For such a time as this ...

Our Hurricane Katrina I Effort (2005)

The "facts" as seen and heard by the group that went to Pass Christian Mississippi:

You wake up in the morning in your car with the other 2 members of your family.
You think about going to work, but oh yes, you have no job . There is no place to work.
You home is an Army tent with 3 other people you do not know ... or
You and your 4 teenage sons live in a FEMA trailer the size of the sink area in our social room ... or
You live in a FEMA trailer on your own property which is now a pile of rubble.
You think about doing laundry, but realize you and the rest of your family only have 2 outfits each to wear.
Well maybe you should go to the laudromat and wash the ones you aren't wearing.
Breakfast is cereal on a paperplate and milk in a cup. But you can push aside your pride
and eat in God's Katrina Kitchen. But will you????
You think about going to the store and then remember there aren't any stores, and your only car is two blocks away in a tree.
You decide to take a walk, but it only depresses you, since there are no birds, no bugs, no critters, no green plants.
You remember the day you clung to your roof to escape Katrina,
and had to watch your elderly father float away because he couldn't hold on anymore.
There is no house, no heating gas, no phone, so why are you expected to still pay those bills?
You live by the railroad tracks and everyday you see the house that was deposited right in the middle of the tracks.
You wake up and immediately think of what to do next to care for your family.
A town that was once self-sufficient is now bankrupt.
You won't accept an electrical space heater to keep you warm because someone else may need it more.
You are waiting for your insurance check to begin rebuilding, but it never comes ... or
You had insurance on your $100,000 home, and after all the devastation
you receive a check for $5,000 to rebuild what you lost.
You have no room for anything "extra."
There is no such thing as "stale" or "old" because you waste nothing.
It is December and you still don't have electric.
You sit in church on a Sunday. There are no pews, no organ, no piano, no windows, no doors, no walls...
But yet the cross remains standing.
You want to celebrate your child's birthday, but he or she is in another state with a relative so they can attend school.
You wonder where your friends are since what happened to you happened to every single other person in town.
Yes, it's Christmas. But there are no presents for your children. There is no money.
All your favorite family recipes are gone. Your only cookbook is a Weisenberg Church Cookbook.
The people of Pass Christian will survive, they will rebuild and they will stay there because it's their home.
The contributions from Weisenberg Church and other people like us have brought hope back to this tiny ravaged community.
Thanks to all of you for your donations and especially to all of you who went and helped.