Reflections while waiting for a plane

This time the scene was so different. And it lifted my heart.

Driving to the airport after the first St. Anne's Mission to New Orleans in February, 2005, I was numb. A week of shoveling three feet of mud, pulling down mold-ridden drywall, and sifting through families' treasured belongings, ruined by the flood waters had been too much for all of us.

One of my last views of the city, and one we witnessed all week, was the mounds of debris outside every home that had been gutted. Driving down a residential street felt like floating down the Grand Canyon, only rather than beautiful sculptured cliff faces, we experienced cliffs of ruined appliances, sodden clothing and broken toys. It was awful. How could they ever clean up such devastation? How could they ever recover emotionally? Each of the four of us returned sick and depressed.

Today, on our way to the New Orleans airport, where I am writing this, things are very different. There is life and energy in the city again. Every year I have seen restaurants, groceries, and schools back in business. That first year, when things were so tough, I remember seeing a child in a coffee shop and thinking, "My God, that's the only child I've see all week." Now, there are kids playing basketball in playgrounds, and riding to school in buses again. We drove past an art festival and I could feel myself begin to smile. Art and music didn't just show up this week, of course, but the symbolism of a city block covered with white awnings, sheltering artists and art lovers alike from the spring sun, was wonderful to behold, life!

Serious conversation continues, the city has just elected a new mayor, the first change since Katrina. What will happen to the Crescent City? Will natives who want to return be able to come home and resume a cherished way of life? Will the new folks that have come cherish and work to preserve the culture of this proud and quirky city, and at the same time come to terms with generations of racism and corruption? Will the developers and speculators have their way and New Orleans become a get-rich-quick scheme or a big theme park, a caricature of its former self?

Last year, getting on the plane to come here, I noticed how it seemed like everyone in line had on work clothes. An army of volunteers, most of them from religious groups, transformed a city. Will the fervor be there? Was this a training ground for Haiti and the next huge disaster after that?

No one knows, at least not yet. But this I do know - today the spring sun was warm, there were bikers and dog walkers and bird watchers in beautiful Audubon Park. Azaleas were popping. I have just spent the week with a part of the beloved community. This city has changed my life forever, and I believe that I, and thousands like me, have changed this city.

God bless New Orleans.

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

Our 2010 Mission Roadtrip is Starting!

It's so great to be headed (back) to New Orleans! We're reconnecting with old friends and will make new ones. We have some good work to do - building a wheelchair ramp and outside stairs - to finish a house.

We have a team of 7 going - 4 "old hands" (Father Jim, Jim Hunter, Lorraine Cross, and Claude Saffer) and 3 newbies (Dina Widlake, Heidi Marggraf, me). I'm excited to be going on this trip for the first time and on my first all-adult trip :-)

Please keep us and the family we'll be helping in your prayers this week. We look forward to sharing our adventures during the week and worshipping with our St. Anne's family on Palm Sunday.

Most of all, Thank You, St. Anne's, for making it possible!