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March 11, 2009

PDA volunteer village near New Orleans closes

Luling camp that housed 3,500 makes room for one closer to city

by Bethany Furkin
Presbyterian News Service

FISH Camp in Luling, LA, opened in January 2006 at First Union Presbyterian Church. Since then, more than 3,500 volunteers have passed through.

LULING, LA — To the uninformed, the empty space outside First Union Presbyterian Church here might look like just that.

But to the group of church members and presbytery staff gathered March 7 — not to mention the countless volunteers and homeowners they served — the space is a storehouse of memories.

Open since January 2006, FISH (First in Service and Hope) Camp at First Union has housed more than 3,500 volunteers from all over the country who have come to the Gulf Coast to help with recovery efforts following Hurricane Katrina. FISH was a partnership between the church, the Presbytery of South Louisiana and Presbyterian Disaster Assistance.  

The camp closed not because recovery efforts are over, but because current needs are better served by another volunteer village closer to the Ninth Ward, St. Bernard and Gentilly areas of New Orleans. When the camp first opened, Luling, about 25 miles west of New Orleans, was as close as volunteers could get to the stricken city.

“You have had some of the best volunteers here, both in management and in work teams, that we have had in our system,” said John Robinson, national associate with PDA, at the camp’s closing ceremony. “I hope that in the future — under better circumstances than a storm — that we might be able to work together again.”

At capacity, FISH Camp could house 90 people, often made up of several church groups who had come to volunteer for a week at a time. They stayed in pods, small plastic shacks with cots inside. They showered in trailers. They ate as a group. And during the day, they went out to do the hammer-and-nails work essential to recovery.

At the ceremony, Alan Cutter, general presbyter of the Presbytery of South Louisiana, gave thanks for the “large empty space” where the camp once was.

Randy Ackley, coordinator of Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, presented First Union’s clerk of Session, Brad Thompson, with a commemorative plaque.

“When people’s homes were empty of human life, when people were dispersed into far-off places … this empty space became a refuge, a place of hope, a place of service,” he said, adding that volunteers used the space to enter into the empty spaces in people’s lives.

Cutter thanked God for allowing the volunteers, presbytery and church to be servants and for making scripture come alive by housing the homeless and feeding the hungry.

First Union is in St. Charles Parish, an area that had seen little damage from the hurricanes, making it able to provide support for those who had been affected. The church’s Session had made a commitment to support recovery efforts, so hosting a volunteer village seemed like a great way to get involved.

“’Why not us?’” said Brad Thompson, clerk of Session. “This place was really a great blessing to this church,” he said, adding that it helped forge relationships between members and volunteers near and far. Plus, “We all learned some new skills,” he said.

The first step of recovering a house — gutting — can be overwhelming, said Jean Marie Peacock, associate presbyter and head of congregational development and disaster recovery.

“This camp was a true light of hope in New Orleans, to see the blue shirts come and bring hope,” she said, referring to the bright blue shirts often worn by PDA volunteers. “The numbers of lives that have been touched is just extraordinary.”

The “empty space” where FISH Camp once stood.

As a sign of recognition and appreciation, PDA Coordinator Randy Ackley presented the congregation with a plaque bearing Matthew 25:40: “And the Lord will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’”
That scripture reflects the impact of the camp, Ackley said, adding that he has heard people talk more about what they have gained by volunteering than what they gave.

“That accomplishment of mission is just so clear,” he said. “How many people are back on their feet and moving forward that otherwise wouldn’t be?”