LCC Lutherans assist ongoing Katrina recovery effort

In front of St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans (l-r): Bill Wardekker, Julie Schollenberg, Aaron King, Joel Schollenberg, Melanie Miller, Rev. Bryan King and Rev. Ward Yunker.

WINNIPEG – August 2010 marks the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. While the media has moved on to other news, the hard work of restoration continues. During May 8-15, Rev. Ward Yunker, associate pastor of Peace Lutheran Church, led a team of six on a trip to New Orleans to participate in Katrina relief hands-on.

Camp Restore, The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod’s headquarters for hurricane relief, stands on what was once the campus of Prince of Peace Lutheran School in New Orleans East. Since 2006 it has welcomed Lutheran volunteers taking part in the recovery effort.

Joining Rev. Yunker were Peace members Joel Schollenberg, Julie Schollenberg, Aaron King and Bill Wardekker, along with Joel’s girlfriend Melanie Miller and Aaron’s father, Rev. Bryan King (St. Luke’s, Ottawa).

The team spent much of its time working on the New Orleans East home of George Singleton, who lives in a FEMA trailer in the house’s front yard while his wife and children live in Atlanta, Georgia. (The Singletons have been waiting to move back in for the past four years.) Team members painted two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a hallway and a living-room wall, installed tile and replaced rotten wood at the front and rear of the house.

In addition, the team worked with marsh plants that will be replanted as a first line of defence against future hurricanes—a task that’s more important than ever in light of the Gulf Coast oil spill.

Revs. Yunker and King conducted worship for the newly reconstituted Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in New Orleans, and team members served food at a local community centre. They all saw the reconstruction—and the destruction that remains—in uptown and downtown New Orleans, along the edge of the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain.

Camp Restore expects to remain open as long as the recovery effort continues. Members of Peace hope, God willing, to undertake a return trip to New Orleans, among other future mission projects. For more on Camp Restore, visit www.camprestore.org or call 504-242-2636.
From a report by Rev. Ward Yunker

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