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FUMA Team goes to the Gulf Coast
Written by Bev Hanlin, FUMA Registrar
The FUMA Team traveled to Slidell, Louisiana on Monday, December 26th for a week of work and assistance to the victims of Hurricane Katrina. The Team this time was made up of a group of seven men and women. We stayed in Slidell at Grace Memorial Baptist Church with well over 100 other volunteers. Sleeping bags and air mattresses soon became a thing of comfort after working long, hard days. Picking up trash, roofing and cleaning ditches were among the jobs we were given. Everyone has a talent, and these tasks seemed to fit our group. We did a great job! We met many wonderful people who were also giving of their time to assist. Everyone had a very positive attitude and no job was too small or too big. We all worked together with no complaints. In the evening when the crews returned from working they ate anything we had prepared. Most everyone became spoiled with such good meals. Breakfast came early at 5:00 AM and the tired, weary bodies got up, came to eat and were ready to start another new day.
Everyone had a story. Everyone had lost most everything. And everyone is grateful for anything that you do to help.
We carried 350 Bibles with us and they were passed out to anyone who needed them. We met a minister who told us about a Mexican group that had been helping him and they had lost everything and none of them spoke much English. Would you believe we had 48 Spanish Bibles with us? When I gave them to the minister, tears came to his eyes. It was a very special moment for all of us.
One house we worked on was the home of an 85 year old lady. She had spent 2 days in an attic with her daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren before they could break through the roof to be rescued. We heard that she had lost her study Bible, so I found one in the box we had brought with us. Everyone who worked on her house signed the inside of it and we left it for her to have when she returned.
It was a long trip, but once we were there it was truly a sight to behold. Nothing can really prepare you for the utter devastation that you see everywhere in the area.
Thanks to Bill and Cathy Hitchcock, Cindi and Larry McIlnay, and Sylvia Johnson for going and working so hard. And many thanks to everyone who donated the Bibles and thanks for all of your prayers for us while we were gone. If you have an opportunity to go down to that area to work, you will not be sorry you did.
Posted by Elizabeth Liles, Wednesday, January 18, 2006 04:00 PM
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