- - New Orleans - - On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast. It was the largest Hurricane to ever hit the US. The heavy rain for hours and following storm surge caused levee breaches and massive flooding. Over 1800 people were killed and 700 are still missing. Over 80% of the city was under water.
- - Trip ONE - New Orleans January, 2007 - -
Earl in the video is a homeowner we helped in New Orleans. He and his wife had escaped the rising flood waters caused when the levees broke due to Hurricane Katrina. They fled to the attic as water came up to the ceiling. Many people were trapped in their attics when the waters continued to raise over the whole house and never made it out. With only his bare hands and scars on his arms to prove it, Earl pounded through the roof of their house pictured below left and escaped onto their roof. Their home, like many, had been covered by blue tarps since Katrina struck 8/29/2005. As with many people, after 18 months of little assistance he was down and Hope was becoming just a word. Rosie said he was just a shell of who he had been. January 2007 that all changed. When they drove up and saw we were really at his home and actually putting a new roof on, he literally got out of the car, danced and sang in the streets. We had inspired Earl, BUT talking to Earl brought it home for many of us. Earl inspired us! He is a constant reminder of why we do this work and who we do it for.
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St Paul's Lutheran Church lost much in the Hurricane. It was awesome knowing that the work we had the opportunity to do was going to greet and uplift its members the following Sunday morning! When on a trip, certain things always stick in your mind, one on this trip was Ruth Simon. She at 80 said she had no idea why she was even on the trip as she couldn't do anything. She learned that God indeed had given her the talent to paint and she did! I fondly remember Ruth anytime someone thinks they have nothing to offer.
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New Orleans - 2007 - Earl and Rosie's Home - they escaped to their roof and were rescued by helicopter.
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New Orleans 2007 - Mercedes Home. She and her son escaped he waters by crawling up on the shed with red boards.
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New Orleans 2008 - Holy Cross Lutheran Church in the Lower Ninth Ward, and Christ Lutheran Church were both in our sites for this trip. We were greeted by snow on the way home
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New Orleans 2008 - We met up with some great people, the Norton's and their team from Illinois.
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New Orleans 2009 - This was a trip focused on rebuilding Holy Cross Lutheran Church in the Lower Ninth Ward for our good friend Walt of Camp Restore. Walt point with a stick how deep the water was.
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New Orleans 2009 - Known to the locals as NOLA, we enjoyed our accommodations and some of the atmosphere the city had to offer.
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New Orleans 2010 - Like several of our trips we somehow seem to encounter snow while on the way. This was a trip to work and a time to appreciate seeing some work completed.
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New Orleans 2010 - We had great opportunities to serve at a Community Center in the Lower Ninth Ward and in New Orleans.
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New Orleans 2010 - We even had time to enjoy seeing the completed work at Christ Lutheran Church that we had worked on during a past trip and see Holy Cross Church where we had also worked. The water was level with the water line in the stained glass window on the middle left as you come in the front doors.
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Then some people who we will claim we don't know at all were seen in some sort of a "Cajun Conga Line" lead by our wonderful cook at Camp Restore. Yes, we to have some fun.
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New Orleans 2011 - With a long trip ahead the team left before sun up. Hoping to find warm weather in NOLA they were welcomed by unseasonable cold weather.
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New Orleans 2011 - There were several service projects from Sorting Beads, to Planting Ornamental Grasses, to helping to create T-Shirts. We also worked on a residential project and to rebuild a church - Trinity-Clariborne in the Lower Ninth Ward, which reopened for Easter services.
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New Orleans 2012 - We were fortunate to work at Trinity - Claiborne Church. The church was rescued from destruction and had a steep timeline to be ready for Easter Services. We painted, tiled (a lot), hung doors, stained pews.
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New Orleans 2012 we took time to take in a little bit of the Big Easy, then a National Park and some of the surroundings.
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New Orleans 2016 – January 30-February 7 – TEN years after Katrina - After a 4 year hiatus, the Hand of Hope team found themselves tugged to go back to New Orleans. We had established ties to the good people at Camp Restore and continued to hear about the unanswered needs from both them plus our friends in Austin, TX and the Chicago Area Mission Project. As described, now 10 years after the storm there are still many with no financial means and in need of help. Working in the Lower Ninth you could see how it had been simply forgotten.
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New Orleans 2016 – Joined by friends from Texas and Habitat for Humanity in Omaha, 19 of us began our outreach, meeting those in need, listening as they recounted their day in 2005 as though it were yesterday. Our days were filled with framing a new home, replacing windows that were nearly falling out of a historic home and recovering a roof that continually leaked. Outreach to local Non-Profits was split between two sites, preparing food for delivery at one location and sorting beads at another. This was a lot of fun again.
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