2009 Men's Mission Trip to Biloxi

Biloxi Team

The Biloxi Team: Phil Hopkins, Pastor Skip, Steve McGoldrick, Steven McGoldrick, Richard Tustin, Dean Wilkens, Andy Frazer John Evan,.

“We wouldn't have come back,
if y’all hadn’t come down to help us.”

Those were the words of an Ocean Springs resident when she realized why this group of Connecticut men were in Biloxi, MS.

We were enjoying a beautiful cool evening on the Gulf Coast last week. Our day had been filled with taping and mudding walls, priming and painting, tiling a bathroom floor, hanging doors, installing cabinets, and hooking up sinks. All of this in someone else’s house. After dinner we piled into the old green NYAC van and drove around some of the neighborhoods hardest hit by hurricane Katrina in August 2005. We saw houses that are abandoned and boarded up, houses that had been recently built or renovated, houses that had partial repairs but still need work. We marveled at the huge areas of open lots where houses and commercial buildings had once stood. The only sign of their one-time existence are the chilling “stairs to nowhere,” cement slabs, empty driveways, pipes and wires sticking out of the ground. All of this is a sad reminder of lively neighborhoods and thriving businesses that once filled this area. As we drove through the streets we waved at the folks sitting on their porch or standing in the yard talking with neighbors. We also pointed out to each other the houses that we had worked on in the past or were presently in the midst of repairing. We spotted FEMA trailers and MEMA cottages that are scheduled to be removed shortly.

Our path took us down by the Gulf, in front of the casinos and over the new bridge into Ocean Springs, just across the back bay. Once on the other side we located a favorite drive-in, Sonic. It is a great throwback to the 50’s—curb service with waitresses on roller skates—fun! We sat around the tables and enjoyed our various ice cream deserts, talking, laughing, relaxing and just enjoying ourselves in this culture that is foreign to us New Englanders. We happened to be here during the local election season. We had seen multitudes of yard signs and billboards everywhere, all shouting out the names of various politicians. That’s when two friendly ladies walked over to our tables. They had just come from a meeting with their candidate and were wearing campaign T-shirts and handing out, of all things, emery boards with “Vote for Connie Moran for Mayor.“ We all had a good laugh and some great jokes as they passed out their political emery boards to these eight working guys. They were disappointed when we told them that we would not be voting because we don’t live in Ocean Springs, but were from Connecticut. We talked for a while about their candidate, and about how Katrina had effected this side of the bay where they live. During the conversation one of our new friends realized that we were not professional builders, rather we were volunteers who had traveled from CT to MS to give our time and effort to those that needed help. When this realization hit her, her eyes filled with tears, her lip trembled she walked over to Pastor Skip and hugged him saying, “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” And then she stood back and said, “We wouldn’t have come back, if y’all hadn’t come down to help us.” At that moment she was speaking for the whole Gulf Coast region and thanking all of the volunteers, from across the country, who had left their homes and jobs to come here to clean up, repair, renovate, and rebuild. We found this same grateful attitude where ever we went, from so many different people.

Our week was filled with emotional highs and lows. We enjoyed the pride of a job well done and the satisfaction of completing our assignments, but we also realized the frustration of so much more that has to be done. We met new friends among the 100 Habitat For Humanity volunteers who shared the facilities at Seashore Assembly for the week. We enjoyed catching up with old friends at Hope Center: Brian, Jimmy, Rich, and Jim the director, and site managers. We were welcomed like returning family by our wonderful hosts at Seashore: Miss Ann and Art Steinway, Cathy and Joey. As always Loyce Searight was at the airport to greet us and set up our transportation. Pastor Robinson graciously welcomed us as we checked out the NYAC tool trailer behind St. Paul’s UMC.

The Lord even blessed us with wonderful weather. We had been warned that this time in the Spring would be muggy and buggy. Instead it was very comfortable with a constant breeze blowing the bugs away.

The Lord allowed this group of eight men to reach into the lives of hurting people, to use our skills, or lack thereof, to meet existing housing needs. Also, to show these residents that God loves them and He is using regular folks to carry out His will in the Gulf Coast area.

Pastor Skip

See more pictures of the 2009 mission trip HERE

Read the Blog HERE