The Road Home

Names matter, they always have. God changes Abram to Abraham, Sarai to Sarah, Jacob to Israel, claiming them as His. Some people change their names when they marry, or seek a new identity. So the Diocese of Louisiana changing the name of the Disaster Response Program to Episcopal Community Services is significant. It is also important to realize that the ECS has recently received its 501(c)3 status and become an independent nonprofit, no longer closely affiliated with the Diocese. What started as a grass roots program to help New Orleanians move back into Katrina-ravaged homes has now grown into a new phase. Those involved in the program today understand that with immediate disaster relief coming to a close, and some things like gutting contaminated homes ending, systemic changes must occur for the community of New Orleans to thrive. There are still homes to be made livable, but this cannot be the end of assistance for the poor.

There is a new vision being developed by the young people who continue to staff and support the organization. Katrina-decimated New Orleans is becoming a test tube, a model for how small non-profits can effect important change for at-risk communities, and it's very exciting.

Having said all this I want for you to know that this past week, the 2010 St. Anne's New Orleans Mission Team has worked very hard in helping a family get back into their home. We have spent the week doing the most complicated finishing work inside a home, as well as building a complicated and beautiful handicap access ramp and a set of stairs on the back of a house ruined by the flood waters after Katrina. This has been done on a house some of us did structural work on last spring. There is a family in the Gentilly section of New Orleans who will finally, after five years, be able to move out of a FEMA trailer and back into their home.

I am so proud of our team: Heidi Marggraf, Susan Ficklin, Lorriane Cross, Dina Widlake, Claude Saffer, Jim Hunter, and me. The team's incredibly hard work, and considerable carpentry skills, have made the crucial difference in creating a new life for a deserving family.


Even though some fundamental changes are happening for the program, it is still a constant that the small group of dedicated young people who staff the ECS are working tirelessly, for little pay and recognition. In a time when large entities like federal and state agencies are struggling to help, some committed and exemplary young Episcopalians are making a significant difference. They are to be commended and emulated.

Jim Papile