Hurricanes Gustav & Ike September 2008
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Hurricane Gustav was the seventh storm to form during the 2008 Atlantic
Hurricane Season. It looked as if it was going to be a major storm and the
Louisiana area.
We had been in contact with Gary from Mercy Chefs and he arranged for us to
stage in Hattiesburg, MS at Salvation Army along with Operation Blessing. Matt
from our church and I took off and stopped in Brooksville to get some tarps,
sticks, and supplies from Scott and Christian Contractors Association. Scott
always takes care of making sure we have the supplies we need to get the job
done. He loaded our truck and trailer as full as we could get it! Praise God for
him and the ministry that the Lord has blessed him with!
We arrived in the middle of the night and couldn't seem to get anyone's attention
in the Salvation Army yard, so we slept in the truck. When we woke up in the
morning, we found out that we were at the wrong Salvation Army. There was
another one across the street with a smaller sign! A lot of people had already
come in and the first bands of the storm were beginning to hit our area.
We immediately got busy helping out at the Salvation Army by organizing their
makeshift warehouse and doing some last minute work on one of the Mercy
Chefs trailer. We worked well into the early hours of the morning and finally
turned in. As the day progressed the storm got worse.
We got up a couple of hours later and began discussing our strategy. We had
already been in contact with several CC's in Louisiana and Mississippi. We
decided that Baton Rouge was in need of our help. Mercy Chefs and Operation
Blessing had been called upon to go to New Orleans and weren't sure of what they
would be doing once there. We decided to split from them and promised to join
back up with Gary if there was anything that he needed during this trip. Gary
flew two Mercy Chefs from our church, Sandy and June, to New Orleans to help
with the cooking duties. Matt and I headed to Baton Rouge.
It wasn't a nice day for a drive, but we made it in a few hours and immediately got
to work cutting trees and tarping roofs. A tree had gone through the roof of the
home of an elderly couple. I was able to climb up, remove the tree and tarp the
roof just in time before a massive down pour started.
We stayed at a local Baptist church and found that some of the members from CC
Houma had evacuated there from the storm. Not expecting the storm to hit
Baton Rouge, they didn't bring a lot of supplies. There were eighteen people,
ranging from a newborn to an elderly couple, along with a couple of dogs. We
were able to help provide food, water and gas for them. I also travel with a
projector, screen and DVD player and was able to set this up for the kids to watch
movies to help occupy their time. Part of the group went out the next day to help
us serve others! The following day they left for home as their town was reopened.
We headed out to work with CC on the Bayou and cleared a lot of trees as well as
rebuilt a wall that had been destroyed on a mobile home.
In the mean time, Brady and Bubba from ACTS, CC Plano drove in to scout
things out. They brought their cook trailer with them. There was a small
church, Streams of Life, across the street from where we were staying and we
ended up connecting with them. Brady and Bubba set up their cook trailer to
serve meals. Streams of Life warehouses a lot of items and they supply items to
different ministries around Baton Rouge. They decided to set up a distribution
center. Cars lined up to receive canned goods, water, and snacks, and a hot
lunch cooked by Bubba and Brady.
We continued to work on trees and roofs. Streams of Life had electricity and
they invited us to stay with them so we packed up and headed over. There was a
group of Chaplains from the Church of God Chaplaincy program staying there as
well. They all welcomed us with open arms and made sure we had everything
that we needed.
Matt had to head home on Friday so one of the helpers at Streams of Life helped
me with some tree work. Brady and Bubba had to also head home. There was
still plenty of work to do and some of the Chaplains volunteered to work with
me. They were such a blessing, not only cutting and dragging, but they
spiritually ministered to many people who we were physically helping!
One evening, we helped a group from CC Baton Rouge with an outreach to the
pastor's neighborhood. We took this opportunity to collect work orders and to sign
up people in the neighborhood who wanted to help. About two hundred people
showed up and everyone had a good time.
Tim from CC Costa Mesa was heading to Houma to help Pastor Jeff, the group
who was staying at the Baptist church when we arrived. They were in need of
supplies so I made arrangements to take them some. Streams of Life loaded up
the truck and trailer with food, drinks and snacks and I still had supplies from
Scott and CCA from Florida. The chaplains needed to get back to other things
and this left me without help so I decided to just go and work with Tim and his
team.
When I arrived, we unloaded the trailer and decided to head into the bayou to
take in food and drink supplies that we had been given from Streams of Living
Water. We arrived just before dusk and were met by several people who gladly
received the items we brought. We then headed back to CC Houma, where we
were camped.
The next morning we got up and headed back to the Bayou. There was a tree on a
home that needed removed. This was not an easy task and to complicate matters,
the home was surrounded in muck that the storm had deposited and it was still
wet, deep and slippery. Ed’s truck got stuck, but we managed to get the tree cut
down. We went back to Houma and helped a church family cut down and move
some trees that had been damaged. We worked until dark and headed back to
Houma.
The next day news of Ike heading our way came in and some of the outer storm
bands had already began to hit the coast. The bayou was already starting to flood
so we couldn’t go back there. We decided to help some local people out. After
tracking the storm we decided it would be safer for us to return to Baton Rouge so
we packed up and headed out. It was a windy and rough trip, but we made it!
We once again were welcomed by Streams of Life. We helped Troy & Craig load
up supplies to be ready to truck into the hurricane hit area once Ike passed. We
also received more requests for help via Diane and Streams of Life so we
continued to cut trees and tarp roofs.
Saturday morning it was time to decide what our next move was and we decided
that Texas was where to head. We did some laundry, loaded up with supplies
from Streams of Life and still had tarps and sticks from CCA and we headed to
CC Houston. What an eerie trip, especially driving through Houston with no
lights on anywhere!
We were quickly waved through all security check points and were the first to
arrive at CC Houston. No one was there to meet us so we decided to get some
sleep. A few others showed up as I was honkering down in the back of our truck!
Sunday morning when we got up a lot of more relief had shown up, Committed
Relief, CC La Habra, brought in a cook trailer, supply trailer and they were
leading the camp. We got up, fixed breakfast and took off to tarp some roofs.
Most of the crew was done by late afternoon, but I decided to go out and see what
else could be done. I found an elderly couple who had a huge tree that needed
cut down and cut up. I managed to get it cut into small enough pieces for them
to take to the curb just as it was getting dark.
In the mean time, Gary had flown home and left his trailer with Operation
Blessing. They decided to stage in Dallas and he flew in on Friday. They decided
to head for Baton Rouge and work with a local church there. As I had promised
them and Gary that I would help them if needed, Gary asked if I could come to
Baton Rouge and help him cook. They were setting up in the first responders
camp where the national guard, highway patrol, fish & wildlife, etc people were
all staying. They had been asked to cook breakfast and dinner for the troops.
I got up on Monday morning and was given more supplies from Committed Relief
and took off. I was about out of fuel and knew I needed to get to Baton Rouge
before I ran out, not to mention I was needed to help cook dinner! But the Lord
had other things in mind for me!
I felt drawn to go back to the neighborhood where I was working on the elderly
couples home the night before. I immediately began giving out food and water to
many people, this was a poorer neighborhood and most of them didn't have any
supplies. I pulled into a cul-de-sac and another elderly lady agreed to take some
water. As I was unloading the water I noticed her husband trying to cut down a
tree with a hand saw! I asked her if I could assist them with my chainsaw and
she replied my angel has arrived and gave me a huge hug! A neighbor came over
and helped us and 45 minutes later it was cut and stacked by the road and I was
on my way.
By now my fuel situation had gotten much worse and I was further away then
when I was at the church! I prayed for God to provide as I drove past a few gas
stations with longer lines than they had gas or I had time to wait in. I came
across some that had only a few cars in line, only to find out that they were
waiting in hopes for a fuel supply truck sometime later that day, but I had to
press on. I headed out I-10 and my fuel light came on. I still had 20 gallons in
reserve in the back of the truck and was preparing to pull over and use it. All of
the sudden I passed a station on the other side of the road that only had a short
line of cars at it. I thought, they must be waiting for a fuel truck, just like the
others. But then I thought I saw someone pumping gas, or was it a mirage, after
all I was traveling 70 miles an hour down the interstate?
I determined to head on and pull over to use my reserve. Then I heard God say,
turn around, I have fuel for you back at the station you just passed. Before I
could determine what to do there was an emergency turn around in the highway
so I turned around and headed back.
Sure enough, they had just gotten a fuel truck! The line was short and they had
a BBQ joint inside. By the time I got a sandwich and ate it, it was my turn to
pump gas. I got me gas and go on down the road.
If I hadn't listened to God and gone and helped the people in Houston before I
left, I would've been by the station before the fuel truck arrived and if I hadn't
listened and turned around I would never have gotten fuel. There was none in
Baton Rouge when I arrived!
I immediately found Gary and got to work fixing dinner. We had some really
great volunteers from Operation Blessing that helped us as well as some local
volunteers. It was truly amazing to have the opportunity to serve these men and
women who were entrenched in the search and rescue operations in TX. Most of
them had deployed on Friday or Saturday and had been eating k-rations up to this
point. This was there first hot meal in days and we always make it good! They
were all very appreciative. One soldier walked up to Gary and handed him his
cell phone. It was the soldier's wife and she wanted to thank us for taking care
of her husband! We had many opportunities to talk and share with the soldiers
and even had some time of prayer with many of them! We'd start the day at
about 2 AM, going to the church warehouse and loading supplies for breakfast.
By 6 AM we were feeding breakfast. Whatever was left over, we loaded into my
truck and a few of us took off to the harder hit and poorer areas and handed out
hot breakfasts. We'd finish up around noon and be able to sleep for an hour or
so, but then had to be back at the warehouse around 1 or so and start all over for
dinner again. We served around 300 meals per serving time.
Gary needed to head home and Debbie, another Mercy Chef from FL came in to
help out. By Thursday things were winding down and it was determined that our
services would no longer be needed after breakfast on Friday as most of the men
were heading home. I skipped helping with breakfast as it was gong to be a
smaller amount of people being served, but had to go in and tear the trailer down
and move it back to the church. As we were cleaning up a leader from the army
asked us to line up. I thought we were getting our picture taken so I got in
line. It turned out that the army was coining us, a ceremony that is usually
reserved for enlisted personnel. It was quite an honor!
By lunch time we were finished and I was packed and ready to head home, I'd
been gone for three weeks! I got about an hour down the road and realized I was
exhausted, so I pulled over at a rest area and climbed in the back of the truck and
slept for a few hours. I got up and drove until about midnight, actually running
out of gas once as many stations were closed due to low fuel production in TX.
But of course, I had my reserve and filled up enough to get to a station that had
gas. I pulled over and slept in the truck until morning and then headed home.
All together we worked on over 22 homes with over 46 volunteers and we
prepared over 2000 meals in Beaumont. This was a huge team effort with many
agencies and people helping out! It was a lot of work and running around and
God met our needs 110% of the time and kept us fresh and new throughout the
whole process as we shared Jesus and His love with others!
To read some of our newsletters while in the field click here and scroll to the
Hurricanes Gustav/Ike Louisiana & Texas Newsletters.
Hurricane Season. It looked as if it was going to be a major storm and the
Louisiana area.
We had been in contact with Gary from Mercy Chefs and he arranged for us to
stage in Hattiesburg, MS at Salvation Army along with Operation Blessing. Matt
from our church and I took off and stopped in Brooksville to get some tarps,
sticks, and supplies from Scott and Christian Contractors Association. Scott
always takes care of making sure we have the supplies we need to get the job
done. He loaded our truck and trailer as full as we could get it! Praise God for
him and the ministry that the Lord has blessed him with!
We arrived in the middle of the night and couldn't seem to get anyone's attention
in the Salvation Army yard, so we slept in the truck. When we woke up in the
morning, we found out that we were at the wrong Salvation Army. There was
another one across the street with a smaller sign! A lot of people had already
come in and the first bands of the storm were beginning to hit our area.
We immediately got busy helping out at the Salvation Army by organizing their
makeshift warehouse and doing some last minute work on one of the Mercy
Chefs trailer. We worked well into the early hours of the morning and finally
turned in. As the day progressed the storm got worse.
We got up a couple of hours later and began discussing our strategy. We had
already been in contact with several CC's in Louisiana and Mississippi. We
decided that Baton Rouge was in need of our help. Mercy Chefs and Operation
Blessing had been called upon to go to New Orleans and weren't sure of what they
would be doing once there. We decided to split from them and promised to join
back up with Gary if there was anything that he needed during this trip. Gary
flew two Mercy Chefs from our church, Sandy and June, to New Orleans to help
with the cooking duties. Matt and I headed to Baton Rouge.
It wasn't a nice day for a drive, but we made it in a few hours and immediately got
to work cutting trees and tarping roofs. A tree had gone through the roof of the
home of an elderly couple. I was able to climb up, remove the tree and tarp the
roof just in time before a massive down pour started.
We stayed at a local Baptist church and found that some of the members from CC
Houma had evacuated there from the storm. Not expecting the storm to hit
Baton Rouge, they didn't bring a lot of supplies. There were eighteen people,
ranging from a newborn to an elderly couple, along with a couple of dogs. We
were able to help provide food, water and gas for them. I also travel with a
projector, screen and DVD player and was able to set this up for the kids to watch
movies to help occupy their time. Part of the group went out the next day to help
us serve others! The following day they left for home as their town was reopened.
We headed out to work with CC on the Bayou and cleared a lot of trees as well as
rebuilt a wall that had been destroyed on a mobile home.
In the mean time, Brady and Bubba from ACTS, CC Plano drove in to scout
things out. They brought their cook trailer with them. There was a small
church, Streams of Life, across the street from where we were staying and we
ended up connecting with them. Brady and Bubba set up their cook trailer to
serve meals. Streams of Life warehouses a lot of items and they supply items to
different ministries around Baton Rouge. They decided to set up a distribution
center. Cars lined up to receive canned goods, water, and snacks, and a hot
lunch cooked by Bubba and Brady.
We continued to work on trees and roofs. Streams of Life had electricity and
they invited us to stay with them so we packed up and headed over. There was a
group of Chaplains from the Church of God Chaplaincy program staying there as
well. They all welcomed us with open arms and made sure we had everything
that we needed.
Matt had to head home on Friday so one of the helpers at Streams of Life helped
me with some tree work. Brady and Bubba had to also head home. There was
still plenty of work to do and some of the Chaplains volunteered to work with
me. They were such a blessing, not only cutting and dragging, but they
spiritually ministered to many people who we were physically helping!
One evening, we helped a group from CC Baton Rouge with an outreach to the
pastor's neighborhood. We took this opportunity to collect work orders and to sign
up people in the neighborhood who wanted to help. About two hundred people
showed up and everyone had a good time.
Tim from CC Costa Mesa was heading to Houma to help Pastor Jeff, the group
who was staying at the Baptist church when we arrived. They were in need of
supplies so I made arrangements to take them some. Streams of Life loaded up
the truck and trailer with food, drinks and snacks and I still had supplies from
Scott and CCA from Florida. The chaplains needed to get back to other things
and this left me without help so I decided to just go and work with Tim and his
team.
When I arrived, we unloaded the trailer and decided to head into the bayou to
take in food and drink supplies that we had been given from Streams of Living
Water. We arrived just before dusk and were met by several people who gladly
received the items we brought. We then headed back to CC Houma, where we
were camped.
The next morning we got up and headed back to the Bayou. There was a tree on a
home that needed removed. This was not an easy task and to complicate matters,
the home was surrounded in muck that the storm had deposited and it was still
wet, deep and slippery. Ed’s truck got stuck, but we managed to get the tree cut
down. We went back to Houma and helped a church family cut down and move
some trees that had been damaged. We worked until dark and headed back to
Houma.
The next day news of Ike heading our way came in and some of the outer storm
bands had already began to hit the coast. The bayou was already starting to flood
so we couldn’t go back there. We decided to help some local people out. After
tracking the storm we decided it would be safer for us to return to Baton Rouge so
we packed up and headed out. It was a windy and rough trip, but we made it!
We once again were welcomed by Streams of Life. We helped Troy & Craig load
up supplies to be ready to truck into the hurricane hit area once Ike passed. We
also received more requests for help via Diane and Streams of Life so we
continued to cut trees and tarp roofs.
Saturday morning it was time to decide what our next move was and we decided
that Texas was where to head. We did some laundry, loaded up with supplies
from Streams of Life and still had tarps and sticks from CCA and we headed to
CC Houston. What an eerie trip, especially driving through Houston with no
lights on anywhere!
We were quickly waved through all security check points and were the first to
arrive at CC Houston. No one was there to meet us so we decided to get some
sleep. A few others showed up as I was honkering down in the back of our truck!
Sunday morning when we got up a lot of more relief had shown up, Committed
Relief, CC La Habra, brought in a cook trailer, supply trailer and they were
leading the camp. We got up, fixed breakfast and took off to tarp some roofs.
Most of the crew was done by late afternoon, but I decided to go out and see what
else could be done. I found an elderly couple who had a huge tree that needed
cut down and cut up. I managed to get it cut into small enough pieces for them
to take to the curb just as it was getting dark.
In the mean time, Gary had flown home and left his trailer with Operation
Blessing. They decided to stage in Dallas and he flew in on Friday. They decided
to head for Baton Rouge and work with a local church there. As I had promised
them and Gary that I would help them if needed, Gary asked if I could come to
Baton Rouge and help him cook. They were setting up in the first responders
camp where the national guard, highway patrol, fish & wildlife, etc people were
all staying. They had been asked to cook breakfast and dinner for the troops.
I got up on Monday morning and was given more supplies from Committed Relief
and took off. I was about out of fuel and knew I needed to get to Baton Rouge
before I ran out, not to mention I was needed to help cook dinner! But the Lord
had other things in mind for me!
I felt drawn to go back to the neighborhood where I was working on the elderly
couples home the night before. I immediately began giving out food and water to
many people, this was a poorer neighborhood and most of them didn't have any
supplies. I pulled into a cul-de-sac and another elderly lady agreed to take some
water. As I was unloading the water I noticed her husband trying to cut down a
tree with a hand saw! I asked her if I could assist them with my chainsaw and
she replied my angel has arrived and gave me a huge hug! A neighbor came over
and helped us and 45 minutes later it was cut and stacked by the road and I was
on my way.
By now my fuel situation had gotten much worse and I was further away then
when I was at the church! I prayed for God to provide as I drove past a few gas
stations with longer lines than they had gas or I had time to wait in. I came
across some that had only a few cars in line, only to find out that they were
waiting in hopes for a fuel supply truck sometime later that day, but I had to
press on. I headed out I-10 and my fuel light came on. I still had 20 gallons in
reserve in the back of the truck and was preparing to pull over and use it. All of
the sudden I passed a station on the other side of the road that only had a short
line of cars at it. I thought, they must be waiting for a fuel truck, just like the
others. But then I thought I saw someone pumping gas, or was it a mirage, after
all I was traveling 70 miles an hour down the interstate?
I determined to head on and pull over to use my reserve. Then I heard God say,
turn around, I have fuel for you back at the station you just passed. Before I
could determine what to do there was an emergency turn around in the highway
so I turned around and headed back.
Sure enough, they had just gotten a fuel truck! The line was short and they had
a BBQ joint inside. By the time I got a sandwich and ate it, it was my turn to
pump gas. I got me gas and go on down the road.
If I hadn't listened to God and gone and helped the people in Houston before I
left, I would've been by the station before the fuel truck arrived and if I hadn't
listened and turned around I would never have gotten fuel. There was none in
Baton Rouge when I arrived!
I immediately found Gary and got to work fixing dinner. We had some really
great volunteers from Operation Blessing that helped us as well as some local
volunteers. It was truly amazing to have the opportunity to serve these men and
women who were entrenched in the search and rescue operations in TX. Most of
them had deployed on Friday or Saturday and had been eating k-rations up to this
point. This was there first hot meal in days and we always make it good! They
were all very appreciative. One soldier walked up to Gary and handed him his
cell phone. It was the soldier's wife and she wanted to thank us for taking care
of her husband! We had many opportunities to talk and share with the soldiers
and even had some time of prayer with many of them! We'd start the day at
about 2 AM, going to the church warehouse and loading supplies for breakfast.
By 6 AM we were feeding breakfast. Whatever was left over, we loaded into my
truck and a few of us took off to the harder hit and poorer areas and handed out
hot breakfasts. We'd finish up around noon and be able to sleep for an hour or
so, but then had to be back at the warehouse around 1 or so and start all over for
dinner again. We served around 300 meals per serving time.
Gary needed to head home and Debbie, another Mercy Chef from FL came in to
help out. By Thursday things were winding down and it was determined that our
services would no longer be needed after breakfast on Friday as most of the men
were heading home. I skipped helping with breakfast as it was gong to be a
smaller amount of people being served, but had to go in and tear the trailer down
and move it back to the church. As we were cleaning up a leader from the army
asked us to line up. I thought we were getting our picture taken so I got in
line. It turned out that the army was coining us, a ceremony that is usually
reserved for enlisted personnel. It was quite an honor!
By lunch time we were finished and I was packed and ready to head home, I'd
been gone for three weeks! I got about an hour down the road and realized I was
exhausted, so I pulled over at a rest area and climbed in the back of the truck and
slept for a few hours. I got up and drove until about midnight, actually running
out of gas once as many stations were closed due to low fuel production in TX.
But of course, I had my reserve and filled up enough to get to a station that had
gas. I pulled over and slept in the truck until morning and then headed home.
All together we worked on over 22 homes with over 46 volunteers and we
prepared over 2000 meals in Beaumont. This was a huge team effort with many
agencies and people helping out! It was a lot of work and running around and
God met our needs 110% of the time and kept us fresh and new throughout the
whole process as we shared Jesus and His love with others!
To read some of our newsletters while in the field click here and scroll to the
Hurricanes Gustav/Ike Louisiana & Texas Newsletters.
and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the
darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. Isaiah 58:10
darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. Isaiah 58:10
