Louisiana youth help tornado victims

Youth group members from First United Methodist Church in Baton Rouge have been in the area this past week helping make repairs to homes in Phil Campbell, East Franklin, Hackleburg and Hodges.

Teenagers across the country have been counting down the days since January, expectantly awaiting the time when they would be out of school and be able to finally enjoy their summer break.

Many of these students have had plans in place for months as to how they would spend those precious summer days when they didn’t have to learn about algebraic equations or read “Beowulf” for the fifth time.

But one group of high school- and college-age teenagers from Baton Rouge, La., decided to put their summer plans on the back burner for a little while and do something to help their neighbors in tornado-stricken areas of Alabama instead.

The youth group from First United Methodist Church in Baton Rouge has been camped out in the Ministry Center at First United Methodist Church in Russellville this past week while they’ve been diligently working to repair homes in Phil Campbell, East Franklin, Hackleburg and Hodges.

Youth Minister George Ragsdale said they hope to have worked on six to seven homes by the time they have to pull out this weekend and head back home.

“After the tornadoes came through Alabama, I was watching the coverage on the Weather Channel and on other news stations of just the destruction and devastation in Tuscaloosa and Birmingham,” Ragsdale said. “That Sunday at church, one of our students asked if we could go help in those two cities so I started checking into it to see where we could be needed.”

Ragsdale said he found out cities like Tuscaloosa and Birmingham, who received lots of news coverage, were flooded with volunteers, so there wouldn’t be much for his youth group to do. At that point, Ragsdale said he turned to the United Methodist Church community to see where they could be put to good use.

“I found out that many of the outlying communities of these big cities weren’t receiving as much support and could still use volunteers,” Ragsdale said. “They said Phil Campbell and Hackleburg really needed help so that’s where we decided to come.”

The group from Baton Rouge said they understood first-hand what it’s like to be in the midst of a disaster situation. When Hurricane Katrina wreaked havoc in southern Louisiana in 2005, at least 200,000 residents from New Orleans sought refuge in the city of Baton Rouge.

FUMC Baton Rouge spent days upon days helping the hurricane victims through Project NOAH (New Orleans Area Hope), which they established to help minister to and rebuild houses for those in need. They sent mailers out all over the South soliciting help for their project and they received several responses from churches in Alabama.

“We had 11 churches from North Alabama that responded to our need for aid with the devastation left by Hurricane Katrina,” Ragsdale said. “They lived in old churches and in gyms while they came to help and we saw the sacrifices those churches made to help us.

“After we saw the devastation in North Alabama, I knew we had to go and give back because there were many people hurting just like we were after Katrina.”

Ragsdale said it didn’t take much persuading to get his youth group – including high school and college students – and several adult chaperones to agree to the relief trip.

“Our students are indoctrinated with the idea that we’re put on this planet to help people and to express the Gospel of Christ, and you can do that when people’s homes are torn up and when their lives are turned upside down,” Ragsdale said. “The goal is to get these people’s lives restored – their physical life and their life with Christ.”

Youth group member Madison Foust said she was happy to come along and help make the lives of a few families just a little bit better.

“I’ve been on four mission trips before this one, and these people here really faced a lot of devastation,” Foust said. “This might be the hottest mission trip I’ve been on but it’s still worth it to help these people.”

“I saw the destruction on the news and how entire cities were wiped out and I just wanted us to do anything we could to help out,” Olivia Feltner added.

Reid LeJeune, one of the youth group’s college students, said he understood that one good turn deserves another. He remembered receiving help during their community’s time of need nearly six years ago.

“I just remember several churches from Alabama coming to help and I know how important that was, so I felt we should return the favor here,” LeJeune said.

During their five workdays in the area, the group has helped to finalize the set-up for several of the temporary housing trailers, repaired windows that were blown out, made roof repairs and assisted in debris removal.

“Really, what we’ve done this week is just a drop in the bucket compared to what needs to be done,” Ragsdale said, “but if everyone will put their own drop in the bucket, it’ll get full.”