 60 folks there from all over the US.
It was a light week because of Easter; normally they have over 100. The
women slept on the floor of a Sunday School classroom and the men on
the floor of the sanctuary. We all ate at a makeshift cafeteria on the
other side of the sanctuary. I was part of a team that prepared and
served the meals.
The effort is coordinated by Compassion Ministries in cooperation with
Urban Impact. .
Most striking, and appalling, was the lack of progress in the clean-up,
and the extent of the damage. Of the thousands of destroyed homes, only
a handful have or are being rebuilt. Large neighborhoods are utterly
abandoned.
I did get to go out one day with a work crew. The work right now is
entirely demolition. Before a home can be rebuilt - assuming it's in
good enough shape structurally to be rebuilt- it has to be stripped to the
two-by-fours. First they haul out appliances, furniture, and personal
possessions (everything is just piled up outside). Then they tear out the drywall, carpeting,
and linoleum. It's hot, dirty, and dangerous work. Shots for Hepatitis
B and tetanus had been required, but now only tetanus. Most work sites have no
electricity and no sanitary facilities.
A tough week, but I'd be willing to go again.
No comments:
Post a Comment