My feeling to help the Katrina victims began a week or so after the hurricane passed through the South August 29th, 2005.  It was a feeling that started small and grew and grew. It didn't begin with one particular story or picture. It just began. I pondered the many possibilities that news and other organizations presented. I was, to some degree, put off by the varied choices, my uncertainty, and the feeling of, “What could I, one person  do to help?" I procrastinated for weeks.

Then one day I received an e-mail from
my pastor at the United Methodist church
I attend. This e-mail was a forward of an
e-mail designed to give interested people
an opportunity to help. The e-mail invited
individuals to a VIM (Volunteers in Mission)
training program of the United Methodist
Committee On Relief (UMCOR).


After the passing of several e-mails I found myself one Saturday in early November driving to Flint wondering what I was getting myself into. By the end of that session, packed with over 50 people, I came to realize that I could not go to the coast because of the intense problem of mold in the debris. There was no way I could muck out a house, my allergies would not permit it.

What to do? What to do?

I was tempted to drop the whole idea. This was a perfect excuse to shrug off my responsibilities. However, my feelings to help only grew into resolve. Looking over the chaotic and seemingly endless list of choices I had received via e-mail, I was struck by a call for help at UMCOR's Mississippi Disaster Response Center. They were in need of volunteers to help staff the disaster response phone lines. After pulling up an internet map I was surprised to find their offices in the city of Meridian located about 150 miles north of the Gulf Coast region where the hurricane struck. I later learned, that when the office was set up, it was placed in this northern county because it was the closest county to the Coast that still had some functional telephones, and cell towers. The infrastructure was not totally destroyed, as it was further south.

After an exchange of several e-mails with its director I agreed to work for them Monday December 5th through Friday the 16th.

My next challenge was paying for the trip. Although the Center had a small trailer I could stay in, I estimated the cost to be as high as $900. At first I was planning on paying for the trip myself. I'm not swimming in money, so the cost would have been noticeable, although worth it. Then I talked with someone who explained that some people on these volunteer trips were gifted by God with the time to help, while those at home were gifted to pay for the trip they could not take themselves. With this thought in mind I went to my church, Lincoln Community UMC, for help. In the end they came through and raised the needed funds.

With the basics in hand I packed and prepared as best I could. At 8:00AM on December 3rd I started my car and headed south.