December 4, 2006

Hurricane Katrina and the Neighborhood

Watching the news, nonstop, is something I do when a tragedy strikes. I did it on
September 11th and I did it as Katrina blasted through the South. When it was all over I
wondered what I could do to help. I soon learned that a truck heading to Mississippi
would be loading up here in Kokomo and heading out to aid those who need it most. I
had to think of a plan.
(Items collected in neighorhood and being prayed over)
I was pretty new in the neighborhood. We did not actually move into the house until
the end of July of 2005; we had been here one month when the hurricane hit. We had
seen all the people on the porch but really had not met anyone yet. I knew God had
called me to neighborhood ministry, but I had no idea what that would look like or how I
would go about it. I prayed and decided that I should collect canned food and other
needed items from my neighbors. I put together a flier, explaining I would be picking up
the needed items on Saturday afternoon. I walked the neighborhood, not just the apartments
but five square blocks, delivering the handbills. When Saturday afternoon came, I
began to knock on doors in the apartments. Chris (my wife) drove our car with the
hatchback open, and Jonathan and Andrew (our sons) were on hand to help. Most of
the neighbors remembered receiving the flier, but few were prepared to give. Actually
no one gave: I finally had one family give me a can of beans. I couldn’t figure out what
was going on. Surely, they realized that they were helping people that had nothing. I
went to one door and a very young mother with a newborn answered. I asked her if she
had anything to give and she was sad to say she didn’t. I told her I understood, and
reminded her that she needed to care for her baby and herself first. I thanked her and
she closed the door. As I was walking off her porch, she opened the door again, motioning
me back. With tears in her eyes, she said she could give me half of a bag of
diapers. I told her that that was O.K.; she needed to care for her baby. She told me she
had another pack and she thought she could make it to the first of the month. I accepted
the diapers, and when I turned to walk back to the car, to my amazement people from
houses we had already contacted were running out of their apartments into the street to
put items in our car. I could not believe that we collected over 500 items from the
neighborhood and those in the church (19 that day) added 500 more items. On Sunday
we took the 1000 items to the semi. After a few more weeks I learned that at the end of
the month, many families have their own food issues. Food is scarce, as food stamps
are gone. What was given was not out of abundance, but out of sacrifice. The hurricane
opened the door for me to meet almost every neighbor in a non-threatening way
and it taught me some things that I honestly did not know. I learned that hunger is an
don’t come easily and sometimes you fall and have to get up, brush yourself off, and start
again. issue in Kokomo and that most of the under-resourced are caring, compassionate, and
generous. I often wonder why it is easier for me to give my time, my finances, or my
stuff out of my abundance rather than give sacrificially.