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This package was written and photograplned by
participants of the Kernodle Center for Service
Learning’s May 23-27 Hurricane Katrina relief trip to
Bay St. Louis, IVliss., one of more than a dozen such
trips the center has sponsored since the Aug. 2005
storm. For information about future trips to Bay St.
Louis, call the center at ext. 7250.
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LINDSAY HEGEI Photographer
•-''XL/W HEGE I Phot
Steve Earley
'04 Hon Graduate
Southern Mississippi's fuU recovery from Hurricane Katrina wiU be
measured in decades. How many is the only question. Yet, not quite three
years after the storm, residents fear the rest of the country has moved
°"^“Other people think that it’s time that this should be over, that it
should be back to normal by now,” says Cindy Lederer, who has worked
as a volunteer coordinator for the past two years even though she lost her
own home in the Aug. 2005 storm. “It’s not in the news anymore, it’s not
a big headline ... so I think that some people just feel it’s complete. That’s
the American way to think, that things get fixed very quick."
What a lift Lederer got, then, when she met people who so clearly
haven’t forgotten. Lederer, 58, of Waveland, Miss., is one of dozens of
Katrina survivors volunteers from Elon have assisted over the course of 13
service trips, the most recent of which was held Memorial Day weekend.
“It’s been a real commitment by [Elon],” Lederer said. “It’s been really
touching to see.”
Just over a month after Katrina, Elon adopted Bay St. Louis, Miss., an
8,000-person city about an hoiu' northeast of New Orleans which sustained
120-mph winds and a 30-foot storm surge at the height of the hurricane.
Elon groups have focused their relief efforts in the city, colloquially known as
the Bay, but have worked across Hancock Coimty, of which Bay St. Louis is the
seat.
Trip participants, comprising smdents, faculty, staff, and for the first time on
last month's trip, alumni, almost to a person, return energized by the connection
they’ve made with the community and the direct hand they had in progress,
organizers say.
“Two years ago, it was this war zone. People had never seen a community
that's looked like that,” said Brian O'Shea, Assistant to the Vice President for
Student Life and past trip participant. “Now people see people moving into
houses.”
Elon volunteers have delivered supplies, organized donations, cleared debris,
painted and built houses, among other tasks. On the inaugural trip in Oct. 2005,
participants even helped set up a wedding.
“It's very rewarding,” said Josh Tate '10, one of two student leaders on May’s
trip, his third to Bay St. Louis. “I know I’m going to be back down there.”
Tate and others who have taken part in multiple trips can tell you how far the
Bay has come. The bridge that carries Highway 90 over St. Louis Bay - a vital link
to the city of Gulfport, a major employment center - reopened a year ago. A new
visitor’s center was scheduled to open this month. New homes are springing up
everywhere.
But, repeat volunteers can also teU you how far the area stiU has left to
go. With almost two-thirds of Hancock County’s 19,000 homes damaged or
destroyed by Katrina, hundreds of residents remain in govenmient trailers. Even
some churches and local government agencies are still in temporary structures.
Thankfully, In part because of the richness of attendees' experiences, Elon
plans to continue its service trips indefinitely..
“We thought we would do it for two years and now we're at three,” O'Shea
said. “At this point, we'll continue to send trips as long as there’s student
interest.”
This thrills Bay St. Louis resident Kathy McClellan, 54, who has hosted
crawfish boils for several Elon groups despite living in government trailers,.
“Without volunteer groups, very few people would have had their homes
repaired or rebuilt by now,” McClellan said, adding that
volunteers’ emotional support has been as vital as their labor.
“Too many others don’t want to hear our stories. ... Listening to our stories
without making judgments about us helps to validate our feeling about what has
and is happening here."
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^WeyKehrer,’02, paints the
side of a new home May 25.
Miss., church temporary staicturesf
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