ELCA members observe 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina

​     CHICAGO (ELCA) – On Aug. 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast of the United States, killing 1,833 people and displacing hundreds of thousands in the Gulf region. In response to the powerful storm, members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) contributed more than $27 million to Lutheran Disaster Response to help support the recovery efforts and provided thousands of volunteer hours to help rebuild and restore communities along the Gulf Coast.
     Hurricane Katrina was the costliest and most destructive disaster in U.S. history, causing more than $100 billion of destruction along an estimated 90,000 square miles. Lutheran Disaster Response worked through affiliates and social ministry agencies in Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi, providing support for relief and recovery efforts.
     Shortly before the hurricane struck, the Rev. Ron Unger had accepted the call to serve as pastor of Christ the King Lutheran Church in Kenner, La., moving from Lutheran Church of the Galilean in La Place, La., another ELCA congregation near New Orleans. Unger and his wife lost their home and all their belongings to Hurricane Katrina and were evacuated to Jackson, Miss., for several weeks. When residents were finally allowed back into New Orleans, Christ the King became a center for Sunday worship, serving people from other denominations whose churches had been destroyed.
     “We were about as close as you could get to the city from the west and consequently this is where a lot of displaced people gathered then for worship. We couldn’t even begin the service on time for the first several weeks because people were discovering each other in the parking lot and falling into each other’s arms with hugs and kisses because they didn’t know if the others had survived or not. So that was very traumatic and those early weeks were very poignant, very poignant,” said Unger.
     Although the hurricane caused considerable damage to the neighborhood surrounding Christ the King, the church building was spared. Unger said the congregation quickly mobilized and dedicated the parish hall to house volunteers coming to help rebuild New Orleans. The facility was in operation for about two years and hosted about 2,000 volunteers from across the country, he said.
     “Thousands of ELCA Lutherans traveled from all over the country, often multiple times, to help rebuild New Orleans and other communities along the Gulf Coast,” said the Rev. Michael Stadie, director, ELCA Lutheran Disaster Response.
     “I think in all the chaos and all the devastation that was involved, one of the greatest things that came out of the response effort was the tremendous volunteer effort that came together from all over the country,” said Mark Minick, senior vice president for Upbring, an ELCA affiliate, formerly Lutheran Social Services of the South.
     The congregation of Peace Lutheran in Slidell, La., has housed more than 10,000 people since the hurricane. Volunteers reside in a facility the congregation built using funds donated in large part from the congregation of Mount Cross Lutheran Church in Camarillo, Calif. Lutheran Disaster Response also provided funds for the facility.
     “Out of so much terrible stuff that happened great things came and partnerships came,” said the Rev. Barbara Simmers, pastor of Peace Lutheran. “It was like a rebirth of the church. Not just for our area, but it gave the whole entire church a sense of what it means to be the community of saints.”
     At the time of the hurricane, the Rev. Robin McCullough-Bade was serving as interim pastor of Lutheran Church of Our Saviour in Baton Rouge, La. In the weeks following the storm, McCullough-Bade brought together an interfaith group of clergy to help support residents. The group, which included Baptist, Jewish and Islamic clergy, met at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Baton Rouge.
     “I gathered the faith community once a week for one hour. We never had an agenda, we opened in silent prayer and listened to what people needed,” she said. “We were so diverse and we rolled up our sleeves to help those in need.”
     Coming from different faith backgrounds didn’t matter, she said. “We had to find ways to respond because it was bigger than all of us.”
     “What’s truly amazing is the way in which, what I would call, the much more organic response of the whole church happened,” said the Rev. Kevin Massey, former associate director, Lutheran Disaster Response from 2005 to 2007. “You had congregations helping congregations; you had members helping members. You had every expression of the church taking some kind of role.”
     “There is no way to convey the magnitude of the damage and loss or the enormity of compassion and help that came through the volunteers who responded in Katrina’s wake,” said the Rev. Morgan Gordy, who at the time of Hurricane Katrina served as assistant to the bishop for disaster coordination in the ELCA Southeastern Synod.
     In Mississippi, Lutherans who had medical and nursing backgrounds responded by putting together mobile health teams and setting up medical clinics with pharmacies at Bethel Lutheran Church in Biloxi and Christus Victor Lutheran Church in Ocean Springs. These congregations, along with Grace Lutheran in Long Beach, also distributed food and supplies and coordinated repair efforts.
     “We were here in our church giving service to people in the community,” said Emily Jane Cates, a longtime member of Christus Victor. “We had people coming in all the time for supplies. We fed people out of our kitchen. People slept in the church, even on the pews in the sanctuary and we had tents out front. It was a bad deal but the good Lord gave us the supplies to help the needs of our people. We had people from all over the world that came in here and helped us. It was unreal the support we had.”
     After about 10 months, Christus Victor moved its disaster recovery ministry to a location in Oceanside where they founded Camp Victor Ministries. In addition to disaster relief, the program also provided case management and construction management services. Over the years, the program has housed 50,000 volunteers from 50 states and 20 countries.
     Bethel Lutheran transitioned its volunteer center into Camp Biloxi and maintained the free medical clinic at the church until 2008.
     In Alabama, St. Paul Lutheran Church in Mobile established a hospitality center for volunteers and provided supplies and emergency assistance for survivors in need. The congregations from Martin Luther Lutheran Church in Mobile, Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Daphne, and Grace Lutheran Church in Foley, also assisted in this effort, which was in operation for four years after the hurricane.
     “The devastation and the response cannot be summed up in a few words. It is an ongoing story about a storm that changed everyone’s lives forever. God’s grace was manifest in the hands and hearts of those who came to help. For those who came, who cared, who prayed, we are forever grateful,” said Gordy.
     In response to college students who sought ways to help with hurricane recovery efforts, Lutheran Disaster Response started an alternative spring break program called “What a Relief.”  More than 800 students from 34 schools participated during the spring of 2006. The program expanded to coordinate more than 50,000 volunteers over the next four years following Hurricane Katrina.
     “Many of those students had an eye-opening experience through those trips, and I like to believe that it changed the course of some of their lives in terms of career aspirations and understanding of their vocation,” said Michael Nevergall, program associate for Lutheran Disaster Response from 2005 to 2007.
     Jessica Vermilyea, Louisiana state director for Upbring Disaster Response, said Hurricane Katrina affected volunteers in unexpected ways.
     “All these mission trips for Hurricane Katrina ended up being a training ground for church mission volunteers, who then went home to respond to disasters in their areas. They didn’t know they would have to use that knowledge in their own backyards,” she said.
     In May 2006, 13 members from St. Philip Lutheran Church in Fridley, Minn., traveled to Ocean Springs to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Since then, volunteers from St. Philip’s Disaster Relief Ministry have made 55 trips to disasters throughout the United States, traveling more than 50,000 miles and working more than 20,000 hours.
     “There is something special about disaster trips and the many volunteers that go on them,” said Mike Anderson, co-coordinator for St. Philip Disaster Relief Ministry. “There is also something special about others that support the work that takes place through prayers and financial donations. And there is something special about the rebuilding that takes place. But what is most special is that it’s God's work. God’s work is helping your neighbor.”
     The 2009 and 2012 ELCA Youth Gatherings, held in New Orleans, brought thousands of youth volunteers who worked with the community to help build relationships and connections with residents. During the 2012 Gathering, the youth designated a portion of their offerings to help with the development of an ELCA Latino ministry, which will serve the large community of day laborers who traveled from Central America to help in the rebuilding efforts. Christ the King serves as the primary mission partner for the Latino congregation under development. The Rev. Rachel Ringlaben was recently ordained and installed as the pastor and mission developer for the congregation.
     Recalling Isaiah 58:12, which says, “you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to live in,” Ringlaben said, “This new wave of migrants have literally done this, they have repaired where the levees were damaged. They have shown the greater New Orleans community what church looks like in their midst.”
     Ringlaben said many of the migrants left difficult situations in their home countries and feel they are “on common ground with the people of New Orleans. Although their stories are different, there is a resonance of new life coming forth from tragedy. It is a story they are familiar with because of the gospel all things are new,” she said. “Whether you are a (resident) of New Orleans and have felt forgotten or you are a recent migrant who, although making New Orleans your home, you still feel invisible, through the power of the resurrection we can tell people that God does not forget you.”

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About the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America:
The ELCA is one of the largest Christian denominations in the United States, with more than 3.8 million members in nearly 10,000 congregations across the 50 states and in the Caribbean region. Known as the church of “God's work. Our hands,” the ELCA emphasizes the saving grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ, unity among Christians and service in the world. The ELCA's roots are in the writings of the German church reformer, Martin Luther.
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