ATLANTA (ABP) — When Sonia St. Cyr survived Hurricane Katrina, she called it lucky. When she was flown out of the city during its aftermath, she called it unbelievable.
But when she arrived at a Maryville, Tenn., evacuee shelter and befriended members of Monte Vista Baptist Church — the church that would eventually restore her New Orleans home — she ran out of words.
“The church is like God's gift to the world,” she said. “Words cannot even begin to say. Not only have they helped my family, they've helped me. More than that, they've given me back life.”
St. Cyr has multiple sclerosis, which made it nearly impossible for her to repair her flooded house. She initially paid a contractor who never delivered services and ended up living in a FEMA trailer in her front yard. But when church members learned she was having trouble rebuilding her home in New Orleans, they stepped in to help.
Sue Wyatt, a longtime member of the church, summed up her philosophy on helping St. Cyr: “We feel that when God places people in our path that we want to be responsive to that.”
In six disaster-relief trips church members have taken to New Orleans, two have been to help St. Cyr and her family. Now other Baptists affiliated with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship are helping complete repairs to the house. A $5,000 donation from another Tennessee church — First Baptist Church in Murfreesboro — has also helped in the rebuilding process.
“The need was so great,” Wyatt said. “Their resources were drained. We felt these are our neighbors, and we're able to help.”
The St. Cyr house is one of 100 New Orleans homes CBF has committed to rebuilding over the next three years with an organization called Rebuilding Together.
“This is a beautiful story about CBF remaining the presence of Christ, long after the flood waters have receded and the first responders have moved out to the next disaster scene,” said Reid Doster, CBF of Louisiana's disaster-response coordinator.
According to Doster, more than 1,500 CBF workers have participated in Katrina relief work in Louisiana, and the need continues, particularly in Pearlington, Miss., where more than 80 percent of the community was destroyed.
Baptists were among the first to respond in Pearlington, and many of them hope to be the last to leave, said Charles Ray, the Fellowship's disaster-response coordinator.
“We do everything without expecting anything in return,” Ray said. “We believe this is what Christ would do.”
While CBF has responded to catastrophes before Katrina hit, the severity of destruction it caused prompted CBF to expand its disaster-response program in preparation for future disasters. Now, state CBF organizations in Louisiana, Mississippi and Florida have an inventory of response equipment, including trailers for communication and showering volunteers, and tools for clean up and rebuilding.
State and regional CBF organizations also now designate disaster-response coordinators, and Ray said he hopes many churches will name their own disaster-response coordinator. Future response efforts will be effective with a renewed commitment to work with other organizations like American Baptist Churches USA, Volunteers of America and the American Baptist Association, he said.
Meanwhile, both Ray and Doster anticipate Katrina recovery extending through the summer and perhaps years to come.
Katrina victims “need to know they haven't been forgotten,” Wyatt said. “It's not a time to give up on them.”
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