The group that finished their house started working on flooring. They had a lot of fun and learned a lot. A lot was accomplished in Biloxi, and we are all remembering how much of an impact we had on the people and the Habitat for Humanity workers. Many of our house coordinators were impressed with all of our work. Tears were shed when we left. It was a very emotional experience, but also very positive.

Now, many of us want to fix things around where we live because we have learned so much. A date has already been set for next year’s trip. Many people also have the urge to return in the summer despite the heat.

We will keep in contact with the volunteers from Habitat for Humanity to see the progression of the houses and find out when the homeowners are moving in. We have grown together as a group. We want to let everyone know that the Gulf Coast is still in need.

This experience will never be forgotten. We thank you all for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers. Until we return to Biloxi, we have Habitat for Humanity projects to do right here in Ventura County.

Our group has become very flexible with jobs. Bart, our Habitat for humanity leader, often sends us out to do small jobs at different houses. CLU students Christine and Jessica organized the Habitat for Humanity sheds with tools and supplies, while Nicole helped an elderly gentlemen and Roseanna and I worked on a cement house.

We are also doing things besides work. For our meals, breakfast starts at 6:30 – this is earlier than any college student would ever get up. The alarm is set for 6:20, which means out of bed at 6:25 and stumble into breakfast right at 6:30. There are no pancakes, waffles or French toast. It is southern breakfast – eggs on muffins, English muffins, bagels, eggs, and a lot of egg sandwich stuff. Nobody is too fond of the breakfasts, but it works.

The Salvation Army provides lunch at Yankee Stadium in Biloxi. This is close to our work site, so we don’t have to pack a lunch. Those meals have been good -- sandwiches, mashed potatoes and meatballs, rice, and always chips and candy bars. Miller provides our water: Some of the adults were hoping that it would be beer, but it’s just water. There has also been a volleyball net and soccer goals put up, so some people have been playing soccer. Yankee Stadium is just like a high school stadium with a track and football field/soccer field. However, I don’t know exactly what it use to be for in Biloxi.

Work gets done around 5, so some people can take showers before dinner and some people take showers after dinner or even later. Dinner is at 6. We’ve had ribs, roast beef, chicken, vegetables, bread, salad, and sometimes desserts. The food isn’t what we are used to at home. But, we are getting used to it.

We went to dinner tonight at Bethel Lutheran Church where we saw a couple of people that we met last year. Following dinner was a worship service that we attended. Then, we got a treat -- tubs of ice cream to bring back.

We are all having a great time here in Biloxi. We are working as hard as we can to keep these houses on schedule.

Tomorrow we will be putting the final siding on the house. The owners are really excited. George, who is 24, is one of the owners and he has helped us rebuild. He works from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., then he sleeps for about four hours before working on the house. We accidentally turned off the water while he was taking his shower, oops!

We are preparing to put insulation in the house, and there
is also plumbing work being done. For the side of the house we are measuring the OSB boards, 8’X6’X.5” boards, cutting, testing to see if they fit, and then measuring and cutting again! The boards are then glued on and nailed on by a nail gun. The majority of us have used the nail gun and
every one has been excited, it is great.

George noted how dark it was getting in the house because of all of the boards being put up. We have made a lot of progress, and it is amazing to see the improvements.

The next two houses are working on insulation and dry wall. One of the houses got dry wall and insulation on Saturday. We have a tool that lifts up the dry wall and holds it in place to screw it into the ceiling. The owners are really excited. However, the group leader wasn’t too sure
about the group at first: it is comprised of seven girls and two guys. After two days, the leader is impressed. He never thought they would have gotten as far as they have.
These ladies have done such a great job. All of them have been working hard, trying new things, and doing as much as they can.

We have a great group of volunteers from CLU. The whole Habitat crew is grateful to have us here. We are all tired, but excited to get back on the work site tomorrow. There have not been any severe injuries except a few scrapes and minor cuts, but nothing bad.

The group is bonding well and having a lot of fun. I am excited to see the group grow and work together for the rest of the week.

Peace,
Brad Doty

After church we headed across I90 to Gulfport, Bay St. Louis, and Waveland. The bridges are still out and it was amazing to see the Gulf again after a year. The big questions we all had were: What has changed, were properties cleared, and were houses rebuilt?

Most properties have been cleared of debris, but almost none of the houses have been rebuilt. The houses that had been finished have people living in them. But, there are not many considering 95 percent of the houses were leveled to the ground.

We met a couple on our drive who came back to Gulfport/Bay St. Louis area to at what used to be their condo. They owned a condo on the fourth floor of a seven story building on the Gulf. There was no trace of any of their possessions. They also had a house in New Orleans that they were living in, but the flooding ruined that house. They had to completely muck it out and start over with just the frames. Talk about devastating!

We returned to the same neighborhood in Waveland that we had seen last year. That neighborhood that once had huge, expensive houses was gone with only the trees standing! None of the houses were rebuilt, but there was construction going on. A couple of the houses that we saw had signs saying how much they hated State Farm. One of the construction workers lived in the area told us that there was 25-30 feet of water in the neighborhood. He also told us that these houses were very nice two-story houses with carriage houses in the back from the olden days. These houses were old, mostly remodeled, expensive, and very nice. Waveland eve lost the city hall, and the only market in town was operating out of two different tents.

Back in Biloxi, we went back to the neighborhood we worked in last year. We first went to Anita’s house and left her a note. We then walked to Beverly’s house that was built by her dad about 60 years ago. Beverly was there and we took a tour of her finished house that she was living in. The kitchen, two bathrooms, family room, living room, and entrance were finished. All the rooms are small compared to the houses most of us live in but it is very nice.

The group then removed a fallen tree from her yard: She was so surprised and thankful that we did that. We then headed over to Darlene and Jerry’s house. They were mostly done except for small things. They were happy to have gotten rid of their FEMA trailer in August 2006!

We were overwhelmed with joy to see our work completed and the owners living in their houses and able to return back to their normal lives! Everyone had a lot to say tonight in our small group discussions about the past two days. Everyone is disappointed in the government for their lack of support to these areas. They were also concerned because the people who are rebuilding their houses are the rich. The poor are unable to rebuild because they lost everything and don’t have the money to do anything. Since

the government has virtually checked out, the churches and religious groups have stayed to rebuild the remaining homes. Bart Tucker, our Habitat for Humanity leader, told us that only 25% of the houses have been rebuilt!

That is devastating to hear. We are here to increase that number. Tomorrow we will return to our work sites and continue to rebuild the houses in Biloxi!

I can’t believe that I am back here being able to help

rebuild houses again. It is truly an amazing experience that I will never forget. You can’t experience what we have seen today by pictures, video or stories. You have to be here and see it for yourself.

We, the 28 CLU students and adults, are here to help rebuild and spread joy to the citizens of Biloxi. We couldn’t imagine being anywhere else. It is going to be a great week and we are looking forward to working the rest of the week. Hopefully the rain has passed, it rained a lot today, but it was fine because we were in the cars most of the day. God does amazing work in this area. Well, it is time to rest and get ready for a busy day.

We completed our first day of work here at Biloxi. Our group of 28 people from Cal Lutheran split into groups and went to three different houses. However, there are five houses being done by Habitat for Humanity. We were reunited with many of the Habitat people that we worked with last year.

Two of the houses are getting insulation and dry wall, while the third house is getting sideboards. We are learning how to use tools that we’ve never used before -- nail guns, electric saws, and much more.

The owner of the sidewall house owns two other houses in the neighborhood. Only one is being repaired at the moment. The house next door will be demolished because the family member died and it has not been touched since it got mucked out. There is lots of mold. George, the owner of the house we are working on, and his godmother were in the house during the storm. The godmother was floating on a mattress while the George was trying to help. He ended up swimming about five houses down three times while there was seven feet of water running through the neighborhood.

Many of the CLU students have already been impacted by the work they have done, the houses they have seen, and by the stories they have heard. There is a lot more work to be done even though we have accomplished so much already. It was a successful first day, and we are all tired and ready to rest up for tomorrow.

Sunday, we will attend church services. We will tour the areas we worked in last year and visit Waveland which was completely devastated by the 2005 hurricanes. We are all looking forward to talking to the owners of the houses we worked on last year.

On Jan. 5, 2007, 28 students and staff left California to lend helping hands to the still-struggling Gulf Coast community for seven days. Led by the Rev. Melissa Maxwell-Doherty, campus pastor at CLU, and Kirstine Odegard, coordinator of the CLU Community Service Center, many of the workers are returning to continue work that was started a year ago. With direction from Habitat from Humanity, the crew will work on some of the tens of thousands of houses that were destroyed in Katrina's path.

Tens of thousands of houses were destroyed when Katrina ravaged communities along the Gulf Coast of Mississippi. The homes that are salvageable must be stripped down to the frame, dried out, and rebuilt.

The idea to go to the Gulf Coast during January actually came from a CLU alumnus who contacted Biloxi churches following the vicious storm last fall. Believing the best way to help the victims of Katrina was through a direct connection, Mark Storer ’89, a member of Westlake Lutheran Church, used the Internet to find people in need.

When he shared the needs of the people with his own congregation, the response was phenomenal. Within two weeks, they had shipped thousands of pounds of goods and food. Friendships via phone flourished, and Storer continued to coordinate projects to “keep the people of Biloxi in the forefront of everyone’s minds.”

When news of Katrina’s devastation reached the Rev. Melissa Maxwell–Doherty, campus pastor at CLU, she knew it would be a perfect project for the CLU students. With help from Kirstine Odegard, coordinator of the CLU Community Service Center, they planned a trip to the Gulf Coast. To help supplement the cost, Westlake Lutheran Church provided funds and supplies.

Once in the coastal city – which was one of the areas hardest hit by Hurricane Katrina – CLU volunteers stayed in one of the many “tent cities” and worked from sun up to sun down. Bethel Lutheran Church served as a base, where hundreds of other volunteers are housed, fed and dispatched to the reconstruction projects. A Web site, (http://ww2.clunet.edu/news/biloxi/) which was maintained daily to include photos and daily journal entries, provides a glimpse of the devastated cities along the Gulf Coast.

Despite the loss, most of the people say, "At least we are alive." The spirit and appreciation of the people and the progress made on the houses had a positive impact on the CLU students. The desire to return to help is called the "Biloxi Boomerang" because one can't help but want to come back to help the victims off Hurricane Katrina.

“It may be hard for a lot of us to come back,” said Brad Doty, a sophomore from San Diego. “But we would certainly like to return to see these people living in their homes rather than in their FEMA trailers and tents.”

In the spring, a group of CLU students will join students from several other colleges and universities around the country to continue assisting hurricane victims.

Our group and the crew from Habitat for Humanity finished the roofing on one house, the flooring and windows in another, the first coat of mudding (pasting the drywall together) in another house, putting in windows in one more, taking off the ceiling in another, and finally working on a floor in a house that was consumed with mold. Most of the houses smell of mold because they were filled with water for days after the hurricane passed through. Nothing was salvageable in these houses which were "mucked out" (removal of all the waterlogged materials) in September by some of the same Habitat workers who are here now.

It has been hard working the last couple of days. But, it is incredible to see the progress. There is still so much left to do –– not only in Biloxi but all along the Gulf Coast where neighborhoods were completely wiped out. Despite the devastation, most of the people will tell you, "At least we are alive...and we'll come back strong."

Most of us really would like to stay here and work some more. But, unfortunately we are leaving on Thursday.

Our hearts go out to every person here. It will be hard for a lot of us to come back...but we would certainly like to return to see these people living in their homes rather than in their FEMA trailers and tents.

I think we have all learned so much about life and humanity by working here. We will tour New Orleans before flying back to California on Thursday afternoon. We will have so many stories to tell you when we get home.
Brad Doty

By midday, I had rejoined the CLU crew as they worked on five houses in East Biloxi where hundreds of homes were destroyed when the waters from the Gulf met waters from Back Bay. We worked on Glenda and Jerry's home again today. They endured the six hours in the attic as water rose in their one–story home. They have been helping with the rebuild, and were happy to prepare for us a massive lunch on their patio...the only area of their home that is not under construction.

Across the street, Darlene and JD were not as fortunate. Though they left their home, with boards on the windows the night before Katrina hit, their belongings and their house were completely destroyed when water reached their attic, washing away everything from jewelry to irreplaceable photos. Darlene was so appreciative and ready to work alongside the volunteers. She gave me a tour of her FEMA trailer –– a 32 by 8 compact home that houses her, her husband and two children. "We have this for 18 months, but I really can't wait to be back in my house." She admitted that despite her smiles and hope...she does cry at times when she thinks about how they lost everything, except for two days of clothing and two cats. "But, we have our lives," she reassures herself. "We will come back and our neighbors will come back."

Aneesha, who turned 8 years old yesterday, greeted some of us in the street today. She showed us where her home used to be. She now lives with her grandmother who is having her home rebuilt.

There are so many stories to tell. We listen and we try to imagine what it must be like to fear for your life or to run for your life only to return to find that you have nothing left. As one CLU student put it, you can't really know how it feels, but you can get some idea when you see a house sitting on a railroad track and parts of houses in the trees. It begins to sink in when you see mile after mile after mile of this scenario.

It has been an amazing trip so far. I have learned so much, and I wouldn't want to be anywhere else than here right now to help all of these people in need.

Brad Doty

As we worked on the roofs and inside the homes, we were welcomed by the owners who are camping in trailers outside. And, their neighbors came by to say "God Bless ya'll" and "thank y'all, we appreciate you" even though their homes are still in shambles or completely gone. Everyone seems to have hope that they will rebuild their lives.

On Tuesday, we will return to finish working on those four houses –– putting in windows, drywall, new floors and shingles. Everyone has learned a new skill as well as something new about the spirit of giving...and receiving.

There are groups of people from all over the country who have come to help. There are tent cities everywhere (big circus tents) –– some housing volunteers, others housing the displaced. Some plots of land, where broken houses still stand, have small trailers or tents in front where the families are able to at least live on their property.

At Bethel Lutheran, where we take our meals and get our assignments, we are with groups of people from Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Georgia and Virginia. Many have returned to help, bringing new people and more supplies with them. The desire to return to help is called the "Biloxi Boomerang" –– one can't help but want to come back to help these people. It will take years to rebuild these communities. But, the spirit of rebuilding –– lives and buildings –– is very much alive.

Although the idea of alternative holiday breaks isn’t a new concept at CLU, the idea to go to the Gulf Coast during January actually came from a CLU alumnus who contacted Biloxi churches following the vicious storm last fall. Believing the best way to help the victims of Katrina was through a direct connection, Mark Storer ’89, a member of Westlake Lutheran Church, used the Internet (www.reliefconnections.org) to find local churches in need.

I couldn’t go myself to help, but I wanted to do all that I could for the people in the devastated Gulf Coast, explains Storer. When he shared the needs of the people at Beauvoir United Methodist and Bethel Lutheran Church in Biloxi with his own congregation in Westlake Village, the response was phenomenal. Within two weeks, they had shipped 5,000 pounds of goods, followed by 35,000 pounds of food from a pasta company that found out about their direct efforts. Friendships via phone flourished, and Storer continued to coordinate projects to “keep the people of Biloxi in the forefront of everyone’s minds.”

When news of the Katrina’s devastation reached the Rev. Melissa Maxwell–Doherty, campus pastor at CLU, she knew it would be a perfect project for the CLU students. With help from Kirstine Odegard, coordinator of the CLU Community Service Center, she began planning a spring trip to the Gulf Coast. However, when Storer approached her with a request to provide much–needed help sooner, they began working with the CLU alumnus and members of Bethel Lutheran Church to plan the January trip.

“I am honored to be a part of this effort and proud that students from my alma mater are actually going to Biloxi to help,” explains Storer who hopes to go to Biloxi to help later this year.

In support of the students’ willingness to forego part of their holiday break, Westlake Lutheran Church has provided funds and supplies to assist the students in their efforts to reach out to the citizens of Biloxi. Once in the coastal city – which was one of the areas hardest hit by Hurricane Katrina – volunteers will help build new housing and assist in a variety of other services.

Members of the Westlake Village congregation have given frequent flyer miles, gloves, socks, jeans and lots of encouragement, says Maxwell–Doherty who will accompany the students to Mississippi.

Alternative breaks, coordinated through CLU’s Community Service Center and the Office of Campus Ministry, are gaining popularity among a generation of young people who want to give back, according to Odegard, who will also accompany the students to Biloxi. Last spring, she accompanied 20 CLU students to Dominican Republic to provide an English learning curriculum to children in an orphanage on the Haitian border.

Other students have found their own service projects to occupy their vacation time. Last year, Rosalyn Sayer, 20, who will participate in the Biloxi project, traveled independently to South America to provide medical assistance to children. “I feel compelled to volunteer,” says Sayer, a sophomore from Lake Arrowhead.

The CLU students are prepared to do whatever it takes to help the citizens of Biloxi. “It could be anything from tearing down old buildings and putting in new floors to cooking meals and cleaning debris from yards,” says Brad Doty, a sophomore and seasoned volunteer from San Diego.

In the spring, a group of CLU students will be joining students from several other colleges and universities around the country to assist victims of Hurricane Wilma in Florida. The spring trip has been supplemented by funds from Thrivent Financial for Lutherans.

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