After months of responding to cries for help in New Orleans’ devastated Zone 6, Alabama Baptists are finding their work there is wrapping up.
The zone — a 2-mile-by-5-mile area of Orleans Parish that they partnered with after Hurricane Katrina — is more than 90 percent complete as far as rebuilding projects go, said Gary Walker, Alabama Baptists’ project manager for the rebuilding work in Zone 6.
“There are abandoned houses still there, but those will either never be rebuilt or there are problems with the title or something else,” said Walker, who works with the North American Mission Board’s (NAMB) Operation New Orleans Area Homes (NOAH) Rebuild.
All of the homeowners who applied for construction work when Walker arrived in New Orleans in early 2007 have seen their projects completed, he said.
“I have literally run out of homeowners that we can help without going back and opening up our database and adding new people to it,” Walker said.
So Tommy Puckett, Alabama Baptist disaster relief director, said he, Walker and other NOAH leaders have decided to funnel Alabama’s construction volunteers into areas with large numbers of work orders still pending.
As a result:
• Walker will wrap up his work in Zone 6 by July 31,
• finishing up construction work at First Baptist Church, Chalmette, La., will be the target project for Alabama Baptist volunteers and
• any volunteers interested in working on homes will be directed through NOAH to St. Bernard Parish.
“We haven’t pulled up stakes and left. We’re pulling them up and moving them across town to let our people see, here’s another community that needs help,” Puckett said. “We’re not ending our partnership with New Orleans; we’re redefining it.”
And First, Chalmette, is thankful for the help.
“Alabama Baptists can be some of God’s provision for us,” Senior Pastor John Dee Jeffries said.
Numerous volunteers have worked on the church’s new facility since Katrina, but until it is completed, the church will continue to meet in a nearby high school’s cafeteria with no space for a nursery.
“We’re excited to put this project on the front burner,” Puckett said. “The church is becoming a lighthouse in the community and will see a phenomenal leap in ministry if they have the capacity to minister effectively to families with children.”
So far, NOAH-led efforts have helped rebuild five churches with 18 still in progress. More than 22,000 volunteers have helped 1,350 people move back into their homes, rebuilding 144 and doing repairs on others, according to Mickey Caison, adult volunteer mobilization team leader with NAMB.
NOAH still has 214 applications in hand for projects and is asking for more volunteers — especially skilled ones like electricians, plumbers and carpenters, he said.
“We’re hoping to draw in enough to finish well — it’s been successful so far,” Caison said. “Alabama’s been in the thick of it. The state has done a great job supporting the construction. Tommy and the volunteers have been just super in helping whenever there was a need, which is historically what Alabama has done.”
The Baptist Association of Greater New Orleans is considering plans to take over the rebuilding and repair effort after NOAH wraps up in August 2009. Caison noted long-range plans also include a continued partnership with the Baptist Crossroads Project, which is building new homes with New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity and other local groups.
And even though construction work is ending in Zone 6, Puckett noted that Alabama Baptists’ ministry there isn’t. For instance, the associations that partnered with specific homeowners will still be working on those houses and Alabama Woman’s Missionary Union (WMU) will still be conducting prayer walks there.
Candace McIntosh, Alabama WMU executive director, said state Baptists continue to respond well to the prayer ministry effort. “We look forward to continuing to pray with those we have developed relationships with in Zone 6 and expanding this ministry,” she said.
For information about the next prayer walk, scheduled for Oct. 9–11, e-mail Pat Ingram at pingram@alsbom.org. For more information about helping First, Chalmette, or St. Bernard Parish, call Puckett’s office at 1-800-264-1225, Ext. 229.
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