Twenty Year Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina

You may know, or maybe this is news, that Compassion First’s story began as a disaster relief response in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. You may have even been part of it yourself. As we mark twenty years since that storm, Mike reflects on our beginnings:

It’s hard to believe that it has been a full twenty years since Hurricane Katrina devastated our Southern seaboard. In fact, it was twenty years last week. I feel as delayed in this letter as I did in response, as our initial deployment to Mississippi didn’t happen for a full two weeks after Katrina had retreated into the Gulf. 

Indeed, we were late. Hundreds of groups had quickly rallied to help with the best of intentions as American closets emptied of clothes that hadn’t been worn for years and ended up in big-box parking lots, becoming landfills. 

We weren’t among those who responded in such a way. We were a bit slower because we knew that we didn’t know. We just knew our neighbor was suffering. As such, it informed a careful make-it-up-as-you-go plan that would have us there for the long term. We learned that showing up late is no problem as long as you stick around. 

Somehow, I knew we would land in Biloxi, Mississippi; this was only confirmed when Troy Smith joined the effort and immediately forged a connection with Councilman Bill Stallworth, who oversaw the ward most severely affected by the storm in Biloxi. 

I remember wondering early on if I would become desensitized to the scene - was that possible? The city had the look of having been put in a spin cycle, and everything was displaced. Cars and boats were in trees. Houses were on houses. There was a whole casino sitting on top of a Travelodge that I had stayed in two years prior when driving through. During the stabilization process, every time a refrigerator needed to be hauled to the street, the smell would blanket the neighboring blocks like a wave. Clean-up was slow on all fronts. I remember seeing the same mattress sitting in the middle of I-10 going through New Orleans for weeks. Nothing was going to be restored quickly. 

This season of time was so formative for us. We learned how to make friends in the relief and development world. We learned the value of sticking around and keeping your word. We learned that many people and groups come and go. We learned that even though we were there to help and committed for the long haul, that we were guests and this was somebody’s home - we were entitled to nothing. 

We also learned some higher-value lessons. We saw neighbors helping neighbors when both were devastated. We saw our nation respond to the needs of others. And we saw the church mobilized in a beautiful way. It was truly incredible. 

While the current mission and vision of Compassion First pre-dated the storm, the Gulf is where we cut our teeth. It was our college education, so to speak. We have become a permanent part of an American story that will be told for 100 years, and we were privileged to serve people who had marched with Dr. King. 

While it is hard to imagine that it has been a full twenty years, it is even harder to imagine all of the good that we were able to be a part of. 

For all of you who helped build and camp out in the Salvation Army Volunteer Village; for those who donned bunny suits in 100-degree weather to stabilize and mold remediate homes, for those who ambitiously tried to frame a house in a week, and for those who came time and time again to do whatever could be done, THANK YOU! You are, in fact, the formational core of Compassion First. We’ve come a long way, and it is because of you. 

Carrying on together, 

Mike

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