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| Tommy, team fixture |
2009 –
The Brad Holland story. The first two years we had a team of ten
guys. This year we expanded to 21 guys. We also said goodbye to
Yankie Stadium, a
Biloxi city football field with concrete bleachers on either side. Days before hurricane Katrina struck in
August, 2005 escrow closed on the stadium as the Salvation Army had purchased
the property with the intention of converting it into a neighborhood youth
center. Instead they enclosed and sealed
each concrete bleacher and built dorm rooms, showers, meeting rooms, a mess
hall and brought in their 18 wheeler mobile kitchen. They contracted for two years with HFHMGC to
provide housing for the many volunteers who came to the Gulf Coast. We spent our first two years at Yankie
Stadium and had many fond memories of the place and the other volunteers we met
there. Now we were staying at
SUMA –Seashore United Methodist Assembly – great location – let’s leave it at
that. I remember being somewhat excited
to see that one of the other volunteer groups that would be staying at SUMA was
Mandarin United Methodist Church from Jacksonville, Florida. However, when we went to the orientation
meeting we didn’t spot any other Asians.
At dinner Gary went and asked a group from the Mandarin church if they
had many Chinese in their congregation.
After a few puzzled looks it was finally discovered that their church
name came from their neighborhood in Jacksonville – Mandarin neighborhood in
Duval County, Florida, named after the
Mandarin orange.
Because our group was so large we were split up into
two. My group worked with
Irving Spikes,
a local man who starred as a running back, went to the University of Alabama
and was drafted by the Miami Dolphins and played for them for 4 years. He told me that he learned to be fast by
chasing and catching rabbits in the open fields around his home. The other group worked with Brad
Holland. Brad, a yankee from
Pennsylvania finished college and came to the Gulf Coast like many young
idealistic people to help out with the rebuilding of the Gulf Coast after the
devastation of hurricane Katrina. He
eventually hooked up with HFHMGC and became one of their site supervisors. These site supervisors oversee the volunteers
who work with Habitat. He left a very
favorable impression on the group under his charge and even though I didn’t
meet him that year there would be a growing partnership and friendship in the
years to come.
There were a couple of takeaways from this third year
Katrina relief team. First, that even if
you have 21 dissimilar guys, if you’re all trying to bring glory to God there
is much unity and joy. Second, if you’re
trying to be a servant of God that people notice. We don’t try and do things for recognition or
our own glory. More than a few times
others commented to Craig that they really appreciated our team’s willingness
to do anything that was asked and their helpfulness in cleaning up and
volunteering for any and everything. No
one really felt they were doing anything unusual, just doing what seemed
normal. It was truly a blessing to
witness this servanthoodness, which isn’t a word but conveys the meaning. “If you want to be great in God’s Kingdom,
learn to be a servant of all.” Matthew
20:26 – (paraphrased)
2010 – First Coed team,
Paul &
Denise. After three years of hearing good reports
from the Katrina Relief Teams, four women wanted in on the action. Mo and Carol led that first coed team and it
was quickly learned that having females on the team made for a much more
engaging group.
All future Gulf Coast
relief efforts would have at least one coed team. This also marked the first time multiple
teams were sent to the Gulf Coast. The
11 person coed team went first followed two weeks later by 15 guys. We also invited our sister church Lifesong to
join us. Their team of eight added much
life to our time, not to mention height. We were also housed at another
different location; Camp Victor in Ocean Springs. Once again we bumped into a group from
Mandarin Church who happened to be volunteering the same week as us. Once again we worked on some new houses in
Connor’s Garden, a new housing tract that HFHMGC was building in Gulfport. Once again we worked under Brad and Spikes. This year however, I mostly stayed on the
ground working on a subfloor as opposed to last year doing roofing. I like the ground.
The biggest difference this year to me was meeting two new
HFMGC staffers, Paul Waters and Denise Rybak.
Denise, from Ohio, after graduating from college was planning on a
teaching career. Before doing her
credential work she decided to do an
AmeriCorps stint and eventually ended up
in the Gulf Coast. Paul, originally from
the Gulf Coast, went off to Florida to pursue higher education and perhaps a
higher life (pilot). He felt called to
come back to the Gulf Coast and eventually found his way to a position with
HFHMGC. I remember sitting down with
Paul one day at lunch and having a really heartfelt conversation about life,
faith and destiny. I think he thought I
was much younger than I was and I thought he was older than he was. The fact that he was the same age as my
daughter didn’t really matter as we connected quite easily. Only God knew at the time that five years
hence Peter and I and two others would travel to Cleveland in mid-August to
witness and celebrate the wedding of Paul and Denise. One of the theme verses for our relief teams
has been Psalm 127:1, “Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who
builds it.” We’ve seen many houses being
built over the years, but the houses of friendship and fellowship that the Lord
has built during these trips have been the most beautiful and worthwhile.
2011 – Two week team
2012 – LEEDS Platinum House
2013 – Renovation
2014 – Oklahoma!
