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?Tell Kathy Jesus brought some food’
March 27, 2006
By Kathy L. Gilbert*
ALGIERS, La. (UMNS) — Kathy Powers
gets to her office at 7:15 every morning and waits for God to walk through
the door.
“I am anxious to start work, knowing that at some point in the day,
God is going to make his presence known to me, either through a volunteer that
shows up unannounced or someone calling to help us fulfill a need that maybe
we didn’t even know we had yet,” she says. “We do high fives
around the office all day shouting, ?Wahoo! There he is again.’”
Powers is the volunteer coordinator for the Westbank storm station, one of
six relief/recovery stations set up by the Louisiana Annual (regional) Conference
after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit the state in August and September 2005.
In a previous life, Powers was the youth minister at Aurora United Methodist
Church, where the storm station is based. She still does that job but the numbers
of youth in the program have dwindled. Aurora had about $400,000 worth of damage
after Hurricane Katrina.
Jake McGlothin, the center’s director, grew up in the church and was
one of Powers’ former youth members. In his previous life, he worked
for the Peace Corps for a year after graduating from college.
“God sends random people” into the center, Powers says. People
like “George of the Parking Lot” or “Dick from Holland,” McGlothin
adds. Those volunteers often bring with them just the materials or expertise
needed at the moment.
A casual meeting at a friend’s birthday party brought “Sal” into
the center’s orbit. Powers said Sal introduced himself to her and asked
if the center was ever in need of food. He works for a local grocery store,
finding places to donate food that is slightly damaged in delivery.
One recent morning he showed up at the church’s back door with a shipment
of soft drinks and canned goods. “Tell Kathy Jesus brought some food,” he
said. The flustered volunteer finally asked him, “What earthly vessel
should I tell her Jesus used for this delivery?”
“It is a hoot,” Powers says, laughing. “You
never know who God is going to put in your life.”
The Westbank station has 858 open cases right
now, meaning 858 houses in urgent need of work, McGlothin says. “We
have the biggest area and the one with the most devastation, including the
Lower Ninth Ward.”
During the week of March 6, the church was home to more than 100 people. Four
or five houses were gutted in the first day, he added. More than 1,000 volunteers
are scheduled to come through the center by the end of March.
Powers handles orientation for the groups and
reminds them to “Be respectful
and compassionate; this is someone’s home.” Homeowners or a family
member are on site with the volunteers. “The most important thing that
happens here is that people learn others care about them.”
McGlothin says he is learning to be patient and flexible.
“This is truly the best job I have ever
had and probably ever will have because of the work we are doing and the
lives we are changing.”
*Gilbert is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in Nashville,
Tenn.
News media contact: Kathy L. Gilbert, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or
newsdesk@umcom.org.
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