New Year Brings New Hope, Continuing Struggle for the Gulf Coast

Child and a member of the UU Congregation of Marblehead work to repair a home

Mary Gardner, Jim VanderWeele inside Community Church

Wendy vonZirpolo with NOLA resident

(January 2007) Sixteen months after Hurricane Katrina devastated the U.S. Gulf Coast, the destruction in New Orleans still remains the dominant theme of the landscape. The recovery effort has progressed, people have started to move back to their forever-changed cities, but still, there's so much to be done.

Unitarian Universalists continue to flock to the Gulf Coast to offer aid—youth groups on school vacation, collections of adults offering a variety of skills and a lot of dedication—all of them willing to do whatever's needed. They come to help Unitarian Universalists and folks from many other religions, all of them united in the loss experienced when Katrina slammed the coastline in September 2005.

Rev. Wendy von Zirpolo, minister of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Marblehead, Massachusetts , has become one of the Jazz City's missionaries. She's made eight visits to New Orleans and the Gulf area, beginning in October 2005 with UU social worker and Unitarian Universalist Association Thomas Jefferson District Executive Annette Marquis. She returned in November with a van loaded with donations of musical instruments for schools, supplies for displaced Unitarian Universalist congregations, and sleeves rolled up to help. She accompanied youth members of her former congregation (in Winchester, Massachusetts) to New Orleans for cleanup work in February. Last week, she was thrilled to join members of her current congregation in Marblehead, Massachusetts for a relief trip to New Orleans. A group of nine members of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Marblehead (UUCM), along with UUA Moderator Gini Courter and Rev. Charlotte Cowtan, Interim Minister of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Brooklyn, New York, traveled on December 26 to add their efforts to the restoration of New Orleans. 

"It's so important that we be there—as human beings, as people of faith, as Unitarian Universalists," said von Zirpolo. "If we profess to seek Beloved Community in our world then we need to show up, ask what help looks like, and get busy. What I'm encouraged by is the continuing Unitarian Universalist presence here. People of all ages keep arriving. Last month I visited three young adults who had put college on hold to volunteer here. In February UUCM is sending another group down that includes teens, adults and seniors. One man is in his 80s. UUs are arriving because they want to help and because this experience is central to who we are as a people of faith. Unitarian Universalism calls us to show up."

The UUCM group encountered surprises in New Orleans' St. Bernard Parish. Comments posted anonymously on the congregation's blog show members' reactions to the ruin they discovered. One person wrote, "The vastness of the devastation—you hear about it, and see it on television, but it's more than that," said one congregation member. "A dead dog by the side of the road. I mean, dogs die in Massachusetts, too, but there's something about seeing a dead dog here that brings it all back." Another member said, "I met a fourth grade girl and I asked her about school. She said she was bored, that all they do is color all day. They don't have text books, or any supplies other than crayons. They say the schools are open, but…"

"The spirit of the people I have met is what makes me hopeful," commented another congregation member. Volunteers come to the Gulf Coast for a day or a week; some arrive for a week and are still here a year later. Von Zirpolo observed, "Each person has his or her own story, each person is changed for having arrived. And all seem grateful for this opportunity."

UUCM member Anthony Silva reports, "The drama lives on and so does the pain. It's evident everywhere you look." Yet even those who have lost their homes and all their possessions believe there is still hope. "Children play in the street," Silva said. "Volunteers from all the country are here working on homes and helping. And the 'thank you's' are everywhere: from car windows as people drive by, from neighbors, and most emotionally, from the owners of the homes who are simply trying to hold their lives together."

The residents of New Orleans still have hope that the lives of the Jazz City's residents will improve: "It'll take time but it'll come back," an elderly resident told Silva. "Help those who need it. Help the elderly, who can't do it themselves," said the man who had lost his home and one of his pets in the flood.

Hope, and faith, can get you far in New Orleans. Aided by Unitarian Universalists who've given their love, time, and talent to this important work, the true meaning of the holidays shines through the dust and destruction.

Further reflections from the Marblehead team are on the UUCM website . Wendy von Zirpolo, Anthony Silva, and Gini Courter contributed to this report. Photos by Wendy von Zirpolo and Gini Courter.

Volunteer coordination to support Unitarian Universalist Association-Unitarian Universalist Service Committee Gulf Coast Relief Fund projects is managed by the Unitarian Church of Baton Rouge, Louisiana . For further information please contact Reverend Marilee Baccich .

Media Coverage :

• 12/14/06: "UU Church Still Helping Katrina Victims," Marblehead Reporter

Make a donation to the UUA-UUSC Gulf Coast Relief Fund.

Gulf Coast Relief Home

Unitarian Universalist Association
25 Beacon St. | Boston, MA 02108 | 617-742-2100