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This article is reprinted from the St. Paul Pioneer Press, September 13, 2005
Caravan of aid is on its way
Volunteers from Woodbury heading to Mississippi
BY ALEX FRIEDRICH
Pioneer Press
The sight haunts Derek Broten: The stranded and displaced of New Orleans going from car to car in a Sheraton Hotel parking lot, pleading for any space in any car that could take them from the city's chaos — only to have many tourists turn their backs and drive off with empty back seats.
So now Broten, who was attending a church conference in New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina struck, is working to get help to the devastated Gulf Coast. Through his coordination efforts, about 20 Woodbury Lutheran Church volunteers will leave today in a caravan of passenger vehicles, a trailer and a freight truck on their way to hurricane-wracked Ocean Springs, Miss.
After a 21-hour haul, they'll get straight to work delivering food and supplies and lending cleanup muscle in a three-day show of solidarity. The church plans on sending several more missions over the next year to help Ocean Springs recover.
"It's about making an immediate impression … that they have friends in Minnesota who love them and care for them — and who are going to see a lot of them," Broten said.
Broten, Woodbury Lutheran's 32-year-old youth minister, is no stranger to helping the less fortunate. He piled sandbags and cleaned up flood damage in Grand Forks, N.D., in 1997 and has helped build houses for the poor in Mexico and repair an orphanage in Jamaica.
So after he and his fellow travelers made it out of New Orleans earlier this month, he knew his church had a new destination.
So did Maria Engen, a congregation member originally from New Orleans whose aunt drowned in the flooding. After talking to her brother, a Mississippi minister, they agreed that the place most in need was Ocean Springs, a community of 19,000 five miles from Biloxi.
There lies First Baptist Church and an area that took some of Katrina's hardest blows. One in three Ocean Springs residents lost their homes, said Marian Wingo, director of the area's emergency operations center.
Woodbury Lutheran rounded up 20 volunteers last week for its first wave of help. They borrowed a trailer, rented a cheap freight truck and started filling it with requested items — such as food, tarps and chain saws. A driver has volunteered his time, and expects to haul the supplies down later this week.
Meanwhile, the church crew will help meet short-term needs by distributing food or patching roofs. But it'll also do things like clear debris and rip out drywall — all the gritty work necessary before the city can be rebuilt.
It's a familiar scene for Marlin Harris. The church's 55-year-old director of pastoral care has already assisted recovery efforts after two hurricanes — including 1985's Hurricane Elena in Biloxi — and the Oklahoma City bombing.
"It still doesn't get any easier," he said. "It's still people in pain."
Harris and the others will sleep at First Baptist or in parishioners' homes and take their meals there as well.
After three intense days, they'll head back Friday night.
It's a short trip, but Broten says it'll be the first of many as Woodbury Lutheran encourages its neighbors to "adopt" Ocean Springs over the next year or so.
He said he's telling the Mississippi community, "You're seeing a lot of support from America right now. But even when that support starts to wane, you'll continue to see more teams coming down."
Alex Friedrich can be reached at afriedrich@pioneerpress.com or 651-228-2109.
HOW TO HELP
Those interested in donating items or volunteering for a work trip to Ocean Springs can call Derek Broten at Woodbury Lutheran Church, 651-739-5144.
The church is accepting nonperishable food as well as equipment for the clean-up effort, including tarps, bleach and cleaning supplies, crowbars and chainsaws.
Trips are expected to last five to eight days, including travel.