Judson College freshman Taylor Stallworth said the photos she saw of Bayou La Batre after Hurricane Katrina didn’t do justice to what she saw when she got there.
“They had showed us pictures of the place before we went, but the reality was much worse,” said Stallworth, who recently served on a team of 17 students and three staff members from Judson who helped with cleanup in the coastal community. The trip was sponsored by Judson’s office of faith-based service and learning, a new grant funded office aimed at finding ways to link the college and community in service.
While in Bayou La Batre, the group moved debris from buildings to the roadside for pickup, helped complete a new roof on a house and removed soiled carpet and tiles from the basement of a local church. Government Street Baptist Church, Mobile, housed the team at the church’s Camp Christian in Theodore.
Mark Wilson, director of the office of faith-based service and learning, said Bayou La Batre residents were grateful for the team’s help.
“One person we helped was a 91-year-pld lady who had lived in the same house her entire life,” he said. After Katrina hit, the woman had four feet of water inside her house.
Stallworth said she was touched by the grief that one family was going through over their damaged house. “I was working on the roof at a house, and there were three children in the family,” she said.
“The little boy was probably 9. He kept coming outside where we were and telling us how much sand had been inside their house after the hurricane hit. They were sleeping in a tent in their backyard. That really got to me.”
(JC)
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