Andrew Genszler Director for Domestic Policy ELCA Washington Office

There are stretches of waterfront here with absolutely nothing. I know you’ve seen the photos. I know a large number of you have been here yourselves. I won’t describe further, other than to say that the physical “gone-ness” represents people and jobs and communities. Renewal here is not rebuilding houses and waterfront property only, but renovating lives and those things which need to go with it: medical and mental care, consistent employment, emergency services, a decent food supply. 

Katie Houck, LDR Director for the volunteers at Peace Lutheran Church, shows me around Slidell. There is a sense of activity and recovery here - although there is a long way to go. Katie Huener, LDR Coordinator at Camp Hope, tells me that the water receded and damage was revealed, fairly quickly. Many people want to work on their standing-but-battered housing, but must work with disaster agencies to make sure the home meets certain criteria for repair. I see a gutted Catholic Church used for informal housing with residents watched over by Jesus on the cross. 

Homes and Houses:
The water touched many neighborhoods, 5 miles inland and 22 feet high at its crest, but Katie Hauck reminds me of something I’ve heard often: poor neighborhoods have a much harder time organizing to rebuild. They cannot afford the exorbitant amount locally charged by unregulated contractors, and they are waiting for someone to help make their case for accountable, efficient relief from federal and state agencies. Urban poverty also reveals another complicating factor - most urban poor do not own their homes, they rent. I have heard a range of estimates that in New Orleans, only 30-40 percent of residents own the homes they are living in. They must continue to pay premium rents here in order to maintain a foothold in any housing market.

Big irony:
The sky opens up and absolutely hammers us with rain as we drive around. Katie tells me that it has only rained 3 times in her four months here, a season in which it usually rains once a day or at least every other day. It is so dry that the city has had a “burn-ban” on for several days. People watch the sky and are in the odd situation of most farmers I know, uttering the same prayer; “Dear Lord, send rain, but not too much…” The weather channel flashes from many local TVs now that hurricane season is back.

Curtis Smith, LDR Director for volunteer Camp Hope in Slidell, is standing on a truck bed with a stack of bottled water almost as tall as he is. It is hot and we both squint against the white gravel drive. I ask him what he is hearing. “The FEMA fraud thing is getting a lot of play,” he says, “but I think that is a case of a few bad apples.” So many more people are genuinely grateful and helped by that money. Several local staff within earshot agree. Some refused it altogether.

“It is a Jesus thing,” Curtis continues. “'From anyone who takes away your coat, do not withhold even your shirt' (Luke 6:29). Some abuse should not discourage program spending.” Maureen Armington agrees, “I made good use of Food Stamps, as both a survivor and as a volunteer here.” In fact the big-ticket fraud that people talk about more often is the multiple-layer contracts and sub-contracts that drive up the price of everything from building supplies to bottled water and groceries, and enrich the few positioned to take advantage of the situation.

Who can speak for those who are not heard to promote efficient, accountable spending?

Who can speak to Members of Congress about creative government/faith-based models for service?

Who can speak from a biblical mandate about God’s concern that rulers promote the common good?

YOU can!

In fact, because you are a Christian, you will recognize that the Bible addresses God’s concern for the poor as a central theme.

Readers respond…
I have received a number of responses from you all and I appreciate all of the interest in what the Church is doing in both advocacy and service. One reader suggested in pretty strong language that the moral response to the gulf coast should trump other debates currently engaged in by our Church.

“Where was the office months ago?” he asks. A good question.

A partial answer: The Church is responding in many different ways and has been since day one - service, case work, immediate relief, house rebuilding (different parts of the same body, according to St. Paul). Congress is now turning its attention to longer-term questions that will affect many, many lives and dollars. That is where we come in.

The gutted Catholic congregation has a sign in the back for entering worshippers which reads, “Silence." There is a time for silence in Church. But is time, past time, as the reader stated, to add the Church’s advocate voice to that great mix of grateful gifts already in action.

We could really use your help, and so could thousands of people along the Gulf Coast highway.

(“What can you do…please sign up at  www.elca.org/advocacy )

Sincerely,

Drew Genszler

The gutted inside of a Catholic Church in Slidell, used by various people for informal shelter.

A house in Slidell sustaining tree damage. This one will have to be torn down. Homeowners can choose to renovate if the structure meets certain building criteria.