“They Know What They’re Doin’!”

By Susan J. Meister, Domestic Disaster Response Correspondent

Homeowner Mr. Woodson chills gar fish fillets before cooking for the volunteer team working on his Port Arthur home. Photo by Susan J. Meister

Mr. Woodson and his friend were cleaning gar fish in the back yard so that he could prepare lunch for the three volunteers working on his Port Arthur home.

“They do good work,” he grinned. “They know what they’re doin’!”

Volunteers Jack Aulick, Roger Sweny and Bryan Garrison were three of a team of 47 persons from Lakewood United Methodist Church, Houston, scheduled to work on several houses in the Texas community still awaiting repair after Hurricane Rita.

“It’s a pretty typical repair job,” Aulick said. “We’ve rewired, fixed the utility room, put carpet in, installed gutters, and repaired the bathrooms. The second bath hasn’t worked since Rita.” The front and side porches were rebuilt by earlier volunteer teams.

Rita, Now Ike
Nathan Cain, construction supervisor for Rita Recovery in Port Arthur, explained that Mr. Woodson’s house is one of about 60 still needing repair from the 2005 hurricane. “And now, we’re taking applications from Ike,” he sighed.

Hurricane Ike stormed through southeast Texas on September 13, almost three years after Rita did extensive damage. Just down the street from Mr. Woodson’s home, several blue tarped roofs were visible.

But Cain did have some positive news. “Alan (Miller) and I checked on all our houses after Ike,” he said. “All the Rita roofs we installed held up!” Miller, the former construction supervisor in the area, is now working to set up long-term construction in Galveston County.

Cain is taking a year off between undergraduate school and medical school to work with the Rita Recovery (now Disaster Recovery) team. He used to work on roofing for a summer job. His mother traveled to the area from Ohio on a mission team and urged him to come to the area to apply for an internship. Now full-time, Cain stays with volunteer teams at the satellite office at St. John’s UMC, Port Arthur.

“Pictures – even video – can’t describe what it’s like,” Thompson said.

Volunteers Give God the Glory
Aulick, retired from the oil industry, was on his fourth trip to the area. Sweny is a home inspector and Garrison works in information technology. “Don’t give us any credit,” he smiled. “Give God the glory.”

Angela Baker reports that teams are scheduled through August 2009 to do Rita Recovery. With the addition of Ike recovery, even more money, materials and volunteers are needed.

To learn more about disaster recovery in Texas and to volunteer go to the web sites of the Texas Annual Conference or Disaster Recovery (formerly “Rita Recovery”). You can help with the recovery from the 2008 Hurricanes with a donation to Advance No. 3019695, online or by check to UMCOR, P.O. Box 9068, New York, NY 10087.