20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and the Church of the Brethren response

By Jenn Dorsch-Messler

On Aug. 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina made landfall on the Gulf Coast as a Category 4 hurricane and became one of the most deadly and destructive storms on record. The record-breaking storm took the lives of over 1,400 people across multiple states and caused over $125 billion in estimated damage. The hurricane caused a storm surge that breached the New Orleans levee system in 50 locations, flooding 80 percent of the city with up to 15 feet of water and displacing tens of thousands of residents.

The storm brought to light significant inadequacies and changes needed in disaster preparedness, response, and recovery, as well as infrastructure and emergency management.

Twenty years later, Brethren Disaster Ministries remembers the impact, response, collaboration, innovation, and recovery on the Gulf Coast.

Our response included Children’s Disaster Services (CDS) volunteers deployed during two different time frames, and Brethren Disaster Ministries rebuilding volunteers served for four years to build back areas of Louisiana and Mississippi. The great need and service opportunities available sparked a surge of volunteers and supporters committed to serving those impacted, with many volunteers serving multiple times.

CDS responses

In just a little over a week after the hurricane, CDS began deploying volunteers to care for children in different locations under the leadership of coordinator Helen Stonesifer. From Sept. 7 through Oct. 27, 2005, 113 CDS volunteers served over 1,122 workdays in 14 different sites across the country—because survivors and evacuees had been scattered to many locations, some far from home. The volunteers cared for 2,749 children in that period of time.

A year and a half later, CDS caregivers served children and families in the “Welcome Home” center in New Orleans. From Jan. 3-Sept. 11, 2007, 61 volunteers cared for 2,097 children, putting in 933 working days.

CDS had a total of 4,846 child contacts related to Hurricane Katrina.

Rebuilding response

During a nearly six-year response to Hurricane Katrina, 5,737 Brethren Disaster Ministries rebuilding volunteers repaired or rebuilt homes for 531 families along the Gulf Coast. These volunteers served a total of 325,008 work hours, giving an estimated value of $6,776,416.80 in labor (2010 dollar value). Long-term disaster project leaders John and Mary Mueller oversaw this project for more than four years.