Relief volunteers transformed as God uses them in La.

LA PLACE, La.–When Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast destroying towns, homes and possessions, life changed in an instant for the victims.

But as evacuation sites were opened to bring aid and comfort to those from the devastated region, many volunteers got their first taste of disaster relief work and found that Hurricane Katrina not only changed the lives of the victims, but also the lives of relief workers.

A seminary student from Fort Worth, a homemaker from the affluent Dallas-Fort Worth suburb of Southlake, and a nurse and a couple of legal professionals from Lubbock were among many volunteers from Southern Baptists of Texas Convention churches who rushed to aid Katrina’s victims.

In helping to meet basic needs, these volunteers shared the love of Christ and found themselves blessed by the effort.

After moving to enroll at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Phil Warlick was still seeking a job when he volunteered.

“I made the decision to go (as a volunteer) based on the need and the fact that I could go. I didn’t have any work commitments holding me back,” he said, adding that he accepted one of two offers while away volunteering.

“Missing a class and the time away from my family was a small price to pay compared to the suffering of the folks in Louisiana. God put that opportunity in my path, and I couldn’t just turn my back.”

Working with the SBTC’s Disaster Relief unit ministering in a Salvation Army kitchen in Kenner, La., Warlick learned nearly all parts of the operation.

“I helped with preparing and cleaning the food containers, cooking the food, working inventory and supplies and feeding people from the canteens. I was also given the opportunity to spend one night in New Orleans to help feed the citizens, law enforcement, and media there.”

Charmaine Fenstermacher made a similarly quick decision to volunteer, leaving the day after she completed training at the SBTC office in Grapevine, Texas.

She said she first learned of the opportunity as prayer requests were being shared in a Precept Bible study at Memorial Baptist Church of Grapevine. Each member of the mostly middle-aged group of women eventually was used somehow in the storm’s aftermath.

A Colleyville woman with years of experience photographing students for identification cards learned of the need to hasten the processing of Disaster Relief volunteers and helped obtain a machine that created the I.D. cards with far less labor on the SBTC’s behalf.

Others transported evacuees lodged at a nearby Hilton to apartment housing. Many of the women helped provide clothing, furniture and food through Southern Baptist churches that adopted evacuated families.

“When I went to the training I knew I was going to do something, even if it was just a mile from my home,” Fenstermacher told the TEXAN.

She heard SBTC missions team assistant Cindy Davenport describe the need for people to leave the next day and knew that her friends from Bible study had children at home or other responsibilities that prevented them from leaving so soon.

With her own daughter and son in college, Fenstermacher knew she had the freedom to go and began making the list of items to purchase.

“They mentioned buying a Therma-rest bedroll and I’d never even been camping in my life. I’d never even slept on an air mattress. Things like bug spray–just weird stuff like that,” she added.

After obtaining her provisions, she was packed and ready to drive out on Sunday afternoon, arriving at a cabin near Baton Rouge at 1:30 a.m. on Monday.

“It was just like camp–there were wall to wall women.” Inadvertently awakening several of the women, she heard one say they had to be up at 3:30 a.m.

“It was just really bizarre. It was dark and we didn’t know what we were going to be doing, but there wa a sense of excitement and we actually felt rested” despite little sleep, she said.

“I’ve never really experienced organized chaos,” she admitted.  “The concept was organized, but everything was ver chaotic.  Everyone had a purpose and ours was to serve in any way, shape or form to get food and beverages out.”

She recalled SBTC Disaster Relief Director Bill Davenport’s comparison to hiring people off the street.

“You don’t know anyone’s qualifications. There are different personalities and lots of Type A people used to being leaders.  Everyone just volunteered—some cleaned out bathrooms, others cooked.  You didn’t care what you were doing.  I didn’t know anyone as I was meeting strangers, but we all had the same purpose.  We bonded so quickly because we had the same goal.”

Tammy and Billy Wolfe, along with Dacia Newton answered the call to help after seeing Katrina’s destruction.   The Wolfes normally spend their days working in Lubbock, Texas, where he is an attorney and senior partner with Wolfe and Associates and his wife is a paralegal.  Newton is a student at Texas Tech University, majoring in Human Development and Family Studies.

“Neither of us had ever volunteered before and really weren’t sure what to expect,” Tammy Wolfe said. “I will tell you that God would not have allowed us not to help.  He poked and prodded at our hearts all week until we absolutely knew he wanted us out there.”

The Wolfes and Newton helped register evacuees who arrived at the Red Cross shelter in Lubbock.

“These were people that had literally been rescued by helicopter earlier that same day,” Wolfe said. “Most had been stranded in their apartments without electricity, water, and food.”

“As the families sat down in front of me, they hadn’t even been able to take showers,” Newton said. “As they told me their stories, they had tears running down their faces as well as tears down my cheeks.  I heard everything from families who had been on their roofs for three days and nights with food and water and fathers having to lay on top of their children to keep the winds from carrying them off into the water.”

The evacuees shared horrid accounts of their days trapped in their New Orleans homes. “They told us stories of how dark it was at night,” Wolfe said.  “There was no moon during the five days they were stranded.  They were forced to leave their doors open” because of the heat and humidity.  “All night they worried about the bugs, snakes, and other animals that might come in with them, and then they worried about the gangs and other individuals that would hurt them in the darkness.”

Arriving in Lubbock was the beginning of healing for many of the evacuees, she added. “From the minute these people walked off their buses that night they were hugged and loved on by everyone that saw them.  It was one of the most amazing things I’ve ever witnessed:  to see God open the hearts of his people in such a might way—right in front of my eyes.”

The open hearts of volunteers also led to opportunities to share the love of Christ with evacuees.

“They ask why we are doing so much for them,” Newton said. “That is my favorite question.  I get to answer because Jesus Christ’s love inside me flows over so I can share that same love.”

Wolfe believes many evacuees will not only start a new life in Lubbock, but will also find new life in Christ as a result of their ordeal.

As hurricane victims begin to rebuild their lives, volunteers now find their own lives altered in ways they could have never imagined.

“Every night when I left my heart was so heavy, but light at the same time,” Newton said. “Each one of them has touched my life in a way I will never forget, and I pray I am able to do the same by just showing Jesus Christ in love.”

“I will always want to volunteer after this experience,” Tammy Wolfe said. “I realized again how incredibly blessed I am and was reminded that God expects more form those he has given more.  That’s us.  God reminded us that we are all his children no matter what color we are, no matter our social status or place in society—we are all his.

“What my husband and I received from these people is more than we could have ever give to them. God truly does send the weak to lead the strong.”