Afterwards

As I write this I am sitting in the comfort of my home in Boulder, Colorado. I have come back to my "regular life", but I find that my thoughts return frequently to PDA Volunteer Village #2, D'Iberville, Mississippi. When I check the weather, I have added the Mississippi Gulf Coast to the list of places I check - and I wonder how the camps are holding up. When I see a blue tarp on a roof, I have a flashback to D'Iberville - and think of the neighborhoods filled with blue tarps. Every time I climb into my car I smell the kerosene from the pump that leaked on my back seat - and think of doing battle with Heat Wagons. I can't see a fallen tree without thinking of a hurricane - and hundreds of trees laying on their sides.

I think the term "life changing" is too casually thrown about these days, but I am not being cavalier when I say that my month in the Mississippi Gulf Coast was a life changing experience for me. Time will tell, I suppose. To be life changing, an experience must change the way a person behaves, not just what one thinks or believes. I expect that this trip will not be my last trip to the Gulf Coast. I hope to parlay this experience into something greater. Perhaps I may lead a team of leaders from several churches in the presbytery or Boulder area who will make a trip and they in turn will lead their own teams.

The need remains great and I am afraid that we are just entering a cycle of hurricane seasons that will be around for several years. Long before we get New Orleans and the Gulf Coast cleaned up, other hurricans will wreak their havoc. PDA is already looking ahead to next season.

To that end, you can make a difference:

• Of couse, you can make a donation to the work of Presbyterian Disaster Assistance by going to: www.pcusa.org/pda. (100% of your donation goes to the operations of PDA.)

• If your church is interested in taking a work team to do hurricane relief work go to the following link: www.pcusa.org/pda . (As I have said before, churches other than Presbyterian are welcome. In some cases several churches have grouped together to form teams.)

• If you are interested in working as a Volunteer Village manager or long term volunteer please contact me: flocktogether.sb@earthlink.net. There are no particular prerequisites for the job - just a willingness to work with people, take the lead in a changing environment and be a servant to a greater need. I have seen people in age from new college graduates to retired folk work as camp mamagers. As you know I am ordained clergy, but that is no requirement nor is it a particular asset when working as a village manager. In fact one does not even have to be Presbyterian. My predecessor was a Quaker, so don't use that as an excuse.
  

If you have questions or comments, I would love to hear from you. Thank you for sharing this journey with me.

iXs,
Stephen Bird

p.s. In a previous entry I promised information on how I invested the money from Valmont's pie auction. So here it is. (If you want pictures, you will need to attend the pot-luck lunch, Sunday March 12, 12:00 p.m. at Valmont Presbyterian Church, Boulder, Colorado.) I spread the $726 raised at the pie auction among three causes - the Medical Clinic (for prescription medications), the D'Iberville Volunteers Foundation (for supplies for needy homeowners) and the Volunteer Village (for supplies to hook up the shower trailer). The quilt created by the Valmont Presbyterian Woman's Assocation was given to Virginia - a D'Iberville resident who lost her son, then lost her home and possessions in the hurricane. 83