MDS fixes forgotten homes

Mennonite Disaster Service repairs damages from Hurricane Ike.

Print Article Email to a Friend

Mennonite Disaster Service continues to work in areas that seem to be forgotten. In four years, many areas of the Gulf Coast have been hit by four hurricanes: Katrina, Rita, Gustav and Ike. But most people seem to only remember Katrina and Rita.

Judy Herring, director for family and community development with Southern Mutual Help Association, says of the hurricanes, "All four have impacted our area in different ways: with wind, water and many trees that were weakened by Rita [and] impacted by Ike."

Miss Rita in her house rebuilt by MDS. Photo by Scott Sundberg.

According to the Climatic Data Center, U.S. Department of Commerce, Hurricane Ike was the third largest hurricane in size to hit the United States. A National Hurricane Center report stated that the damage in the United States alone was estimated at $24 billion. But damage from this hurricane seems largely forgotten.

"This is a poor, poor community," Herring says, "and when you have a house in bad condition to start with, and then a hurricane comes, which creates leaks that may have persisted for over a year, what started out as minor damage is now a big problem to deal with. Health issues become a big part of our criteria for helping."

Mennonite Disaster Service has been working in the New Iberia, La., area since 2006, following hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Herring says she just closed the last of 1,021 jobs that were the result of hurricanes Katrina and Rita. More than 5,000 volunteers worked on those projects. Herring guesses that over half the jobs and volunteers have been through MDS.

MDS continues to work on houses impacted by Hurricane Ike. Houses that once had minor damage now have big problems. By addressing this type of damage, MDS has been able to help those who have, as volunteer Carolyn Ringenberg of Flanagan, Ill., says, "fallen through the cracks."

Talking about just one homeowner, "Miss Rita" Simoneaux, Ringenberg says, "She didn't fit anywhere to get help. She was one of those many people who applied for every kind of help but got nothing. We need to look for those most in need."

Carol Workman of Orrville, Ohio, another MDS volunteer, says, "[Miss Rita] was destitute in her own home." Her house had also suffered from two fires.

"I had wind damage," she says, "and it messed up my bedroom. [After this help] I was able to sleep in my own bed for the first time in 10 years. I didn’t have no money to buy a new mattress."

Having gone bankrupt due to medical bills, Miss Rita lost her home and ended up buying another for $27,000.

"When I moved into this house, it didn't have no windows," she says.

Miss Rita is estranged from her family and has struggled to get a clear title to her house.

“Homeowner Rita’s thankfulness seemed almost more of a blessing for us,” says volunteer Jake Martens of Portage La Prairie, Manitoba. "She had no electricity, no ceiling lights, no plumbing—but a whole lot of critters. For 10 years she had prayed that someone would come and help her. She was in tears when told that her house was going to be fixed."

Martens also said that before MDS came in and fixed her house, Miss Rita had to do dishes in her bathtub. Now she has a new sink and a house that she says makes her feel like Cinderella.

"Everybody said this house couldn’t be fixed—now it’s gorgeous,” Miss Rita says. "It's a dream come true. Thank God that these people came to my rescue. I went to lots of organizations looking for help, but no one else would help. Then the Mennonites came, and they put me in [replaced] a window. These people have a special place in heaven for them."

For people in this community, Herring says, "This is a disaster of a different kind. There are several similar situations in Franklin similar to Miss Rita's."

Current Stories

Articles

• Our new executive director
• Mutual impact
• Far from home
• Twists and turns
• Five reasons for Mennonite education
• Five ways to help Mennonite education
• Celebrating Sabbath in a busy world
• How affluenza affects the church
• Poem: At either end of the web

News stories, digests and Meno Acontecer

• From classroom, students converse with mission workers in Kosovo and Colombia
• Goshen College will play national anthem before sporting events
• If Obama's right, MLK was wrong
• Compassion more widespread than violence in Haiti
• Haiti updates from Franconia Conference
• MCC responding to Haiti earthquake, welcomes donations
• MCC staff on the ground, waiting for larger relief efforts to begin
• Mennonite work team and MCC staff safe in Haiti
• Mennonites agonize over Bolivian rape victims
• Mennonite Brethren Olympian on coin
• Hyattsville church denied ACC membership
• Peter J. Dyck leaves legacy of service
• Anglo Anabaptist congregations in the cities are growing
• Greensboro massacre survivors confront pain
• SOOPers, staff lend a hand for harvest
• Mother of MVSers says empty nest matured family
• Scholarship for Mennonite high school graduates
• MDS fixes forgotten homes
• Interview with Mennonite World Conference's leader
• Forgiveness in the Balkans
• Living in a world of war and injustice
• ¡Bienvenidos al Meno Acontecer de febrero, 2010!
• Meno Acontecer, para imprimir
• Domingo de la Educación Menonita
• IBA entrena tutores en Miami
• Haití en la mira
• Violaciones de derechos ¡Alerta!
• Una meditación bíblica
• Reflexiones Pastorales - 10ª Parte
• De nuestros lectores y colaboradores ... SUFRIMIENTO PSICOSOMATICO
• Sitios Hispanos Menonitas en el internet - Abril

Columns

• Extremists for love and justice
• Continuing education
• Turning the page
• January reviews
• Faith and fiction in Dostoevsky
• We can make music
• Blemished lambs at the altar
• Places of transformation
• Where faith and culture intersect

Readers Say

• How to read the Bible
• Between 'scholarly' and 'personal'
• Newest members will lead us
• Dismayed at listing of names
• Don't waste a crisis
• Great choice for cover