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There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven:
a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build ...
– Ecclesiastes 3:1-3 (NIV)
Five stations housing six pods and three larger pods had to be constructed. Sewer, water and electricity had to be supplied to the site. The large community tent needed to be put up. Shower houses needed to be brought in, a kitchen built, laundry facilities built ... it seemed almost an impossible task, but we are reminded in Scripture that to everything there is a season.
In January 2006, just months after Hurricane Katrina made landfall in the Gulf Coast region causing the breaching of four of New Orleans protective levees (including the 17th Street Canal levee, the Industrial Canal levee, and the London Avenue Canal floodwall), Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA), in partnership with First Union Presbyterian Church in Luling, Louisiana, and the Presbytery of South Louisiana, opened FISH (First in Service and Hope) Camp.
PDA had set up Volunteer Villages in Mississippi, and there had been some initial discussions about setting up a Volunteer Village in New Orleans, but a suitable location had not been found. First Union seemed to fit the bill. We had ample space on our grounds, the Session had already made a commitment to the recovery efforts in New Orleans, and the church had easy access to New Orleans via the Hale Boggs Bridge. More importantly, as St. Charles Parish, where Luling is located, had suffered little damage, we were in a better condition to support such an endeavor.
The Presbyterian Volunteer Village at Luling is locally known as Fish Camp. Photo by David Barnhart, PDA
It has been three years plus 3,500 volunteers since the first volunteers — students and faculty from Austin College — arrived at FISH Camp. Now FISH Camp is coming down.
This doesn't mean the needs of recovery in New Orleans are complete. There are still needs, but PDA and the presbytery have partnered in opening Olive Tree Presbyterian Volunteer Village in one of our former church buildings, and this location provides both better facilities and easier access to where the current needs are — the Ninth Ward, St. Bernard, Gentilly.
The bones of FISH Camp are slowly being moved to the grounds of Trinity Presbyterian Church in Port Neches, Texas. As FISH Camp moves, our prayers go with it ... prayers for the folks who are Trinity Presbyterian Church — we pray that they will be blessed, as we were, by the volunteers who will come to be a part of their family as they live on their grounds, worship with them and fellowship with them; prayers for those volunteers who give of their time, talents and skills in bringing the compassion and the hope of Jesus in the midst of chaos; and prayers for those who continue to suffer the ravages of the winds and waters of Ike. Lord, make it a season of healing.
The Reverend Lisa Lani Easterling
First Union Presbyterian Church, Luling, Louisiana |
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