UMCOR Bright Spots

IN TODAY'S ISSUE
July 05, 2007

"Just Add Music" for Community Rebuilding
"We've Just Got to Get Help for Miss Levita"
This Week's Quote
Recovery Stats
Continuing Recovery in Pearlington (Slide Show)

"JUST ADD MUSIC" FOR COMMUNITY REBUILDING

By Susan J. Meister, Gulf Coast Communications

Rebuilding a community doesn't always require sheet rock, studs or roofing shingles. As retired California pastor Sargent Wright might say, sometimes you just need to add some music.

Wright and the Carmichael Kiwanis Club, Sacramento, Calif., partnered with Trent Strasborg and his Metarie, La., club, the Dawn Busters, to replace band instruments lost to Hurricane Katrina.

More than 100 band instruments were delivered to North Rampart Community Center in New Orleans in early June.
Susan Meister/UMCOR

"My own appreciation for music started with piano lessons at age six," Wright explained, and it continued through university, military service and church membership to the present. "School kids need the opportunity to experience musical appreciation in their lives," he said. "A school band adds spirit to the whole school."

Over 100 instruments delivered to New Orleans

In early June, Wright traveled to the North Rampart Street Community Center (formerly St. Mark's) in New Orleans to present 100 instruments collected in the Sacramento area. Later in the month, Keith Hart, band director at the KIPP School, tutored students on proper technique. KIPP--also known as the Knowledge Is Power Program--is a New Orleans charter school.

Young musicians practice technique under the direction of Keith Hart, band director at KIPP School.
Susan Meister/UMCOR

"At my ripe old age of 87, this project has been one of the blessed experiences of my life," Wright said. He plans to continue his support. As a half-time chaplain Sarge, as he is known, plays a golden coronet he has owned for more than 50 years.

The North Rampart Community Center is one of the National Mission Institutions of the General Board of Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church. An UMCOR grant was used to rehabilitate the facilities to provide space for volunteer teams and allow for the start-up of social service programs as the neighborhood revived. An active summer camp, including music lessons, is under way in 2007.

Louisiana United Methodist Disaster Recovery Ministry Executive Director Darrel Tate asked Marva Mitchell, former director for the Uptown Station and now associate pastor at Bethany UMC, to travel to California to personally thank the churches and Kiwanians for their help.

You can read media reports on the donation! Visit

The Sacramento Bee
New Orleans Times-Picayune
California Nevada Conference web site

The stations of the Louisiana United Methodist Disaster Recovery Ministry, including volunteers housed at North Rampart near the French Quarter, are helping families rebuild after the devastation of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. To volunteer or for more information, contact the Louisiana United Methodist Disaster Recovery Ministry.

For more on the United Methodist recovery work visit these web sites:
UMCOR (United Methodist Committee on Relief)
UM News Service
Mississippi Conference
Louisiana Conference
Texas Conference
Alabama-West Florida Conference

Our Work

Miss Levita says her dog, Scotty, is "boss" of the rebuilding work on her home in Ocean Springs.
Susan Meister/UMCOR

"WE'VE JUST GOT TO GET HELP FOR MISS LEVITA"

Tornadoes spawned by Hurricane Katrina uprooted huge pine trees in Ocean Springs, Miss., and damaged Miss Levita's mobile home. When she visited her physician after the storm, the doctor called St. Paul United Methodist Church and said, "We've just got to get help for Miss Levita."

Since then, with the help of several volunteer teams and case manager Vicki White of Mississippi United Methodist Katrina Response in Ocean Springs, the roof on the home has been repaired and new carpeting, linoleum and toilets have been installed. A youth team from Texas recently insulated under the home and cleaned the yard. A team from Michigan built two ramps - one to the home and one to the trailer.

Miss Levita loves meeting the volunteers who have helped her. She says that "her baby," dog Scotty, inspects all the work and meets the people. "When he comes around the corner, we joke 'here comes the boss!'" she laughed.

Miss Levita prepares meals despite challenges

Miss Levita has been in her FEMA trailer for 21 months. It is a small travel trailer and presents many day-to-day challenges. Miss Levita likes to cook, but can't do much in the trailer. The bathroom is so small, she ironically remarked that she can use the toilet and soak her feet in the tub at the same time.

But that doesn't stop this determined homeowner from cooking seafood gumbo, pork chops and other lunches for the volunteers.

"We make progress one step at a time," explained White. "The next step is to install tie down straps on her mobile home."

To help families in Ocean Springs and other locations along the Gulf Coast rebuild from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, contact the Mississippi United Methodist Katrina Response.

Mississippi United Methodist Katrina Response expected nearly 8,000 volunteers scheduled to come to help between March 1 and July 31

Power Point Slide Show DOWNLOAD
CONTINUING RECOVERY IN PEARLINGTON....
Download this slide and use in your Sunday morning announcements or mission minute