Even as they were driving back from Gulfport, Miss., the 12 parishioners from Vienna Baptist Church who had just spent a week repairing hurricane-damaged houses in the city were already talking about returning.
"Even though what we did down there was just a grain of sand on the beach, it makes you feel good that you did something," said Terry Donaldson, who now lives in Sterling but has been a lifelong member of Vienna Baptist.
Through arrangements made by the Virginia Baptist Mission Board, the group spent the week before last repairing damage done by Hurricane Katrina in Gulfport, as well as in Biloxi and in Smith County, to the north.
They arrived Sunday at Gulfport Gardens Baptist Church, where they would be based. What they had seen on television had not prepared them for what they found when they got into town, said group members.
"We began to see a lot of knocked-down billboards and blue sheets on roofs as we got within about 20 miles of Gulfport," said Chris Thomas.
In the city, there was a railroad track on an embankment a few blocks inland that had curbed the storm surge which swept ashore during the hurricane. Everything from the railroad seaward "was either completely destroyed or was going to be bulldozed," said Thomas. "It was totally eye-opening. This wasn't reconstruction — there was no house left," he said, adding that the group worked on houses where the damage had been less severe.
Judith Montacute, who teaches P.E. at Green Hedges School, reported that more than 100 miles of coastline "looked like a bomb went off."
"It's overwhelming when you first go," she said. "I had no words."
SHE DESCRIBED A landscape strewn with demolished cars and other debris, with dump trucks still rolling through to carry away the wreckage. The trees were full of litter and household items and were without a sign of any birds or squirrels, she said. "We didn't see any animals at all." Montacute added that the smell is "indescribable in some parts," due to rotting food and damage to the sewage system.
Donaldson said television images could not compare with looking 50 feet up and seeing "someone's life hanging from a tree."
"It's two and a half months after the hurricane, and seeing how much [devastation] is still there, it's just mind-boggling," he said. He described a box truck he had seen lying sideways atop an eight-foot heap of rubble, as well as a car that was smashed through a wall and into a house. "It was just unbelievable. And Pastor Don was saying, 'Oh, this is really looking good.'"
Pastor Don Blackwell was running assistance operations out of Gulfport Gardens Church, although it is not his parish. Donaldson explained that Blackwell works on Indian reservations in Montana and had come to Gulfport to check on his mother, who is a member of Gulfport Gardens Church, after the hurricane. He found such great need that he decided to stay and help.
One of the homes worked on by members of the group belonged to Blackwell's mother, whose roof had been damaged extensively, said Thomas.
Another belonged to an older couple who had their children and grandchildren, whose homes had been destroyed, staying with them. A friend was living in the yard in a trailer provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), said Thomas.
They also worked on a house across the street, he said, that belonged to a middle-aged couple with small children. Damage to the roof had allowed rainwater to enter and soak much of the drywall. Thomas said when they arrived, the house had a bare, plywood floor, bare studs along the walls and an open ceiling, leaving the rafters exposed.
All the homeowners were members of Gulfport Gardens Church, and most of the projects the group undertook had been started by previous groups from Virginia Baptist churches and would be finished by other groups. Although this was the first group from Vienna Baptist, Montacute estimated there were probably six other groups from Virginia Baptist churches working in the area during the same week.
Several group members spent the first two days of the week in Biloxi, doing repairs on a Korean Baptist church, which had lost most of its roof and been flooded about two-and-a-half feet deep. Donaldson, who was part of this effort, said a previous group had done much of the roof work, which his group was able to finish. They also began the framework for a raised area at the front of the church.
SOME GROUP MEMBERS also went north into Smith County on Thursday to work on Blackwell's in-laws‚ house, which had sustained roof damage and severe water damage in the family room.
Montacute said the group also took out a couple of trees, worked on junk removal and helped remove the pews from Gulfport Gardens Church, which Blackwell was turning into a sort of warehouse and distribution center for donated clothing, furniture and food.
"A typical day for us was 12 or 15 hours of doing the best we could," said Donaldson.
Thomas pointed out that most the people they helped were senior citizens, making them "especially vulnerable to the damage, and they were especially appreciative of the help they got."
"A lot of them, the only direct support they'd gotten was from church volunteers," he said.
"People were so thankful, even the ones we weren't helping," said Montacute, adding that a waiter at TGI Fridays gave her a hug when he found out why she was there.
"Everybody we met, they thanked us over and over," said Donaldson. "Everyone just opened up to us."
In addition to the gratitude of Mississippians, group members said they brought back a sense of accomplishment, new friendships and new perspectives.
"In the total scheme of things, it was a tiny drop in an ocean of need, but it was our drop," said Montacute. "Now, one lady can actually sleep in her bedroom because of what we did," she said.
Thomas agreed. "It was easy to say, 'Gosh, we didn't even make a difference,' but to the people we helped we made a difference, and there are 12 people up here that have a completely different outlook on family, friends and spirituality," he said.
Donaldson spoke of the relationships the group had formed. "I really got to know these people," he said of his fellow parishioners. "You get used to seeing these people all the time, and you think you know them, but you don't."
He also said he hopes Vienna Baptist maintains the relationships it has now established with the Mississippi churches they helped. He said he is not only hoping to recruit people to go back to the area early next year, but also plans to work through Gulfport Gardens Church to deliver Christmas goods to people in need. He has also offered to do some work for Blackwell in Montana.
"We've seen what it means to have nothing," said Thomas. "For this Thanksgiving and Christmas season, we're more acutely aware of what you need in life, versus what you want in life."