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January 26, 2006
Hannah Lutheran, 15, hauls damaged shingles to a dumpster during construction work at Riverside Baptist Church in Pascagoula, Miss. She is among the 118 Traverse City Christian School students who are spending this week in Mississippi helping rebuild homes and churches after Hurricane Katrina. Katrina's wrath amazes studentsSharp contrasts amid the calm after the storm
From left, Lenora Ealy, Marisa Miller and Matt Yeiter, all 16, sunbathe on a sea wall Tuesday afternoon on the shore of the Gulf of Mexico in Pascagoula. "It's kind of crazy how peaceful it is now and seeing all the damage it has done," he said, gazing out at the water that fueled Katrina's Aug. 29 storm surge. Yeiter, 16, is among 118 Traverse City Christian School students on a seven-day hurricane relief effort along the Gulf Coast. The seventh- through 12th-graders are aiding in recovery work that continues five months after Katrina roared ashore. Much of their work has been centered in Moss Point, Miss., and nearby Pascagoula, and in areas with age-appropriate tasks like cleaning, painting and drywalling. They haven't necessarily been working in the hardest-hit regions, but Yeiter and the rest of his crew passed a recent lunch break glimpsing the bleak scenery of Pascagoula's Beach Boulevard, which runs directly along the Gulf shore. The storm devastated the beach area, while homes two miles inland sustained mostly water damage. The team spent two days refurbishing a house for a woman whose Pascagoula beachfront home fell to rubble, and they came to see the remains for themselves. They saw the barren slabs of obliterated homes, upscale neighborhoods Katrina transformed overnight to amateur archaeology sites. Residents returned to salvage the scraps, and many set aside a sort of lost-and-found collection on a corner of their concrete slab for unidentified items they unearthed. Trailer homes dot the landscape and serve as temporary refuge. Across the street, shards of broken glass glint along the sunny shoreline and pelicans perch on the battered remains of piers. The sandy beach remains closed to visitors, but pedestrians and curious onlookers frequent the boulevard. Eric Pardini, 16, said the ravaged coastal scenes carry over into the volunteers' after-hours banter and give them plenty to think about. "We talk a lot on the bus ride back," he said. "We're so tired, but we feel so good about being here and helping people." The Traverse City volunteers eat dinner each night at First Baptist Church in Pascagoula, offering a chance to digest the day's experiences along with the meal. The Southern Baptist Convention is providing the meals and coordinating hurricane relief efforts. Journal entries and nightly devotions also have helped students reflect on what they've seen. "We sit and talk about how we've seen God through these people," said Kim Romberg, 14. The Traverse City volunteers will lead a chapel service tonight at Temple Baptist Church in Moss Point, their host for the week. They also traveled Wednesday to an amusement park in Pensacola, Fla., and held impromptu basketball practice in a local church gym. "It's a nice break," said 16-year-old Eric Hofstra. The volunteers will return on Saturday afternoon to Traverse City. See related stories:
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