Family and community members who helped organize CARE include (front row, from left) Alvin and Malinda Beiler; (middle row, from left) Elmer Fisher, Andy Beiler, Sam Esh Jr.; and (back row, from left) Jeff Smoker, John Beiler, Esther Smoker and Dave Stoltzfus.
By Jane Holahan
Updated Feb 19, 2007 15:58
But talk to the folks who live in the Gulf Coast town of 5,500 as they continue to clean up from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, and you’d think the two communities were side by side.
“The consensus down here is that Pennsylvania and more specially Lancaster County has been the biggest source of help in this area,” says Nathan Smoker, a youth pastor at Church of the Good Shepherd in Pass Christian, who lost his home in the hurricane.
By the end of this week, Smoker, 26, who was born and raised in New Providence; his wife Amy, 23, and their nine-month-old son, Jacob, will be moving into a new home, built with the hands of many Lancaster County residents.
And more homes are to come.
“The spirit of the barn raising is alive and well,” says Malinda Beiler, of Ronks, who is Nathan Smoker’s aunt.
Within days after last August’s storm, and continuing every week since, dozens upon dozens of Lancaster County volunteers have gone to Pass Christian and nearby communities to help.
They are part of a group called CARE — Community Aid Relief Effort — which was organized by the Plain community here to help Smoker and others left homeless by the storm.
They are a mighty force.
“My brother Omar told his son Nathan that his parents didn’t have six children, 45 grandchildren and 127 great-grandchildren for nothing,” says Beiler, 67. “He told him we were there for them.”
And how.
In the months since Katrina devastated much of the quiet coastal community of Pass Christian and nearby Waveland, the massive debris has been cleared, homes are being repaired and new homes are beginning to be built.
Between 40 and 50 CARE volunteers head to Mississippi each week, doing whatever is asked of them. Some supervisors go down for months at a time.
And more than 20 Lancaster businesses have offered their help through CARE as well, donating a wide array of supplies from paint to appliances and drywall to roofing material. They’ve also let their employees take time off to go down and help.
Within days after the storm, word quickly got around that Omar Smoker of New Providence had a son who lost a house down in Mississippi and he was going down to help.
“Omar’s parents were Amish and most of the people in the community knew them, even if they didn’t know Omar,” says Samuel Esh Jr. of Bird-in-Hand, who is a member of CARE and three-time worker in Mississippi over the past few months. “There was so much interest in the Amish community. We really felt the hand of God opening doors.”
Realizing it would take years to complete their work, organizers created CARE on their way home from the first trip.
“We wanted our community to get involved,” says Esh by telephone from Mississippi. “And there was so much interest among the Amish community.”
It’s not glamorous work.
“We were cleaning up yards where there was debris three feet high (and) mucking out houses,” Esh says. “Waveland and Pass Christian were probably the worst hit parts” when Katrina came ashore.
“The first group of volunteers came from the Spring Garden Amish Church,” says Beiler, who calls the congregation a New Order type of Amish church. “They were straining at the bit to get down there even before they got the clearance to go.”
The organization set up headquarters in Smoker’s church, much of which had been heavily damaged. The Sunday school room, kitchen and fellowship hall had only minor damage, however, and that is where the volunteers ate and slept. The rest of the time, they were working.
Beiler, also reached by telephone, has been down several times to help feed the volunteers.
Women here in Lancaster County have baked desserts, and local residents have donated all kinds of food and a refrigerated truck to take it to Mississippi.
Later, epic trips to the grocery store, 25 miles away, became a daily routine.
“I never cooked three meals a day for so many people in my life,” says Beiler with a laugh. “I’ve learned if you’re cooking for a big group, make foods you’re familiar with. Mashed potatoes, ham, chicken pot pie, chicken and filling. We had spaghetti one night and the strange thing was, people said it was the best spaghetti they ever ate.”
Not so strange, really. They were working hard, long days.
“There was thousands of cubic yards of debris to clean,” says Smoker. “People went in with hammers, crowbars, brooms, skid loaders, chain saws.”
Amy Smoker, who is a native of Pass Christian, remembers seeing her house the day after Katrina hit.
“It was a pile of debris with the roof sitting on top of it,” she recalls, speaking to a reporter by telephone. “I couldn’t even make out our belongings. I cried. My hands were shaking. I didn’t know what to think. Everything was destroyed as far as you could look right and left. It was unreal.”
A symbolic phoenix did rise from the debris.
As they began clearing away the debris, they found the quilt Nathan’s mother, Esther, had made for them. Except for a little dirt, it was in perfect condition.
The waves of volunteers who arrive from Lancaster County to help aren’t confined to CARE. Esh says on average, between 70 to 80 Lancastrians are there during any given week. Most are coming from churches and faith-based organizations.
“I really got to see there are a lot of charitable people in Lancaster County,” Esh says. “We’ve got a blessed heritage. You really see it when you are part of this organization.”
The Smokers came to live in Lancaster for about two months after the storm, unsure if they wanted to return to Pass Christian.
But Nate Smoker believes God had plans for him.
“The Lord has had me down here for more than the work I was doing for the past five years,” he says.
“Our pastor called Nate one day and said he really needed his help,” Mrs. Smoker says. “They had a lot of teams coming down and were overwhelmed.”
So the couple returned to Mississippi.
Church of the Good Shepherd, which is an independent church, started Project Recovery, which brings volunteers in from across the country.
The Smokers are luckier than most. Their experiences with FEMA have been positive and problems with their insurance company have been resolved, allowing them to purchase the materials to rebuild their house.
Other folks who aren’t so lucky — and Mrs. Smoker says there are many — can look to both CARE and Project Recovery for help.
Several weeks ago, members of CARE moved their headquarters to Waveland, which is about half an hour from Pass Christian, where they are doing much of their work right now.
“We are hoping this can go on for several years,” Esh says, adding that there is grave concern about the upcoming hurricane season. “The people of Mississippi are so accepting, so nice. We couldn’t let this thing alone and not help.”
The Smokers will be moving into their new home this week. It is the first completed home in the area and everyone calls it the House that Lancaster County Built.
“The Gulf is still in the cleanup phase. You come down here, you don’t see houses being built. You see dump trucks,” says Mrs. Smoker, whose brother is living in a FEMA trailer and whose parents are living in a borrowed condo as they wait for insurance claims to come through so they can rebuild.
“Nate and I are the exception down here,” she says. “We are the exception because of Lancaster County.”
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