Native American community rebuilds after storms

Homeowner Mathilda Verrett and daughters Ivie and Hannah stand in front of their Dulac, La., home, which was flooded by Hurricane Rita in September 2005. Volunteers from around the country have been working to restore her home and others in the mostly Native American community. UMNS photos by Betty Backstrom.

By Betty Backstrom*

DULAC, La. (UMNS) - Mathilda Verrett enjoys the sounds of music amid the banging of hammers coming from her new kitchen each day.

A volunteer work team from Christ Community Church in Illinois sings a cappella while installing cabinets for Verrett's home, which was flooded during Hurricane Rita in September 2005.

"We'll break out into four-part harmony while we're working. It's fun," says high school senior Kevin Pittman. He has enjoyed serving storm victims in southwest Louisiana, he says.

"It's really different down here. It's like another world. We took a fan boat ride yesterday, which was one of the coolest experiences of my life," he adds.

Pittman's group is one of more than 50 teams that have served through the Dulac Substation, part of the United Methodist Committee On Relief-sponsored Louisiana United Methodist Disaster Recovery Ministry.

"The volunteers are doing a good job," Verrett says. "This was my grandpa's house. We got four feet of water during Rita."

Rosalyn Dean, whose house was severely damaged by two and a half feet of water, also lives in a family home, located in this marshy area of southwest Louisiana.

"This house belonged to my mom and dad," she says. "After the storm, we were trying to make all the repairs by ourselves. The Methodists were visiting people in the area and asked us if we needed help. So we took them up on their offer."

'We'll keep coming'
Jodi Smith, a volunteer from First United Methodist Church in Ottawa, Kan., gets to use her skills as a professional painter as she puts a fresh coat of paint on apartment walls. The apartment building is part of the Dulac Community Center complex, which is a ministry of The United Methodist Church's Louisiana Annual (regional) Conference.

"We'll keep coming so people can get their life back," Smith says. "We've had five or six teams that have come to Louisiana so far. Our church also has a team back in Kansas right now, helping with the tornado disaster."

The Dulac Station, a substation of the Abbeville Disaster Recovery Station, was opened in November 2006. "Since that time, close to 200 families in need have been identified for assistance. Of these cases, UMCOR volunteers have already completed seven rebuilds and are currently working on 25 homes," says John Paul McGuire, station manager.

A new community center building, paid for with UMCOR funding, houses volunteers such as Jodi Smith who travel to this small, primarily Native American community to help them rebuild from the devastation of Hurricane Rita.

"Dulac is the first line of defense when storms come," says the Rev. Kirby Verrett, pastor of Clanton Chapel United Methodist Church, just a few hundred feet from the Dulac Community Center. "We are just south of Houma, La., which would flood if this land weren't here."

Dulac is home
Verrett, a member of the Houma Indian Nation (and not related to Mathilda Verrett), praises the tenacity of the people who have lived in this small fishing town for generations.

"We have weathered many hurricanes. People wonder why anyone would want to go through this rebuilding process over and over. The bottom line is, Dulac is home for them. This is their land, and people don't want to give up what they have."

Verrett adds that Clanton Chapel is doing well, even through there has been some loss of population after Hurricane Rita.

"Although some have moved as far up as Houma, they still come to church here on Sundays. It's interesting that the Baptists rebuilt a church further north, and a few others moved up. But Clanton Chapel survived the storm, and we're staying right here."

*Backstrom is editor of Louisiana Now!, the newspaper of the United Methodist Church's Louisiana Annual Conference.