Native American community rebuilds after storms
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Homeowner Mathilda Verrett and daughters Ivie and Hannah stand
in front of their Dulac, La., home, which was flooded by Hurricane Rita
in September 2005. Volunteers from around the country have been working
to restore her home and others in the mostly Native American community.
UMNS photos by Betty Backstrom.
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By Betty Backstrom*
Sept. 6, 2007 | DULAC, La. (UMNS)
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Volunteers climb the stairs to the new Dulac (La.) Community Center, rebuilt
with UMCOR funds.
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Mathilda Verrett enjoys the sounds of music amid the banging of hammers coming from her new kitchen each day.
A volunteer work team from Christ Community Church in Illinois sings a
cappella while installing cabinets for Verrett's home, which was
flooded during Hurricane Rita in September 2005.
"We'll break out into four-part harmony while we’re working. It's
fun," says high school senior Kevin Pittman. He has enjoyed serving
storm victims in southwest Louisiana, he says.
"It's really different down here. It's like another world. We took a
fan boat ride yesterday, which was one of the coolest experiences of my
life," he adds.
Pittman's group is one of more than 50 teams that have served through
the Dulac Substation, part of the United Methodist Committee On
Relief-sponsored Louisiana United Methodist Disaster Recovery Ministry.
"The volunteers are doing a good job," Verrett says. "This was my grandpa's house. We got four feet of water during Rita."
Rosalyn Dean, whose house was severely damaged by two and a half feet
of water, also lives in a family home, located in this marshy area of
southwest Louisiana.
"This house belonged to my mom and dad," she says. "After the storm,
we were trying to make all the repairs by ourselves. The Methodists were
visiting people in the area and asked us if we needed help. So we took
them up on their offer."
‘We’ll keep coming’
Jodi Smith, a volunteer from First United Methodist Church in Ottawa,
Kan., gets to use her skills as a professional painter as she puts a
fresh coat of paint on apartment walls. The apartment building is part
of the Dulac Community Center complex, which is a ministry of The United
Methodist Church's Louisiana Annual (regional) Conference.
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Jodi Smith, a volunteer from First United Methodist
Church in Ottawa, Kan.,
paints an apartment in the community center complex.
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"We'll keep coming so people can get their life back," Smith says.
"We've had five or six teams that have come to Louisiana so far. Our
church also has a team back in Kansas right now, helping with the
tornado disaster."
The Dulac Station, a substation of the Abbeville Disaster Recovery
Station, was opened in November 2006. "Since that time, close to 200
families in need have been identified for assistance. Of these cases,
UMCOR volunteers have already completed seven rebuilds and are currently
working on 25 homes," says John Paul McGuire, station manager.
A new community center building, paid for with UMCOR funding, houses
volunteers such as Jodi Smith who travel to this small, primarily Native
American community to help them rebuild from the devastation of
Hurricane Rita.
"Dulac is the first line of defense when storms come," says the Rev.
Kirby Verrett, pastor of Clanton Chapel United Methodist Church, just a
few hundred feet from the Dulac Community Center. "We are just south of
Houma, La., which would flood if this land weren’t here."
Dulac is home
Verrett, a member of the Houma Indian Nation (and not related to
Mathilda Verrett), praises the tenacity of the people who have lived in
this small fishing town for generations. "We have weathered many
hurricanes. People wonder why anyone would want to go through this
rebuilding process over and over. The bottom line is, Dulac is home for
them. This is their land, and people don’t want to give up what they
have."
Verrett adds that Clanton Chapel is doing well, even through there has been some loss of population after Hurricane Rita.
"Although some have moved as far up as Houma, they still come to
church here on Sundays. It's interesting that the Baptists rebuilt a
church further north, and a few others moved up. But Clanton Chapel
survived the storm, and we're staying right here."
*Backstrom is editor of Louisiana Now!, the newspaper of the United Methodist Church’s Louisiana Annual Conference.
News media contact: Kathy L. Gilbert, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
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Resources
Louisiana Conference
UMCOR Hurricanes 2005 Response
Rita Recovery
Katrina Church Recovery Appeal | 
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