Katrina danced with Louisiana

Hey everyone!
So it has been awhile since an update for a few reasons, part of it is because I was waiting to get some things rolling but since some of those elipitcal objects have begun, I will elaborate for you what I'm up to:

I finished the School of Photography I was doing in Hawaii about three weeks ago on March 26th.
That night myself and two fellow photography students, Jim and Cliff, flew out of Kona Hawaii and enjoyed some non-existent airplane food as one last hurrah before we departed ways in Phoenix. From there I ended up in New Orleans Louisiana.

Let me tell you a little about why I'm in New Orleans before I tell you what I'm doing...

The summer before Hurricane Katrina hit I ended up going down south to Baton Rouge for a Christian youth conference and it rocked my world. Basically, at that point, I fell in love with the south, and specifically with Louisiana.

And then, a few months after, the Hurricane's hit. First Katrina, then Rita.
And suddenly, for whatever reason, it became very real to me. The tsunami had hit eastern Asia just shortly before, and natural disasters had ravaged many a countryside and destroyed many a life previously throughout my 17 year existence, but this one, this devastation, came alive. It was unfathomable to me that life just continued in the United States 'as normal' when such an incredible blow to our kinsmen had just been dealt. I was glued to the news. I'd come home from cross country practice and watch the TV and get online and read the news and find out any and everything I could about what was going on in Louisiana.
I could. not. take it.
It ate at me, gnawing and provoking me.
I announced at dinner to my parents one night, that although I was in the beginning of my senior year, captain of the cross country team and making headway on my senior project, I had counted the cost and was willing to enroll in summer school to get my GED, because the pain that was happening only a few days drive away had become unbearable to me and I had to go help. There really wasn't an option any more. I had to go.

Now, parents have a way with wisdom and timing and all that organizational-planning stuff they do, and told me to buckle down a little [go figure!]. However, my Dad was feeling the pull too, and we eventually summoned a team of about 10 people from Cornerstone Community Church in Pullman that headed down to the New Orleans area to do relief work in January of 2007, four months after the hurricanes.
Let me tell you, it was a phenomenal sight.

It seemed [but not just seemed, nearly quite was] as though the only difference in four months from the days the hurricanes hit until then, was that the flood waters had receded and people had piled up all of their [now destroyed by water] belongings into huge piles 8 feet high in front of their homes. A few FEMA trailers had been sparsely distributed but there were still fields that went for miles and miles, full of trailers that would never be used due to ridiculous laws and simply unfulfilled words.

It was a good time, we gutted homes and heard stories, discovered devastation and renewed hope.
But part of me was left there and I desired to go back, knowing that there was still incredible need.

And that brings us to today.
Pursuing my options for after my time in Hawaii was complete, New Orleans popped back up into my mind and so I sent a brief email to some friends that had ended up moving down there after having gone on that trip with me in January. They responded that there was a need for me to come help in the relief work they were doing, and in about a week everything fell in place, me taking that as a sign that God wanted me to get through that door! So away I went!

So basically here's what's what:
I moved down here to the suburbs of New Orleans at the end of March and I live in an RV in the back of a church parking lot.
The church has become a hub for Compassion ministries since the hurricanes, and more specifically, EFCA Crisis Response.
I am a cook.
Sometimes the days begin with cooking at 5:30am and don't end until 9 or 10pm. Usually it's only from 11am until 9pm however. Generally not any less than 40 hours a week [ideally I get a few days off].
I travel into the city on Mondays and help their inner city extension cook dinner, and head down there whenever else they need extra help.
There are missions teams that come through weekly from all over the country to help rebuild homes in the New Orleans area. They are housed at the church [imagine 60 guys sleeping on the floor of the church sanctuary and the women overtaking the youth room, makeshift shower buildings and two washers and dryers, and a normal kitchen with two normal sized ovens and a normal sized sink - they have transformed the normal with God's grace to be able to handle an extraordinary amount of traffic].
I have joined two other amazing women that cook for these teams as well as for the staff that happens to be around.

So with that said, it's a busy time, and a great time and I'm enjoying being able to meet the need they have for kitchen help and am thankful to be here - God has shown me much in the past three weeks that I'm quickly noting are solid foundations.

So that is where I am and what I'm doing! I'm in the process of applying to be on staff with EFCA Crisis Response for a little while, and am a cookin machine livin in an RV. :)


If you'd like to help me out financially, I'd love for you to be able to do so. There is a PayPal link set up here: LINK
[If you're uncomfortable with PayPal, you can do the snail-mail thing here: PO Box 974, Pullman WA 99163-0974]

If you'd like to find more out about the EFCA Crisis Response that I'm with here in New Orleans, follow this link: LINK


Much love
Kaarin