Karen Bender (center) stands with her sister-in-law, Sara Bender, and Larry Herr, in front of a house
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When Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast region three years ago this week, killing more than 1,800 people and causing more than $81 billion in property damage, Lancaster County responded.
Not just with money or donations of food and clothing.
No, hundreds, if not thousands, of people responded by taking time off from work, rolling up their sleeves and heading down to the region, which was so desperate for help.
For many, it was a call from God, and for many, it's changed their lives.
They spent 10- and 12-hour days clearing the muck and debris that covered the hundreds and hundreds of miles of what would become known as Katrinaland, encompassing large parts of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.
Now, three years later, the work continues, though it is mostly building and rebuilding houses and helping people navigate through the endless bureaucracy that arrived in the aftermath of one of the country's worst natural disasters.
In a country known for its short attention span, plenty of Lancastrians are still heading to the region to help.
And they are still very much needed.
"It's been three years and we're just now putting a dent into it," says Karen Bender, of Willow Street, who has helped lead 19 trips to New Orleans with members of her city church, First United Methodist.
"The amount of devastation that still exists is a surprise to people who come down. It's still unimaginable," says John Horst, of Leola. A member of Keystone Evangelical Free Church in Paradise, Horst is living in Covington, La., with his wife and two kids. He works for TouchGlobal, a crisis-response ministry that came into being because of the storm.
The number of volunteers isn't as large as it once was — Horst estimates they've seen more than 12,000 from all over the country in the past three years — but the helpers keep coming.
"Last month, there was a team that came from James Street Mennonite Church. A team of 57 or 58 people," Horst says. "Three of the young men from that group who went home decided they needed to come back because of the impact the trip had on their lives. They're here for two weeks."
"We've seen a drop off, naturally," says Bender, of First United Methodist. "But this past June we took our largest team ever. We had 31 on that team."
Other churches have joined them, eager to help. Bender notes that a church in Millersville and one on Mount Joy will be involved in the trip she's taking in September.
Both Horst and Bender say recovery will go on for years to come.
Part of the problem, they both say, is how long people have to wait for insurance money to be able to begin rebuilding, or discovering they didn't have the right kind of insurance.
"There are still people in Florida who haven't got their roofs fixed since the year before Katrina hit," says Horst. "And there is plenty of shoddy work, which has to be redone, or people who took the money and ran. Unfortunately, when you have that kind of devastation, there are people who prey on people and feed on that."
Bender says her first trip to New Orleans, in December 2005, was shocking.
"It looked like a nuclear bomb had gone off in the city," she remembers. "There were houses on top of houses, cars on top of cars. The silence was overwhelming. There were no birds, no cars, none of the typical sounds you hear. I'd never experienced that kind of silence before and I hope never to again."
Bender took her first trip with Larry Herr, another member of First United Methodist, who she's known all her life.
"Larry's in his 70s and I was a young mom," she says. "We were an odd couple. He has significant construction experience and I am the people person."
They both agreed, after their first trip, which they spent gutting a house, that they needed to come back
And indeed, they have.
"We met some wonderful and desperate people in those five days," Bender says. "We both got on the plane to come home and said, this isn't enough. I felt God was calling us to more than we could ever imagine."
Out of those desperate early days, many volunteers felt themselves blessed for being able to help people.
A group organized by Lancaster's Plain community — CARE, which stands for Community Aid Relief Effort — began sending volunteers to the region just days after the storm hit. Hundreds of people have gone down.
A board member of CARE, who asked that his name not be used, says there are many blessings to be found.
"It's been a two-way street by all means," he says. "A lot of our folks would say they've gotten a lot of blessing from it. So many connections, deep relationships have been made."
The intense desperation everyone found in the first months after Katrina no longer exists three years later.
"The initial cleanup is long gone," says Scott Sundberg, the director of communications for Akron-based Mennonite Disaster Service, which purchased a building near Lake Pontchartrain two years ago as a field center for volunteers. "Now, it's long- term recovery. Fixing up houses, meeting codes."
Bender said First United Methodist is "working about 21-w miles from the main hub of the French Quarter, which is beautiful. But if you cross this line, it's devastation. It's very obvious, very stark. There is such a disparity."
When Horst first went to Louisiana, he was a construction supervisor. His days, often lasting 16 to 18 hours, were spent clearing debris.
"I mainly worked on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain, running a chain saw all day," says Horst. "I was very work oriented. I was just, OK, let's get as much done as we can."
When he came home to Lancaster, Horst felt he had to return to the Gulf Coast, that God was calling him back.
But he knew he had to make changes, that he was burned out.
"I had been neglecting my family," Horst says. "Not only are there people in need out there, but there are also people in my home who are in need," he says. "They need a husband and a father. You have to find a balance."
Now, he ministers to the Touchglobal staff and the volunteers who travel to Louisiana.
"Construction is my background, but people are my passion," Horst says. "Here, I'm able to combine the best of both worlds. The construction is really a vehicle to build relationships with people and encourage them in their walk with God."
Sometimes, he says, the best work a volunteer can do is sit on a front porch and talk with someone.
"The problems of New Orleans are not all Katrina related," Horst says. "We started our ministry in response to Katrina, but it has become so much more than that. It's about touching people's lives. There are people in crisis all around us and it's not just from the storm. It's relational, emotional, financial. There are so many people who need Christ's love demonstrated to them."
Bender says her experiences have changed her.
"I feel like I look at people differently," she says. "I recognize that the smallest of actions on my part can make such a huge difference in somebody's life," she says. "It has certainly changed my faith in a way 20 years of Bible studies and sermons couldn't."
And she says her church is a warmer, closer place.
"There is a fellowship at church," she says. "You really get to know people when you're working through problems at a job site. Where they once gave you a handshake, now they'll bowl you over with hugs.
"You know, I'm the one to be blessed," Bender adds. "We went down there to help and we returned so different ourselves. They blessed us so much more."
Staff writer Jane Holahan can be reached at jholahan@LNPnews.com or 481-6016.
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