Hurricane Katrina Relief Shipments

More than 143 Orphan Grain Train semi-load relief shipments have been sent to the Gulf Coast since Hurricane Katrina.  The shipments chart (below) lists the 143 semi-loads requested by our Katrina Relief partners.

Volunteers are still needed year-round at Camp Restore in New Orleans and Camp Biloxi.  To make a reservation for your group at either camp, please turn to the RAI Ministries web-page for more information.

Equipment / Material by the semi-load Origin Delivery Point Date
Semi-load groceries, bottled water, canned food Norfolk, Neb. Chauvin, La. 9/17/08
Semi-load of canned food for Hurricane Ike survivors Norfolk, Neb. Camp Restore New Orleans 9/12/08
Semi-load of canned food Norfolk, Neb. Camp Biloxi 5/06/08
Semi-load of furniture, appliances, & sewing machines Tallmadge, Ohio Camp Restore New Orleans 4/07/08
Appliances & furniture Sioux City, Iowa, and Norfolk, Neb. Camp Restore New Orleans 12/11/07
Appliances & furniture Sioux City, Iowa Biloxi, Miss. 12/11/07
Appliances, stoves, washer, dryers, doors and cabinets Norfolk, Neb. and Sioux City, Iowa Chauvin, La. 10/13/07
Furniture & household items Tallmadge, Ohio New Orleans 9/10/07
48-ft. restroom unit Norfolk, Neb. Camp Bethlehem - New Orleans 9/6/07
48-ft. bedroom unit #BR108 Norfolk, Neb./purchased in Metairie New Orleans, La. 8/09/07
48-ft. bedroom unit #BR109 Norfolk, Neb./purchased in Metairie New Orleans, La. 8/09/07
48-ft. bedroom unit #BR110 Norfolk, Neb./purchased in Metairie New Orleans, La. 8/09/07
48-ft. shower unit Norfolk, Neb. Camp Bethlehem - New Orleans 7/22/07
Two camper trailers Norfolk, Neb. Camp Restore New Orleans, La. 6/26/07
Church pews, computers, desks, chairs, hymnals, paint, carpet Azaelia, Ind. Crawford and New Orleans, La. 6/13/07
Water, furniture, paint Norfolk, Neb. Camp Restore New Orleans 6/2/07
Appliances and furniture Norfolk, Neb. Venice, La. 4/23/07
22 pallets bottled drinking water, 48-ft. storage unit Norfolk, Neb. Cameron, La. 2/19/07
48-ft. mobile medical clinic unit #MC101 Norfolk, Neb. Biloxi, Miss. 2/19/07
48-ft. 24-bed mobile bedroom unit Norfolk, Neb. Biloxi, Miss. 1/23/07
48-ft. 24-bed mobile bedroom unit #BR117 Norfolk, Neb. Biloxi, Miss. 1/17/07
48-ft. 16-bed mobile bedroom unit, first-aid kits, health kits Norfolk, Neb. Biloxi, Miss. 12/30/06
20-ft. mobile laundry unit, appliances, furniture, 2-ton Ford truck Norfolk, Neb. New Orleans, Houma, Hammond, La. 12/26/06
48-ft. storage unit, 20-ft. mobile laundry unit, appliances, furniture Norfolk, Neb. New Orleans, Houma, La. 12/26/06
48-ft. storage unit, appliances, furniture Sioux City, Iowa Houma, Venice, La. 12/18/06
48-ft. refrigerated storage unit, church furniture Norfolk, Neb. Biloxi, Miss. 12/16/06
Two 20-ft. mobile laundry units, and three galvanized utility trailers, wheelbarrows, tools Norfolk, Neb. New Orleans, La. 12/4/06
Two 20-ft. mobile laundry units* Norfolk, Neb. Venice, La. 11/8/06
Bottled water, paint, tools, heaters Norfolk, Neb. New Orleans, La. & Biloxi, Miss. 11/7/06
Tools and galvanized cargo trailers Norfolk, Neb. New Orleans, La. 11/7/06
45-ft. long mobile kitchen trailer #K101* Norfolk, Neb. Camp Restore New Orleans 9/7/06
Two 20-ft. wash houses Norfolk, Neb. Venice, La. 8/14/06
Two 20-ft. wash houses Norfolk, Neb. Venice, La. 8/14/06
Two 20-ft. wash houses Norfolk, Neb. Boothville, La. 8/14/06
Two 20-ft. wash houses Norfolk, Neb. Buras, La. 8/14/06
48-ft. bedroom unit #BR114 * Norfolk, Neb. Biloxi, Miss. 8/14/06
48-ft. office unit Norfolk, Neb. Harahan, La. 8/13/06
48-ft. bedroom unit #BR104* Norfolk, Neb. Biloxi, Miss. 8/4/06
48-ft. bedroom unit #BR105* Norfolk, Neb. Biloxi, Miss. 8/4/06
48-ft. bedroom unit #BR106* Norfolk, Neb. Biloxi, Miss. 8/4/06
48-ft. bedroom unit #BR102* Norfolk, Neb. Metairie, La. 7/24/06
48-ft. bedroom unit #BR103* Norfolk, Neb. Metairie, La. 7/24/06
935 doors Windom, Minn. Biloxi, Miss. 7/20/06
One 48-ft. storage container Norfolk, Neb. Metairie, La., Biloxi, Miss. 7/12/06
Two 20-ft. storage containers, furniture, cleanup equipment/supplies Norfolk, Neb. Metairie, La., Biloxi, Miss. 7/12/06
Mattresses, cleaning buckets, bedding & kitchen items Seymour, Ind. Houma & Harahan, La. 7/10/06
5 12-bed bedroom units, 1 restroom unit* Pearl River, La. Biloxi, Miss., Metairie, La. 7/3/06
2 48-ft. bedroom units* Norfolk, Neb. Metairie, La. 6/28/06
Water, appliances, furniture Sioux City, Iowa Houma, La. 6/8/06
Food, health kits, bottled water, bleach, detergent, soap, diapers, towels* Norfolk, Loudon & Memphis, Tenn., St. Louis Belle Chasse, La. 5/5/06
48-ft refrigerated storage container, bottled water, paint, washer & dryer, air compressor, food, paper goods Norfolk, Neb. Metairie, La., Biloxi, Miss. 4/21/06
48-ft storage container, bottled water, ice machine* Norfolk, Neb., Kansas, St. Louis, Mo. Metairie, La., Biloxi, Miss. 4/21/06
Paint, cleaning supplies, lights, blinds, wallpaper, shower doors, smoke alarms, mops & brooms Seymour, Ind. Slidell, La. 4/10/06
48-ft restroom trailer Norfolk, Neb. Biloxi, Miss. 4/3/06
50 Sofas Norfolk, Neb. Houma, La. 3/27/06
25 Kitchen table sets Norfolk, Neb. Houma, La. 3/27/06
25 Dining room sets Norfolk, Neb. Houma, La. 3/27/06
47 Bedroom sets Norfolk, Neb. Houma, La. 3/27/06
69 Bed frames & bedding Norfolk, Neb. Houma, La. 3/17/06
69 Mattress & box springs sets Omaha, Neb. Houma, La. 3/17/06
22 bedroom suites, bedding, equipment, utility knives, compressors, pneumatic nailers, texture sprayers, HAZMAT suits, wheel barrows & masks Norfolk, Neb. Metairie, Houma La.; Ocean Springs, Biloxi Miss. 3/17/06
Furniture, clothing, & 48-ft. storage container Norfolk, Neb. Houma, La. & Biloxi, Miss. 3/08/06
Lumber and building materials Wisconsin Division Ocean Springs, Miss. 3/08/06
Bottled water, food, survivor kits Norfolk, Neb. Metairie, La.; Biloxi, Ocean Springs Miss. 2/28/06
Health kits, bleach, blankets, quilts Rochester, Minn. and Norfolk, Neb. Ocean Springs, Miss. 2/10/06
12 semi-loads of hay Midwestern states Beef producers in southern Louisiana 2/9/06
Semi-load of lumber, hardware Cedarburg, Wis. Biloxi, Miss. 2/6/06
Semi-load of drapery and furniture Cleveland, Ohio, Norfolk, Neb. Houma, La. 2/4/06
Frozen food, beans Affl. Foods, Norfolk, Neb. Angola, La. 1/30/06
Bleach, wheat bars Minn., Chapman, Kans. Biloxi & Ocean Springs, Miss. 1/26/06
Semi-load of lumber and hardware Cedarburg, Wis. Biloxi, Miss. 1/25/06
Semi-load of shingles Pensacola, Fla. Biloxi, Miss. 1/19/06
Semi-load of house doors & house hardware Pensacola, Fla. Ocean Springs, Miss. 1/19/06
Semi-load of washers, dryers, kitchen stoves, dishwashers Sioux City, Ia. LaComb, La. 1/18/06
Cleaning supplies, personal care items Seymour, Ind. New Orleans, La. 1/16/06
Pan-trailer with forklifts FL-13, FL-14, & Bobcat Norfolk, Neb. Slidell, La. 1/13/06
Semi-load of lumber, doors, and fasteners for an entire house Norfolk, Neb. Biloxi, Miss. 1/9/06
48-ft. shower trailer Norfolk, Neb. Biloxi, Miss. 12/23/05
Semi load of toys, survivor kits, baby crib and bedding Ida Grove, Iowa Gautier, Miss. 12/20/05
Christmas boxes Norfolk, Neb. Houma, La. 12/15/05
3 forklifts, 1 Bobcat Norfolk, Neb. Houma, Grand Isle, Metairie, Slidell, La. 12/14/05
48-ft. dry storage unit, food* Norfolk, Neb. & St. Louis, Mo. Houma, Grand Isle, Metairie, Slidell, La. 12/14/05
30-ft. on-site OGT coordinator office/camper Norfolk, Neb. Biloxi, Miss. 12/13/05
48-ft. dry storage unit, 4 pallets potato chips Norfolk, Neb. Biloxi, Miss. 12/13/05
Survivor kits, food, clothing Norfolk, Neb. Angola, La. 12/7/05
40,000 lbs. hamburger Norfolk, Neb. Biloxi, Ocean Springs, Miss. 12/6/05
48-ft. container, 25,000 lbs food* Norfolk, Neb. & St. Louis, Mo. Houma, La. & Ocean Springs, Miss. 11/19/05
Food, water, cleaning supplies, survivor kits* Norfolk , Neb. & St. Louis, Mo. Biloxi, Miss. 11/11/05
Food, water, cleaning supplies, survivor kits* Norfolk , Neb. & St. Louis, Mo. Metairie, La. 11/10/05
Survivor kits, beans, frying pans* Norfolk, Neb. & St. Louis, Mo. Biloxi, Miss. 11/9/05
13,000 lbs. frozen food, forklift* Norfolk, Neb. & St. Louis, Mo. Biloxi, Miss. 11/9/05
Survivor kits, 40’ x 60’ tent, 150-gal. fuel tank* Norfolk, Neb. & St. Louis, Mo. Biloxi, Miss. 11/9/05
Food collected by WJAG/KEXL Radio & Affiliated Foods Midwest, school supplies, survivor kits Norfolk, Neb. Houma, La. 11/3/05
Food, cleaning supplies, survivor kits Norfolk, Neb. Ocean Springs, Miss. 11/2/05
Cleaning supplies, food, survivor kits, hymnals* Trinity-Grand Island, Norfolk, Neb.; St. Louis, Mo. Houma, La. 10/26/05
34-ft Winnebago mobile office Norfolk, Neb. Metairie, La. 10/26/05
Plywood, paper goods, foodstuffs, cleaning supplies, soap, personal care and hygiene kits* Norfolk, Neb. & St. Louis, Mo. Metairie, La. 10/26/05
LWML Health Kits, cleaning supplies Woodbury, Minn. Houma, La. 10/21/05
Food, soap, milk, cleaning supplies, wheelbarrows, tools* St. Louis, Mo. Grand Isle, La. 10/15/05
48-ft. refrigerated container Norfolk, Neb. Ocean Springs, Miss. 10/13/05
(2nd) 48-ft. refrigerated container Norfolk, Neb. Ocean Springs, Miss. 10/13/05
Cleaning supplies, food* St. Louis, Mo. Metairie, La. 10/13/05
Cleaning supplies, food* St. Louis, Mo. Biloxi, Miss. 10/07/05
36,060 lbs. beans; health kits Norfolk, Neb. Pascagoula, Miss. 10/06/05
40,000 lbs. groceries and cleaning supplies Norfolk, Neb. Biloxi, Miss. 09/29/05
48-ft refrigerated container, potatoes, health kits Norfolk, Neb. La Place, La. 09/27/05
1,000 gal. fuel tank, tent, BBQ grill, 40 cots, A/C, generator, 45-foot shipping container Norfolk, Neb. Ocean Springs, Miss. 9/27/05
34-ft Winnebago mobile office Norfolk, Neb. Slidell, La. 9/27/05
21 hospital beds and medical supplies Norfolk, Neb. Gonzales, La. 9/26/05
16 hospital beds and medical supplies Norfolk, Neb. Houma, La. 9/26/05
Cleaning supplies* St. Louis, Mo. Biloxi, Miss. 9/23/05
Cleaning supplies and equipment, food, baby formula paper goods* St. Louis, Mo. & Afton, Ill. Franklinton & Baton Rouge, La. 9/16/05
40,000 lbs. groceries Norfolk, Neb. Ocean Springs, Miss. 9/13/05
40,000 lbs. groceries Cabot, Pa. Canton, Miss. 9/10/05
40,000 lbs. groceries Seymour, Ind. Pensacola, Fla. 9/10/05
Flashlights, paper goods, and overshoes Wakefield, Neb. Canton, Miss. 9/8/05
Hospital beds, cots, school supplies Iowa West Division Houma, La. 9/8/08
Two 40,000 lb. loads of groceries Seymour, Ind. Covington, La. 9/8/05
6,000 gal. drinking water Norfolk, Neb. Slidell, La. 9/8/05
Non-perishable food, diapers, batteries, soap, baby formula* Oakville and Saint Charles, Mo. Hattiesburg, Miss. 9/7/05-9/8/05
Food and equipment Lutheran Church Charities, Addison, Ill. Covington & Gonzales, La. 9/7/05-9/8/05
40,000 lbs. groceries Cape Girardeau, Mo. Gonzales, La. 9/7/05
Cleanup supplies, tools, equipment* St. Louis, Mo. Covington, La. 9/6/05
6,000 gal. drinking water Norfolk, Neb. New Orleans, La. 9/6/05
Equipment Norfolk, Neb. Gonzales, La. 9/5/05
Cleanup supplies, tools, equipment* St. Louis, Mo. Baton Rouge, La. 9/4/05
Equipment, med. supplies Norfolk, Neb. Baton Rouge, La. 9/4/05
40,000 lbs. groceries Norfolk, Neb. Marrero, La. 9/4/05
40,000 lbs. groceries Norfolk, Neb. Marrero, La. 9/3/05
40,000 lbs. groceries Norfolk, Neb. Covington, La. 9/3/05
       

2007 Hurricane Katrina Response Report

December 2007 update:  More than 40 Orphan Grain Train trailers, bedroom units, shower and restroom units, tool trailers, and other large pieces of equipment are in place at volunteer disaster-response camps Camp Restore in New Orleans and Camp Biloxi in Biloxi, Miss. Over 120 semi loads of supplies and equipment have been delivered to the area .

A mobile bedroom unit is moved into place at Camp Biloxi.

Orphan Grain Train equipment is also in use near Venice, La. where Orphan Grain Train 20-foot-long steel storage units are used as laundry facilities and secure storage for people in the shrimp-fishing trade. Fishermen use their own boats and employ small crews. Their fleets were overturned by Katrina’s fury in 2005, and one by one their boats are being recovered, renovated, and re-launched.

Orphan Grain Train mobile wash houses near Venice, La.

As of December 2007 less than half of the Katrina-affected people were back in their homes. More than 300,000 homes were lost two. The combined destruction of the three hurricanes in late 2005 brought about the worst domestic disaster since the Civil War, across an area the size of Minnesota.

The following statistics were provided by the LCMS Southern District:

Camp Biloxi, Sept. 2005 to Sept. 2007

Homes Restored
Gutted and sprayed for mold: 486
Roofs - Major: 593
Home/Interior major rebuild (>$1000): 1,632
Home/Interior minor rebuild (<$1000): 734

Volunteers
People: 15,248
Hours: 825,100
Value of work (Per FEMA): $16,027,396

Camp Restore, October 2006 to September 2007

Homes & Parks
Gutted and sprayed for mold: 285
Yards & Parks: 558
Completed Cases: 85
Active Homes: 23
Active Churches: 4
On hold for plumbing, electrical & HVAC: 126
On file waiting to become active: 592

Volunteers
People: 3,319
Hours: 90,790
Value of work (Per FEMA): $1,623,325

Depending on where you look, the remaining work will take eight to ten years to complete at the current rate of recovery.

John Coyle, Director of Operations in Mississippi for Lutheran Social Services Disaster Response (LSSDR), has been at Camp Biloxi since Hurricane Katrina. The disaster response camp sits next to Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Biloxi, Miss. and handles up to 180 volunteers per week.

“Many good Christian volunteers would help if they knew there was a need,” Coyle said. “But, most Americans don’t know there still is a need.”

As of December 2007, more than 17,000 people in Harrison County, Miss. lived in FEMA trailers, 26 months after Hurricane Katrina, waiting for help and resources to rebuild their homes.

Many of the people who lost their homes could not qualify for flood insurance because their home was considered “above” the storm surge flood plain. This is why most homeowners in the Biloxi area did not hold federally backed flood insurance. If they didn’t have flood insurance it’s likely they will receive insurance coverage for wind damage to their roof, but not for water damages inside the house caused by the storm surge.

The balance needed to rebuild a home comes from personal savings or charitable gifts and limited government grants. Camp Biloxi continues to also maintain a food distribution center for people in the Biloxi area who need assistance after losing their jobs to Katrina. Small businesses-the majority of employers-are not reappearing fast enough to get everyone back in the workforce. As of November 2007, 500 to 600 people per month come to Camp Biloxi’s distribution center.

Volunteer opportunities

Volunteer teams who can serve five or more days have the best opportunity to help a family start over. To schedule your team, please call: (228) 594-0008 for Camp Biloxi, and (888) 248-2636 for Camp Restore in New Orleans.

Camp Biloxi website
Camp Restore website

To volunteer for Bayou Grace, in southern Louisiana, please contact:

Diane Huhn, Volunteer Coordinator
Bayou Grace Community Services
PO Box 238
Chauvin, LA 70344
985-217-0409 (c)
985-594-5350 (o)
985-594-5358 (f)
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
http://www.bayougrace.org

Orphan Grain Train is always in need of semi and pickup truck drivers with good driving records. If you are in good health and have had a physical exam within the past two years and can pass the mandatory drug tests, please call Mr. Clayton Andrews, Director of Transportation at: (402) 371-9313.
Even with volunteer drivers, the cost of each shipment from Norfolk, Nebraska, to the Gulf Coast averages $2,000 for fuel, food, and lodging.

Donations

Contributions for the Katrina Relief effort and Domestic Disaster Response are critical to sustain this effort. Without the generous donations received over the past three and one-half years, the Katrina relief effort would not exist.

Ways You Can Help
Donate online or by mail

Thank You!

Orphan Grain Train thanks all the volunteer truckers who are hauling relief supplies to Katrina survivors and relief centers on the Gulf Coast.

Thank you to the cash donors who have made it possible for Orphan Grain Train to nearly triple the $375,000 received from Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) World Relief and Human Care. Thank you to all who continue to support this work with additional gifts and volunteer time.

Orphan Grain Train’s name and character are explained by the words of Christ recorded in the Gospel of John, chapter 14, verse 18, “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.”

Fall 2006 Katrina Response Update

Nov. 3, 2006 - “I tell you the truth. Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” Matthew 25:40

Hurricane Katrina made landfall on August, 29, 2005. As of November 3, 2006, Orphan Grain Train had delivered more than 125 semi-loads of food, water, equipment, and tools.

More than one year later, the losses were still heartbreaking. In New Orleans the destruction was comprehensive and funding woefully inadequate. Despite the brave slogans painted on handmade signs, many homeowners did not return. Many New Orleans neighborhoods were a virtual ghost-town because homeowners cannot rebuild. The reasons are: 1. Inability to get funds. 2. Inability to get insurance. 3. Inability to get skilled labor.

A New Orleans home in Sept. 2006.

In 2006, many neighborhoods still did not know whether they will be spared or bulldozed. Even major corporations waited to see what the future held for them. Some residents lived in 240 square-foot FEMA trailers, waiting for permission, funds, and manpower.

As of Fall 2006:
Over half of New Orleans remained a ghost town.
Only 57 of 117 schools were open.
Most hospitals were still closed.

Orphan Grain Train’s latest relief efforts along the Gulf Coast

Camp Restore at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in New Orleans is a cooperative effort of LCMS World Relief and Human Care, the Southern District of the LCMS, Laborers for Christ and Orphan Grain Train. The camp was opened in September 2006 when Orphan Grain Train delivered a new mobile kitchen trailer to the camp to provide the hundreds of meals needed each day for the volunteers from the camp and a nearby camp at Bethlehem Lutheran.

Click here to read a full-length article about Camp Restore at the LCMS Reporter Online.

Representing the four partnering organizations at Camp Restore’s Sept. 10 dedication are (l-r): Rev. Ray Wilke, Orphan Grain Train; Rev. Kurtis Schultz, LCMS Southern District; Rev. Matt Harrison, LCMS World Relief and Human Care and Mr. Dan Baker, executive director of Laborers for Christ.

The mobile kitchen in place at Camp Restore.

Orphan Grain Train mobile bedroom units like these at Camp Atonement in Metairie, La., continue to be utilized by cleanup volunteers.

Venice, La., is situated at the mouth of the Mississippi. Before the hurricane, Venice was home to 430 people. Katrina’s eye passed within 10 miles of Venice and a 25-ft. storm surge swept over the town.

As Katrina receded it left the seafood industry destroyed. A 68,000-barrel oil spill compounded the ruinous effects of Katrina on this tiny town. Every residence and business was flooded. Most were totally destroyed. All but a handful of the fishing fleet was lost. Access to the village was blocked for months.

It was March 2006 before residents were allowed to return. The town’s infrastructure is still in ruins. The village church, fire department, and U.S. Post Office were still not reopened as of August 2006.

As husbands try to restore their fishing boats they need storage for tools and equipment. Their wives need more than an 8-gallon hot water heater and a laundromat 50 miles away. Saint James Lutheran Church of Gonzales, La., requested help for this need, and Orphan Grain Train delivered the first six mobile laundry units this August.

Laundry units have been a great blessing to people in the numerous small towns along the Mississippi southeast of New Orleans because they are a secure, weatherproof means to provide a basic necessity for people in FEMA trailers who would otherwise commute several dozen miles just to do laundry.

Summer 2006 Katrina Response Update

June 14, 2006 - As of this date (nine months after Hurricane Katrina), Orphan Grain Train sent more than 95 semiloads of supply shipments to the volunteer camps along the Gulf Coast. Generous donations from individuals and partner organizations allowed Orphan Grain Train to ship food, supplies, building materials, equipment and storage units valued at a total $2.78 million.

Thousands of homes in Louisiana and Mississippi still need volunteer help for repair or renovation. The cleanup is dirty, time-consuming work, but the blessing this brings makes it worth it because each home contains people created by God’s own hand.

See the recovery effort through the eyes of the volunteers - Orphan Grain Train’s Hurricane Response video is viewable online here.

Cash gifts continue to make it possible to purchase and move tons of supplies and equipment that support numerous relief camps. The camps rely on our help to stay open. Each camp houses 80 to 200 volunteers who press forward into broken and sludge-filled homes, returning each day to a hot meal and a warm shower.

The following is a letter received from one such volunteer:

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I am from St. Paul Lutheran Church (LCMS) in Denton, TX. On April 6, 2006, myself and two other men made a life changing trip to Camp Biloxi after a call for volunteers from Mr. Carl Brul of the Texas District. We are now within a two week window of returning for a second trip the week of June 25th to Camp Biloxi.

I am writing you this letter because the trip has forever changed my life. It has helped me understand the importance of mission and service work. I want thank you for all the work you have done and continue to do, especially on the Gulf Coast and Camp Biloxi. Because of your ministry, you have made it very easy for volunteers to serve at Camp Biloxi, the accommodations are outstanding. It is an impressive setup that honors the Lord and speaks boldly as a witness for Christ and the Church. I tell anyone who will listen about the Camp and what Orphan Grain Train is doing to support these camps.

It is great comfort to me to see so many people serving the Lord and doing his will and this is something that I will never forget God willing, and that I will do my best to use as a tool to witness to others.

The first trip to Camp Biloxi there were only three of us, it was unplanned with a total of 5 days to prepare to go. This trip we have a total of 8 men and have raised over $700.00 to donate to the Camp.

Thank you and may God continue to bless you and your ministry,

Rob Griffin
St. Paul Lutheran Church Men’s Ministry - Denton, Texas

Mobile Kitchen Constructed for Katrina Volunteer Camp

September 5 , 2006 - Orphan Grain Train continues to support Gulf Coast relief efforts with equipment, food, and supplies.

In the past year, Orphan Grain Train has sent more than 120 semitrailer loads of food, water, tools, equipment, storage units and other requested items to volunteer camps across the Gulf Coast.

A new mobile kitchen, built inside a donated refrigerated trailer, will be sent to Camp Restore in New Orleans later this week.

Rev. Ray S. Wilke, President of Orphan Grain Train, reviews the past year’s relief effort and the role of the new kitchen trailer that was dedicated Tuesday afternoon, September 5, 2006:

It has been a year now since the hard-blowing circular winds of hurricanes Katrina, Wilma and Rita pressed hard on the south coast of our country. Some folks, as they had in the past, boarded their windows and hunkered down to ride out the storm. But Katrina was not the type of storm that could be ridden. She twisted and bucked and hurled insults, debris and would-be-riders through windows and walls and high into water-whipped trees.

Even the dead were not exempt, their coffins lodged in trees at a flood stage of 25 feet. Aged levees were not adequate to the task of stemming the tide. The fresh water of Lake Pontchartrain was mixed with the brackish waters of the Gulf and the muddy water of the Mississippi to build a cocktail that even the reptiles found as bitter as gall. Alligators and turtles swam with cattle searching for some high safe haven. This was America’s own brand of tsunami, smashing in upon thousands of acres barely above sea level.

People came from all over America to offer some manner of redemption for such a cross as this. They came with vans and campers, with money tools and work gloves previously soiled by other acts of kindness. These were the folks who knew and understood the 2nd great commandment, “Love your neighbor as yourself.’ They toiled, they sweated some, and I dare say cursed the muck that they shoveled from the homes even as they prayed to the Lord to show mercy to the homeless and battered victims of Katrina. Thanks to the help of so many Godly donors, not the least of which was LCMS World Relief and Human Care, Orphan Grain Train was able to send over 3 million dollars worth of relief in cash and in-kind.

The effort still continues. On Wednesday, September 6, The Orphan Grain Train/LCMS World Relief kitchen trailer will leave for the east parish of New Orleans. The portable kitchen trailer is stainless steel port to starboard, stem to stern. Dedicated workers have invested hundreds of hours to insure that this brand new food preparation system can cook up to as many as 3,000 hearty meals per day. Hungry volunteers will pass by her serving windows as their plates are heaped with generous helpings of Bayou rice, North Dakota pinto beans and Nebraska beef. The front lines volunteer camps continue to serve as a marvelous coastal orchestration of food, fiber, and folks serving just because that’s what these people do when their neighbors are hurting.

The Southern coast will never be the same; the landscape and the lives will be altered forever. The Lord alone can bring good out of evil. He will do that here also.

Orphan Grain Train’s name and character are explained by the words of Christ recorded in the Gospel of John chapter 14, verse 18, “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.”

Bedroom Units Constructed for Katrina Volunteer Camps

June 26, 2006 - In response to requests from several Hurricane Katrina relief camps in the Gulf Coast, Orphan Grain Train is constructing and shipping multiple mobile bedroom units to replace the large tents that currently serve as sleeping quarters for cleanup volunteers.

The project is being financed in part through a generous grant from LCMS World Relief and Human Care.

With the arrival of hurricane season, sturdier accommodations are necessary to keep the camps in Mississippi and Louisiana running. The mobile units, similar to Orphan Grain Train’s restroom and shower units, will be deployable as emergency living quarters and in other capacities for future relief efforts when they are no longer needed in the Gulf.

June 30, 2006 - BR-101 in place on the grounds of Atonement Lutheran Church in Metairie, La.

BR-107 and BR-101 are now fully operational at Camp Atonement. An additional six units acquired from a local source are in place at Camp Atonement and Camp Biloxi, Miss.

Bedroom units 107 and 101 prior to being shipped to Atonement Lutheran camp in Metairie, La on June 27.

Bedroom unit construction in Norfolk, Neb.

Apr. 27, 2006 - Seth Kaiser’s May Newsletter

Who is God’s Hands and Feet?

In my final correspondence as a Missionary from the greater New Orleans area, I want to share with you a story that in many ways sums up my experience here and the amazing things that the Lord has been doing here in the last few months.

Recently we had a work group of young adults and sponsors come down to volunteer for a week from Norfolk, Nebraska. One of the members of that group was a young man named Travis. Travis is much the same as the thousands of volunteers that we have seen pass through our camp in the past few months in that he has a heart for service. What makes Travis different is that he has no hands or feet. Prosthetic limbs are the only way that Travis can walk and grab objects. While many people would think that Travis’ situation would limit him from participating in the clean-up efforts here in New Orleans, Travis simply saw it as an opportunity to serve.

When Travis ran into obstacles, like not being able to swing a hammer, he and his group simply found ways to overcome them, like duct taping the hammer to his arm so that he could swing it.

Whether Travis knew it or not, his service made a profound impact on many of us here. You see, for at least that week, God was using a young man that had no hands and feet to be His hands and feet in this time and this place. Simply amazing. Truly inspirational. It was truly a testament to me of who the Lord can and does use to accomplish His work here on earth: Everyone.

My experience here has totally changed my life. Without a doubt, the Lord is at work in this place. What will it take for you to come and join Him here? One thing and one thing alone; a heart to serve. My prayer is that God continues to raise up workers with compassionate hearts to come and serve here in the south. The work will be here for years. The people still need to know that they are loved by God.

Will you answer the call?

In Christ,
Seth Kaiser

Restroom Trailer Constructed for Biloxi, Miss. Volunteers

Mar. 23, 2006 - Students at Northeast Community College in Norfolk, Neb., converted a 48-foot storage unit into men’s and women’s restrooms, complete with commodes, sinks, lighting, and two sets of washers and dryers. Students from the Building and Construction, Electrical, and Heating-Ventilation-Air Conditioning (HVAC) classes participated in the volunteer project.

The restroom facility was shipped in late March to “Camp Biloxi,” which is next door to Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Biloxi, Miss. There it was taken off the trailer chassis and placed next to the Orphan Grain Train Shower Trailer, which was built and trucked there last December.

Apr. 4, 2006 - Bob Rands, camp director and Good Shepherd Lutheran, Biloxi elder John Coyle outside RT 101. More photos can be viewed in our Katrina Response photo gallery.

Some of the Northeast Community College students who contributed 580 man-hours for the service-learning project in support of Orphan Grain Train’s hurricane relief effort.

Project director Bernie Wrede opens the Men’s door of the new Restroom Trailer.

Northeast student Jay “Gadget” Kaugh is interviewed by Brian Masters of US-92 FM and KTIV Channel 4.

Northeast Community College HVAC instructor Scott Owens answers questions about the project.

NECC students watch US-92’s Brian Masters interview project director Bernie Wrede.

Volunteers Bernie Wrede and Aaron Walter visit with NECC electrical instructor Dan Frohberg.

OGT Missouri-Illinois Division Hurricane Relief Volunteer Truck Drivers Story in Land Line Magazine

Orphan Grain Train Missouri-Illinois Division and LCMS World Relief volunteers Craig Hansen and Ron Johnson of Saint Louis, Mo., have driven several semi loads of relief supplies to the hurricane relief and work centers along the Gulf Coast. Recently their efforts were highlighted in the March/April 2006 issue of Land Line Magazine, the official publication of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association.

Article courtesy of Land Line Magazine: http://www.landlinemag.com

The calm after the storm

Hurricane season is over, but the relief effort continues

By David Tanner
Staff Writer
Land Line Magazine
http://www.landlinemag.com

OOIDA member Craig Hansen of St. Louis and retired trucker Ron Johnson of Fenton, MO, wanted to help out hurricane victims, so they went to church and asked if they could make a run.

Fourteen runs later - with several more on their schedule - Craig and Ron have no intention of slowing down.

“Each time we say it’s going to be the last trip, but sure enough you get down there and you see a reason to come back,” Craig said. “It’s been that way for the last five trips.”

Craig said even though the media coverage has switched gears in the hurricane-stricken southern states, there is a lot of work to be done. “They’re still in a cleanup,” Craig said. “The inland sections are pretty well recovered. Where there was water damage is still in rough shape.”

The pair is making regular deliveries from the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod to a food pantry set up at the Lutheran Church of the Good Shepard in Biloxi, MS.

“We thought, ‘If these people are so broke that they’ve got to eat our canned goods, what are they going to do for Christmas?’ ” Craig remembered Ron saying to him this past fall. “So we started calling our friends and raising a little bit of donations.”

Next thing they knew, their food trailer had a thousand toys added to it just prior to Christmas. Their wives, Debbie Hansen and Joann Johnson, bought the toys and did the shopping for the “Trucking Santas.”

The first load went to Baton Rouge, LA, and several loads went to Washington Parish, LA, before the pair decided on Biloxi as a regular run. When the truckers get to their destinations, they get help from some unexpected sources.

“Where I’ve went, I’ve had jail prisoners unload me with big smiles, and they were happy to do it,” Craig said. “The prisoners unboxed them and labeled them for the children, and the sheriff’s deputies gave out the toys in the Franklinton (LA) area.”

The rewards, they said, have far outweighed their expectations.

“I’m being more blessed by God in my life now than I’ve ever been, and I’m 50,” Craig said. “I’ve made more friends and been able to help more people in the last four months than I’ve helped in the last 50 years.”

Ron, 58, agrees with that assessment. “It’s an experience I wouldn’t trade a million bucks for,” he said. “It’s totally changed my life. You can’t explain in words the feeling you get . They were astounded that somebody would come from halfway across to country to help them.”

Church members in Biloxi were grateful to receive the assistance. “We couldn’t have done it without them. Not only did they bring food, but they brought supplies for the relief effort on the coast,” said church elder John Coyle. “You name it they brought it.”

The Biloxi area, Coyle said, still lacks the proper food, labor and building materials in its recovery process. Craig and Ron will continue to help. Craig has been in trucking for 29 years. When he’s not headed back and forth to the hurricane region, he hauls oversize loads around St. Louis to make ends meet.

“I’ve wondered if the church needed me or if I needed them,” Craig said. “When fuel went up, the bottom dropped out for me. The phone quit ringing. I said, ‘What the heck.’ “

Craig said he and Ron could not do something like they have done without learning a lot about people and about themselves. “I come home now, and I appreciate my house more than I ever did before,” Craig said. “There’s still a need. As long as the church says go, I’ll go. It’s not what I would call a high paying trucking job, but it pays in other ways.”

Shower Trailer a Hit Among Biloxi, Miss. Volunteers

Mar. 9, 2006 - With colleges and universities around the country on spring break, many students are using their free time to volunteer in the cleanup efforts along the Gulf Coast. One of these volunteers sent a special email to the OGT offices, reproduced here with permission:

My name is Josh Mandell, I am a sophomore at Indiana University South Bend, and about 50 of us spent our spring break in Biloxi helping with the clean up and the rebuilding efforts. I would like to give you 4 thanks: the first is for the fridges that helped keep us well fed, and the next three are for the three best showers I’ve had in a very long time. Keep up the good work!

Jan. 3, 2006 - Since Hurricane Katrina brought her devastation to the Biloxi, Mississippi area, hundreds of volunteers have been working nonstop in the reconstruction effort. During a recent trip to Mississippi, it came to the attention of Orphan Grain Train coordinator Bernie Wrede that the few shower tents available in Biloxi were unable to support so many people.

With funding from Lutheran-Episcopal Disaster Relief of Mississippi, Orphan Grain Train worked to convert a refrigerated semi trailer into a 10-stall shower trailer with all the comforts of home, including sinks, mirrors, and even a washer and dryer. When the value of donated time and materials is included, the shower project totals nearly $25,000.

Photo by Bernie Wrede

Between Dec. 19 and 22, over twenty volunteers from across Northeast Nebraska came together to build the trailer, with a total of 300 man-hours going into the project. It was completed and shipped to Biloxi in time for Christmas. Photos by Vern Steinman, Jr.

The volunteers in Biloxi were ecstatic upon receiving the showers, and requested another shower trailer as well as a bathroom trailer. Plans for the additional trailers are currently underway.

Jeremy Hansen and Dave Fleer of Pierce, Neb. work to finish the front of the shower trailer.

Electrician John Jenkins of Pierce works on mounting and wiring the lighting.

Jerald Wachter of Pierce, Neb. and Marty Werner of Tilden, Neb. install electrical wiring.

Delwin Herbolsheimer and Jerald Wachter secure laminate to a shower wall.

Robin Fleer of Hoskins Neb. along with Dave Fleer secure drains in the common area sinks.

Louisiana Hay Lift Underway

Aug. 1, 2006 - Of the 170,000 beef cattle in South Louisiana, 50,000 perished in Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. One hundred and twenty thousand cattle were short of hay this winter because of hay supplies destroyed by salt water.

Cash donations from hay producers in Marcus, Iowa, and a grant from LCMS World Relief allowed 12 semi-loads of hay to be shipped in January and February.

The following is a list of hay shipments made:

Semi load contents Origin Delivery Point Delivery Date
Small-square baled hay Lincoln, Mo. Abbeville, La. Feb. 9
Large-square baled hay Campbell, Neb. Abbeville, La. Feb. 3
Large-square baled hay Rushville, Neb. Abbeville, La. Jan. 30
Large-square baled hay Norton, Kan. Abbeville, La. Jan. 25
Large-square baled hay Norton, Kan. Abbeville, La. Jan. 25
Large-square baled hay Kearney, Neb. Abbeville, La. Jan. 25
Large-square baled hay Elk Creek, Neb. Abbeville, La. Jan. 19
Large-square hay bales Loomis, Neb. Abbeville, La. Jan. 18
Large-square hay bales Arcadia, Neb. Abbeville, La. Jan. 18
Large square alfalfa bales West Point, Neb. Abbeville, La. Jan. 18
Large square alfalfa bales West Point, Neb. Abbeville, La. Jan. 18
Large square alfalfa bales Pierce, Neb. Abbeville, La. Jan. 18

This is one of 10 semi-loads of donated alfalfa hay which departed Nebraska and Kansas for Abbeville, La., on Monday, January 16, 2006. This load weighed 24 tons.

Louisiana Hay Lift coordinator Bernie Wrede (center) consults with driver John Hansen, Pierce, Neb., who drove a semi-load of hay to Louisiana.

New $100,000 Matching Fund Announced for Katrina Response from LCMS World Relief/Human Care

Feb. 23, 2006 - Orphan Grain Train has received a new $100,000 matching fund challenge from LCMS World Relief/Human Care for Hurricane Katrina relief. This is a new challenge fund for gifts received by Orphan Grain Train since February 10, 2006. The grant is to be used for human care projects in response to needs caused by Hurricane Katrina.

Each gift given for “Katrina Relief” will be matched dollar-for-dollar until the $100,000 challenge is met.

Orphan Grain Train plans to continue to assist the Gulf Coast church-based work and relief centers as it has since early September. However funds for this effort are depleting. New gifts are needed to continue this effort, the largest single relief project in Orphan Grain Train’s 14-year history.

Since Labor Day weekend, Orphan Grain Train has sent more than 100 semi-trailer loads of food, relief supplies, and special equipment to Gulf Coast relief centers. Orphan Grain Train uses “Katrina Relief” gifts to pay for the shipping costs of cleaning and rebuilding supplies. Katrina funds are also used to provide forklifts and Bobcat “skid loaders” to the relief camps for unloading semi-trucks. Many camps have also been supplied with 48-foot-long steel storage containers purchased by Orphan Grain Train, since the hurricane blew away most existing structures, or damaged them beyond repair.

Checks should be sent payable to: “Orphan Grain Train Katrina Relief Fund”, P. O. Box 1466, Norfolk, NE 68702-1466. On-line contributions may be made through PayPal.

Orphan Grain Train’s name and character are explained by the words of Christ recorded in the Gospel of John chapter 14, verse 18, “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.”

Feb. 21, 2006 - Seth Kaiser’s March Newsletter

One Story of Hope

Last month I wrote about how staggering some of the numbers were in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and how slowly but surely new numbers were beginning to compile. Numbers that represented response to the overwhelming need here in the South.

This month I want to share a story with you of exactly what that response looks like to the victims of the hurricanes.

In the second week of February we found ourselves working in a “new house” about three blocks from the London Street Canal break on Filmore Drive in Lakeview, Louisiana, which is a northern suburb of New Orleans. The house we were working in belonged to a 73 year-old lady named Gladys and had 9 feet of water that sat for about two weeks in her home. Unfortunately the condition of Gladys’ home was something that we have grown all too familiar with. With furniture strewn all over the inside of her home, with bookshelves, refrigerators, tables, china cabinets all turned over and impeding the progress through the hallways, we ventured inside. What a mess!

As the work crew from Beautiful Savior in Omaha, Nebraska began to start hauling Gladys’ ruined possessions out her front door and onto the curb, we helped her pick through the ever-growing pile of rubbish to find remnants of her life left behind in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. As we found old bottles of perfume that Gladys had collected since childhood, collectable china that Gladys had planned to give to her grandchildren, and rare items hand fabricated out of Depression glass, Gladys began to tell us her amazing story. You see, Gladys was inside her house when the levee broke.

She said that the first surge of water came in at about four feet and for whatever reason came from the back of her home first. Gladys closed the back door and ran to the front porch of her elevated home to close the front door as well, but it was too late. The force of the first surge of water wouldn’t let her close the door. It was then she saw the second surge of water rushing into her neighborhood. She had to think fast. Just in case she needed it, she had pulled a four-foot stepladder out of the closet and had it close by. Gladys grabbed it and quickly made her way into her hallway, where she knew if she climbed the ladder, she could brace herself on either side of the hallway walls. It was in that hallway that Gladys stood on the top rung of her four-foot ladder as the water came up. And it kept coming…up…up…up. On the top of the ladder in the hallway of her elevated house, Gladys stood in the dark for 12 hours. The water was at her chest line and her head was up against her ceiling. Fighting off exhaustion, she knew that if she fell asleep, she wouldn’t wake up. It was a this time that Gladys made her peace with God and resigned herself to whatever His plan was for her life from here on out.

Sometime during the middle of the night, Gladys heard her neighbors talking and joined in the conversation. They asked her if she was O.K., and she said, “Yes, I think so.” Their conversation carried them through the night and into the early morning hours. It was then that one of Gladys’ neighbors suggested that they float a large Styrofoam container to Gladys’ front door for her to swim to and join her neighbors on the roof of her garage in her back yard. “Can you swim?” her neighbors yelled. Gladys responded with a resounding, “No!” “Well, can you doggy paddle?” they asked. “We’re going to find out!”, Gladys responded.

73 year-old Gladys learned some things about herself early that morning. She learned that she could, in fact, doggy paddle and she learned that the Lord wasn’t finished with her yet. Gladys paddled right out her front door that, thankfully, she was unable to close about 12 hours earlier; grabbed onto the Styrofoam container and kicked her way back around the outside of her home to where her neighbors were perched on the roof of her garage. It was there that Gladys found a piece of plywood, climbed aboard, and quickly found herself drifting off to sleep.

Gladys was suddenly awoken some time later by a stiff wind that accompanied the loud chopping of helicopter blades. It was the Coast Guard. Though it was a rude awakening, it was truly a welcome sight. As the helicopter descended upon the hapless residents of the garage roof, a gust of wind got underneath the plywood floatation device where Gladys had found a makeshift bed, it flipped over with her still on top. With the last remaining ounce of energy that she could summon, Gladys kicked to the surface. As soon as her head broke the surface, she was snagged by a closest Coast Guardsman and lifted to safety.

It almost seemed like a fairy tale or more like someone sharing their memory of a terrible nightmare; but Gladys’ story was real. It was a morning that I will not soon forget.

Every day we hear similar stories. Each home that we are in has a different, unique story of perseverance and survival. Somewhere in the midst of all this chaos however, hope springs anew. That is what we see and what cannot be forgotten. In Christ there is always hope.

Despite her harrowing experience, Gladys couldn’t thank us enough. As she sat on the corner of her old, discarded refrigerator looking out at her old neighborhood, she thanked God for us, her angels; and said “Thank you, now I have hope for the future.” What an amazing lady! What an amazing God who continues to work through the worst to give us His best. May God continue to bless the victims of the hurricanes with comfort and peace and may He continue to move His Body to action as messengers of hope in the face of disaster.

In Christ,
Seth Kaiser

eHay Weekly Article - Gulf Coast Needs More Hay

This article first appeared here at eHay Weekly and was reprinted with permission.

Dairy and beef producers along the Gulf Coast in Louisiana and Mississippi are still in need of hay to help get through the winter after suffering devastating losses during Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, says Rustin Moore of Louisiana State University’s School of Veterinary Medicine. “There is a tremendous need for hay to help with wintering cattle in the cow-calf operations and for some of the few remaining dairy cattle in south Louisiana,” Moore says. “Any support that could be provided through donations of hay and/or fuel for transport of this hay would be greatly appreciated and is much-needed for these hard-hit farmers.”

The Nebraska Alfalfa Marketing Association (NAMA) has helped send 17 loads of hay to the area, according to Bernie Wrede, a hay producer from Pierce, NE. Wrede, a NAMA member and volunteer with the Orphan Grain Train disaster relief organization, has driven several truckloads of relief supplies and hay to the Gulf Coast area. He says Orphan Grain Train has obtained some money to help cover the costs of shipping the hay, but transportation costs have been a big obstacle during relief efforts.

The cattle industry in southern Louisiana is mainly made up of beef cow-calf operations and some dairy farms. Prior to the hurricanes, there were approximately 170,000 cattle in the parishes hit by Katrina and Rita, says Moore. Many cattle were lost due to drowning. An estimated 50,000 cattle either died or were dispersed from the area because of insufficient fencing and feed and hay shortages after the storms. An estimated 120,000 cattle remain in southern Louisiana alone.

“There is a real shortage of hay and pasture land for wintering of cattle,” Moore says. “Pastures are typically seeded with ryegrass for winter grazing, but since much of the land was covered with saltwater from the flooding, the grass has died and the pastures are not suitable for growing ryegrass.” He says hayfields that had not been cut prior to the storms were ruined. Hay that had been stored from early cuttings became completely submerged under flood waters and is not suitable for feeding. Many fences are down, which has led to overstocking of a few remaining pastures that were not damaged.

Wrede says both dairy and beef operations are being supplied with the donated hay. He says the quality of hay donated to date has been very good. Square bales are preferred, because it’s easier to meet transportation laws with square bales.

Recently, it has become apparent that there are also approximately 800 horses in Vermillion Parish in southwestern Louisiana that are in need of hay. According to the parish extension office, about 6,500 small square bales (or the equivalent in large bales) of horse-quality hay are needed to get them through the winter until spring pastures arrive. People specifically interested in donating toward the hay relief for horses should contact Moore directly by telephone (225-578-9500).

Tuscon Weekly: My Katrina Diary, by Brandon Kosters

Feb. 9, 2006 - Brandon Kosters, a 17-year old from Tuscon, recently had his account of volunteering last fall printed in the Tuscon Weekly. He worked out of a camp at Atonement Lutheran Church in Metairie, Lousiana. This is one of the camps supplied by Orphan Grain Train. If you’ve wondered what it is like to volunteer in this relief effort, his story provides a vivid answer. We thank the Tucson Daily for permission to link to their website for this story.

Click here to view the article: http://www.tucsonweekly.com/gbase/Currents/Content?oid=oid:78265

Biloxi House-building Project Nearing Completion

Jan. 14, 2006 - Volunteer Lewis Storm and his relatives from the Allen, Neb., area are staying in Biloxi, Miss. long enough to build a house located in nearby D’Iberville. The three-bedroom home was partially assembled in Nebraska and transported on an Orphan Grain Train trailer to Biloxi.

Jan. 14, 2006 - The frame begins to rise. Photos courtesy of Dawn and Arlan Schellhorn.

Jan. 15, 2006 - The house-building volunteers took a break from their labors on Sunday, Jan 15.

Jan. 16, 2006 - The first roof truss is secured.

Wall and roof framing was completed Tuesday, Jan. 17.

Jan. 18, 2006 - Plywood sheeting of the entire roof and sides was completed in one day.

The house was wrapped and shingled by Friday afternoon, Jan. 20.

Feb. 3, 2006 - Finishing up with painting the exterior - nearly complete!

Brett Borchers of Utica, Neb. uses an Orphan Grain Train Bobcat to clean up the yard surrounding the new house at D’Iberville.

Landon Storm installs a lockset on the front door.

Kansas Wheat Commission and Harvest Lark Food Co. Donate 20,000 Cereal Bars

February 1, 2006 - The Kansas Wheat Commission and Harvest Lark Food Co. donated 20,000 whole-grain cereal bars made from Kansas-grown grain for the volunteers and survivors cleaning up and rebuilding the Gulf Coast.

The Second Harvest food relief charity in New Orleans received 6,500 of the bars, with the rest being distributed between work centers in Slidell, La., Metairie, La., Biloxi, Miss. and Ocean Springs, Miss.

Cheryl Zumbrunn, President and CEO of Harvest Lark Foods, holds a sample of the energy bars donated for the relief effort. Photos courtesy of Lloyd and Doris Dennert.

The energy bars were a hit with Biloxi volunteers.

Unloading at Lamb of God Lutheran relief center in Slidell, La.

Lloyd Dennert (right) and a warehouse volunteer wait for Seth Kaiser to unload a pallet of bars at Metairie, La. on Jan. 27.

A view inside the Ocean Springs, Miss. warehouse that received the wheat bars.

Jan. 27, 2006 - Seth Kaiser’s Report from Metairie, La.

Reconstruction by the Numbers

In the nearly four months that I have been serving here in the disaster-ridden south, one of the staggering facts about the aftermath of the storm is the sheer numbers that have been compiled due to the destruction. Nearly 90,000 square miles of damage, over 500,000 vehicles that have received some type of flood damage; in New Orleans alone nearly 100,000 homes that were in some way damaged, over 4,000 victims were rescued by helicopter, and ultimately 1,100 people lost their lives.

These and countless other statistics serve as sobering reminders of the great level of destruction and the wide scope of the affect of the hurricanes.

In the face of such a sobering reality, there are other numbers that are beginning to compile as well. Numbers that represent a response. Billions of dollars have been donated in the relief effort, including 66 million to the Katrina Aid Today foundation, which includes Lutheran Disaster Response. Tens of thousands of volunteers have already aided in the clean up with more on the way each day. In our camp in Metairie we alone have had about 1000 volunteers and have helped clean up about 100 homes. It may take a decade to rebuild this historical city, but with continued efforts, one day New Orleans and all of the Gulf Coast South will be restored.

Though these numbers are impressive, none of them mean anything without another number; 1. Though the response truly has been a Godsend, it still can only happen one house at a time, one family at a time, one situation at a time. We who are on the ground here realize that with each home comes a new story and with each at the center of each story of survival is a person or a family that cannot be overlooked when we go in and clean out a house. In a very short time, we form close relationships with the survivors that offer opportunities for us to share God’s love with them. We have had home owners say things like, “I thank God for you, you are His angels sent here to help us!” and “I pretty much thought that it was a dog eat dog world out there, but you have showed me that there are still people who care.”

Really, isn’t that what it’s all about? Showing that we care through relationships? Not just in disaster relief, but being a Christian centers on relationships. Specifically, the personal relationship that we have with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Disaster relief is just one more avenue in which the Lord gives us to share the love of His Son. It can only happen one person at a time. Thank you again for all that you have done as individuals and as a congregation to continue in the response of love. I pray that you keep it up, I know, God willing, I will.

Continuing in His Service,

Seth Kaiser, DCE / Missionary

Metairie, La.

Mississippi’s Invisible Coast

The following newspaper editorial, reprinted with permission from the Biloxi Sun Herald, helps us understand the size of the Katrina disaster by asking us to consider the “Mississippi side” of the destruction. The editorial was first printed December 14, 2005 and has been reprinted by a number of newspapers to help the rest of the country and the world understand what has happened to the Gulf Coast of the United States of America.

As Aug. 29 recedes into the conscious time of many Americans, the great storm that devastated 70 miles of Mississippi’s Coast, destroying the homes and lives of hundreds of thousands, fades into a black hole of media obscurity.

Never mind that, if taken alone, the destruction in Mississippi would represent the single greatest natural disaster in 229 years of American history. The telling of Katrina by national media has created the illusion of the hurricane’s impact on our Coast as something of a footnote.

The awful tragedy that befell New Orleans as a consequence of levee failures at the time of Katrina, likewise, taken by itself, also represents a monumental natural disaster. But, of course, the devastation there, and here, were not separate events, but one, wrought by the Aug. 29 storm.

There is no question that the New Orleans story, like ours, is a compelling, ongoing saga as its brave people seek to reclaim those parts of the city lost to the floods.

But it becomes more and more obvious that to national media, New Orleans is THE story - to the extent that if the Mississippi Coast is mentioned at all it is often in an add-on paragraph that mentions “and the Gulf Coast” or “and Mississippi and Alabama.”

The television trucks and satellite dishes that were seen here in the early days have all but disappeared.

While there has been no study to quantify the amount of coverage accorded to the plight of so many here or in New Orleans, it is obvious to any observer that the number of news stories on New Orleans is many times that of those focused on Mississippi.

So, why does that matter?

It matters first as it relates to journalism’s obligations to cover human beings whose conditions are as dire as those that exist here.

The depth of the suffering and the height of the courage of South Mississippians is an incredible story that the American people must know. But, in the shadows of the New Orleans story, the Mississippi Coast has become invisible and forgotten to most Americans.

Could it be possible that the ongoing story of an Alabama teenager missing in Aruba has received more coverage on some cable networks than all of the incredibly compelling stories of courage, loss and need of untold thousands of Mississippians? Maybe a lot more coverage?

The second reason that the coverage matters is in the realm of politics. If the American people and their elected representatives do not truly know the scope of the destruction here, and if they are not shown the ongoing conditions afflicting so many, then there are consequences which are playing out even this week in Washington, where Congress will act, or not act, to relieve the incredible pain that has reduced the condition of so many American citizens to Third World status or worse.

If the people do not know, they cannot care.

We believe if they are shown the extent of the devastation and the suffering, they and their representatives will respond.

So the coverage matters. A lot.

The problem, to some extent, is that you have to be here and see it for yourself to comprehend the utter destruction that is so much like Berlin or Tokyo after World War II.

We would like to invite our news colleagues from across the nation to come and view the Coast with us. It is impossible to comprehend this disaster from afar. A television can display only a single screen of the damage. When you have driven mile after mind-numbing mile and viewed the complete nothingness where cities and homes and businesses once stood, only then will you begin to understand what has happened here.

Then you will begin to wonder, where are all the people who used to live on this beautiful shore? What has happened to their families and all of those shattered lives? That is when you will understand that the story of Katrina in South Mississippi isn’t over, it has only begun.

On the third day after Katrina crushed us, this newspaper appealed to America: “Help us now,” the headline implored. America answered with an outpouring of love and help. That response saved us then.

Our plea to newspapers and television and radio and Web sites across the land is no less important today: Please, tell our story. Hear the voice of our people and tell it far and wide.

We are here. Do not forsake us.

We are no footnote.

And one more thing…

Thank you. To every out-of-state volunteer, to every friend and family member who has sent supplies or prayers, we sincerely thank you.

And we ask that you do one more thing: Call your senators and your congressional representative and ask them to support additional aid for South Mississippi’s recovery.

We couldn’t have gotten off our knees without you. But we can’t get back on our feet without federal help.

Katrina’s toll in Mississippi

Estimated dollar amount of damage caused by Hurricane Katrina - $125 billion
Identified dead statewide - 231
Unidentified dead - 5
Missing - 67
Houses in South Mississippi destroyed - 65,380
Mississippi insurance claims filed (Katrina and Rita) - 383,700
Claims paid (as of Nov. 21) - $5 billion
Insurance claims filed in South Mississippi - 141,000
Claims paid in South Mississippi - $1.3 billion
Estimated cubic yards of debris in South Mississippi - 44 million
Cubic yards removed as of Dec. 5 - 21.8 million
Red Cross staff and volunteers in Mississippi - 20,447
Red Cross meals served - 5,543,006
People sheltered by Red Cross - 42,768
Red Cross shelters opened - 229
Red Cross money spent in South Mississippi as of Nov. 30 - $185 million

To see Orphan Grain Train’s list of relief supply shipments thus far to the Gulf Coast, click here.

Shipment Arrives in Time for Christmas at Houma, Louisiana

Jan. 4, 2006 - On Dec. 17, 2005, volunteer semi-drivers Gwyn and Kathy Johnson delivered a shipment to Grace Lutheran Church in Houma, La. Linda Kelly and Houma area volunteers sorted the shipment into family packs to fit the ages and sizes of various families in the fishing village of Montegut, which had been hit hard by both Katrina and Rita.

After the supplies were sorted they were distributed to the families in Montegut, who are currently living in terrible conditions on the coast 25 miles south of Houma. Supplies distributed included laundry detergent, soap, bedding, quilts, and other items requested for the families.

Warehouse volunteers John Davis and Bill Baker load the last boxes of the “Christmas Shipment” on the back of the semi trailer at Norfolk. (Photos by Kathy Johnson)

A stuffed toy tops off the load when everything has been brought aboard the trailer - an Orphan Grain Train tradition.

Gwyn and Kathy’s semi pulls the OGT trailer into the parking lot at Grace Lutheran Church in Houma, La. on Dec. 17. This was their third trek to Louisiana for the relief effort.

Forklift #11 is ready and waiting for the truck when it arrives.

Rev. Kelly Bedard, head pastor at Grace Lutheran, helps unload.

Boxes of quilts top Rubbermaid® tubs filled with bedding, bath towels, survivor kits, socks, and underwear by Houma volunteers.

Linda Kelly (foreground), director of gifts and assimilation at Grace Lutheran, works with other volunteers as they mix and match supplies from the new shipment with those left over from previous shipments.

Affiliated Midwest Foodstores and KEXL-WJAG Radio Partner with Orphan Grain Train to Collect Food

On October 27, 2005, an Orphan Grain Train semi was filled with supplies for Katrina Relief collected at several Northeast Nebraska Affiliated Food Stores. The collection was promoted by Norfolk, Neb. radio station WJAG-AM/KEXL-FM.

More than $10,000 worth of food and personal hygiene and cleaning supplies were donated to this effort. The final collection was sent south Thursday afternoon, October 27.

Thank you, Radio WJAG-AM/KEXL-FM and Affiliated Foods Midwest!

Truck driver Bob Hultgrew and radio station manager Robb Thomas pause by the truck after loading is complete.

Each pallet-load of donated relief supplies is worth $500-$1,500.

News director Jim Curry watches pallet loading at the Affiliated Foods warehouse in Norfolk.

Robb Thomas asks a question about the last pallet-load of relief supplies loaded.

Concordia University, Nebraska Gives Hurricane Relief Help

Concordia University in Seward, Neb. is actively helping Orphan Grain Train’s hurricane response efforts through several on-campus projects:

Ten percent of the proceeds from the CPH Warehouse Book Sale held the weekend of Sept. 29, 2005, were donated toward hurricane relief. A freewill offering was held that same weekend at a concert by “The Octet.” The two events brought in a total of $1384. That number was matched by Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, putting the total Concordia has raised thus far to $2684, which will be matched dollar-for-dollar by LCMS World-Relief and Human Care.

Additional fund-raisers are planned, including dorm floor donations and a collection at the Homecoming football game Oct. 22.

Concordia University is also holding a Bible drive for hurricane victims. The Open Door shelter in Omaha has taken in 60 refugee families and is one of the many possible destinations for Bibles that are being collected.

Thank you, Concordia University, Nebraska!

Thanks also to Mary Oldenburg, director for student activities and student life at Concordia Nebraska, for providing the information used in this article.

Lutheran Women’s Missionary League (LWML) sending survivor kits to Orphan Grain Train

LWML (Sept. 2005) President Linda Reiser arranged for Orphan Grain Train’s Norfolk, Neb., Annapolis, Md., and other warehouses to accumulate survivor kits for the survivors of Hurricane Katrina. For more information, visit: http://www.lwml.org/survivor_kits.html.

Orphan Grain Train sent the equivalent of three semi-trailer loads of survivor kits to the Gulf Coast, including those loaded on the five semi’s that left Norfolk on Monday, Nov. 7, 2005. The kits were mixed into the various shipments that left Norfolk, Saint Louis, Indiana, and other Orphan Grain Train shipping depots.

On Thursday, Nov. 3, 2005, Reiser visited Orphan Grain Train to learn how the survivor kits were being distributed to Katrina relief centers. She expressed her elation at the system she observed at the Norfolk warehouse.

LWML President Linda Reiser and OGT Vice-President Clayton Andrews at the Norfolk warehouse with examples of LWML’s baby’s survivor kits.

Orphan Grain Train will continue to ship requested supplies to the Katrina relief centers on the Gulf Coast as long as there are requests for help and as long as gifts and other needed resources are available.

Reiser with the most recent delivery of survivor kits that just arrived on the Orphan Grain Train loading dock via UPS.

For a list of what the LWML is assembling, see: http://www.lwml.org/survivor_kits.pdf

Another load of LWML survivor kits brought to Orphan Grain Train by UPS!

The shipping addresses for this collection included:

Orphan Grain Train Warehouse
606 Phillip Ave.
Norfolk, NE 68702-1466
(402) 371-8198

Maryland Division contact person: Ellen Phipps

St. Paul Lutheran Church
31 Rowe Blvd.
Annapolis, Md. 21401
(410) 267-7593

Thank You LWML!

Missouri-Illinois Regional Division Hurricane Katrina Relief

Update From Dorothy Schaser - Tuesday, September 13, 2005

I would like to update you on some of the things going on with the Missouri-Illinois Division.

Lots of help from lots of volunteers: Manning the trailers at Faith, Oakville and Messiah, St. Charles; gathering the items from St. Charles and unloading at Sam’s; buying layers and pallets of goods at Sam’s to add to the trailer, and just doing whatever came up that needed doing. Thanks to everyone!

The container to Hattiesburg, Mississippi, arrived 7:30 a.m. Thursday, September 8, at St. John Lutheran Church. One of the members of St. John was able to provide a front loader and three workers. With youth and other congregational volunteers, they were able to unload the container and organize pastors from small rural congregations to come and pick up goods that day. By the end of the day they had distributed all of the goods to pastors and leaders in the area that St. John had contacted. So a lot of it is already in the hands of the folks who were isolated in the rural areas from Relief Centers, and many had no gas to reach there anyway. (And yes, the apples arrived fine—they did not have baked apples!)

So yesterday we thought that the Missouri-Illinois Division coordination in St. Louis was finished. . .

But our one drop off place at Messiah, St. Charles, had advertised they were collecting for another week. Today we filled the OGT van full of their goods and learned that a Mission Team from Messiah was going to Trinity, Baton Rouge from September 14-18. Maybe these goods and what they collect through September
14 could go there?

Then we got a call from Salem, Affton, that their field worker for four years was now assistant pastor at Trinity, Baton Rouge, and could they do something for that area because they had been in contact with Rev. Dave Buss at Trinity.

Then we got a call from Tim Schulter - LCMS World Relief, offering funds to fill another container here in St. Louis and a tractor, trailer, and driver!

So we now have a trailer parked at Salem Lutheran Church, Affton, and it will be filled with with donations from Salem, Messiah, and as many churches as Marilyn can contact Saturday. Collection dates are from Sunday, September 11 through Wednesday, September 14. Anyone can call Salem Lutheran Church, 314-352-4454 for times of drop-offs. A list of what Trinity is requesting is on their web site: http://www.tlcbr.teamministry.net—click on How to Help. There are two lists there—one list for Trinity is included on that page, and another list is for Stuff Needed for Holy Trinity, Covington.

On September 15, we will probably start shopping to add to the trailer, if necessary. Craig Hanson is willing to drive this load to Baton Rouge on probably Friday, September 16. That means this load would arrive while the Mission Team from Messiah, St. Charles, is still there. How fantastic!

I am sending this, not only to the Norfolk office, but also to our Board Members and others here in St. Louis. Please spread the word.

What a beautiful thing is happening - everyone is using their God given skills and talents from providing money, to providing the hands-on work of coordinating, shopping, packing, and praying. God’s Love is being spread through the hands of His servants! ! !

- Dorothy

News From Franklin Parish, Louisiana

On Thursday morning, September 8, 2005, a report came to the Norfolk, Neb. office of Rev. Ray S. Wilke: In Franklin Parish, Louisiana, federal and state help had yet to arrive a full week and a half after Hurricane Katrina hit the area.

The report came from Orphan Grain Train volunteer driver Craig Hansen of High Ridge, Mo., who delivered chain saws, survival gear and food to the area. Parish officials immediately began using the chain saws to open roads to get to both the living and the dead.

Prisoners helped with the relief effort, doing so with joy and no complaint. They told Hansen, “We have relatives here, too.”

The official coordinating the effort in Franklin Parish asked Craig, “How did you know what we needed? Everyone else is sending stuff we don’t need.”

Katrina Relief Shipment Arrives in Baton Rouge

Early Sunday morning, September 4, an 18-wheeler driven by volunteer Craig Hansen arrived at the Women’s Hospital in East Baton Rouge, La. with diapers and other hospital supplies from Sam’s Club® of Saint Louis.

Women’s Hospital usually handles 20 to 30 neonatal babies in their nursery. That number has now swelled to more than 200 babies. The nurses met Hansen at the door as he arrived.

LCMS World Relief/Human Care, in care of Mr. Tim Schlueter and the cooperation of Mrs. Dorothy Schaser and others volunteers of Orphan Grain Train Missouri-Illinois Division, assembled Craig’s semi-trailer load. Also on the truckload was $60,000 worth of equipment from Lowe’s® and Grainger’s®. LCMS World Relief/Orphan Grain Train volunteers in the Baton Rouge area distributed the clean-up equipment from this truckload.

“If you listen carefully you can hear the sound of chain saws already at work in the clean up,” said Rev. Ray S. Wilke, president of Orphan Grain Train. “Tools will be circulated among workers to assure their most effective use. Good job, everyone!”

Thank You, US 92, Northeast Nebraska’s Country Leader

Thank You, US 92, Northeast Nebraska’s Country Leader, for Raising $33,437.56 for the Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund!

US 92 FM of Norfolk, Neb. ran a “Pay to Play” fund-raiser Tuesday, Sept. 6 to benefit the ongoing Hurricane Katrina relief efforts of Orphan Grain Train. Participants could have the country song of their choice played on the radio for a minimum donation of $10. A minimum donation of $500 allowed donors to request a song of any genre. Several Beatles and Simon and Garfunkel songs were heard as people took the opportunity to hear their favorite non-country songs on a country station. $33,437.56 was raised by the event. Each gift will be matched dollar-for-dollar by LCMS World Relief. Check out photos of the event here.

Disaster Response Hotline: (402) 371-9313

Orphan Grain Train’s Norfolk disaster response team includes two disaster response veterans, Mr. Vern Steinman and Dr. Aaron Walter.

Both men served Orphan Grain Train during ten months of the Hay and Grain Lift effort in response to Nebraska’s drought of 2002-2003. They oversaw the delivery of more than 330 semi-trailer loads of donated hay and grain to farms and ranches in central and western Nebraska.

Vern and Aaron have also managed Orphan Grain Train’s response to requests for food and relief supplies, questions about donations, and volunteer sign-up and assignment after hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Wilma, Gustav and Ike.

Donors, volunteers, and disaster relief workers may call Orphan Grain Train’s Hurricane Response Hot-line: (402) 371-9313, Monday through Friday between 9 a.m. and 12:00 Noon. You may also leave a message after hours. (If the hot-line is busy, please try later, or call Orphan Grain Train’s main telephone number: (402) 371-7393, ext. 115.)

Thank You!

Orphan Grain Train thanks all the volunteer truckers who are hauling relief supplies to Katrina survivors and relief centers on the Gulf Coast.

Thank you to the cash donors who have made it possible for Orphan Grain Train to nearly triple the $375,000 received from LCMS World Relief and Human Care. Thank you to all who continue to support this work with additional gifts and volunteer time.

Orphan Grain Train’s name and character are explained by the words of Christ recorded in the Gospel of John, chapter 14, verse 18, “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.”