Two years after Hurricane Rita, Southeast Texas still rebuilds

Posted: 8/17/07

Two years after Hurricane Rita,
Southeast Texas still rebuilds

By Whitney Farr

Communications Intern

VIDOR—It sounds like a story from two years ago—victims of hurricane Rita receiving help from total strangers—but this is not an old newspaper.

For most Americans, the horrors of Rita have become a distant memory. But many Southeast Texas residents still live in the same nightmare as in the day the storm struck.

Students from First Baptist Church in Henderson have seen the persistent devastation of Hurricane Rita.

Mission volunteers Maddie Phenix, Adam Head, Donnie Powers and Kolby Buckner work on a home as part of Nehemiah’s Vision. To volunteer or donate to the efforts of Nehemiah’s Vision, call (409) 769-1616, e-mail nehemiahsvision@sbcglobal.net or visit their website at www.nehemiahsvision.com.

“It is amazing that almost two years after the hurricane, folks are still feeling the impact in the lives they live and the homes they live in,” Student Minister Frank Teat said.

Through a nonprofit organization called Nehemiah’s Vision, teenagers from the Henderson congregation joined forces with church youth groups from all over the state, including Ridgecrest Baptist in Greenville, United Baptist in Cleveland, First Baptist in Daingerfield, Eagle Mountain Baptist in Fort Worth and First Baptist in Edgewood, to demolish, rebuild and paint homes damaged by Hurricane Rita in the Beaumont/Port Arthur area.

“In total, there were 97 of us working on 14 homes,” Teat said.

Andy Narramore, director of Nehemiah’s Vision, reported the group provided about $50,000 worth of free labor.

Teenagers from Ridgecrest were assigned to work on two homes. Volunteers were inspired to “give it all they had” after they saw how serious the damage still was after two years, youth worker Laura Williams said.

“One home was so wrecked by the storm that the insurance company was about to take away the family’s homeowner’s insurance. Our youth were determined to change that,” Williams said.

After scraping paint, reconstructing a deck that had been swept away, repairing plumbing, and taping, bedding and hanging sheetrock to the formerly gutted walls, the homeowner’s insurance was saved.

Williams also said that even after two years, more and more people are finding out about the help Nehemiah’s Vision provides and are applying for assistance.

Since the hurricane, more than 1,400 homes in the Golden Triangle Area needed major repairs. Since the project is dependent on volunteer work, half the needs remain unmet.

Five businessmen from Southeast Texas formed Nehemiah’s Vision to share the love of God in practical ways. Their goal was to assist in recovery efforts in Southeast Texas and in future crises elsewhere. They focus on helping uninsured and underinsured homeowners and churches.

They selected the company’s name based on the similarity of its mission to the command God gave Nehe-miah to rebuild the wall in Jerusalem. Organizers draw inspiration from Nehemiah 2:20: “The God of heaven will give us success. We his servants will start rebuilding.”

The week before these youth groups arrived, First Baptist Church in Plains partnered with Nehemiah’s Vision to build a home in just four days for Betty Hanks.

“It’s my little mansion,” Hanks said. “And I have a bigger mansion in heaven!”

First Baptist Plains found out about Nehemiah’s Vision after members met Narramore at Texas Baptist Men training event for disaster relief volunteers. A year before building the house for Hanks, church volunteers poured the foundation and raised a home in four and a half days for a family whose home had been completely washed away in the storm.

“We are blessed to have some members with construction knowledge, but most of our crew is made up of everyday people—teachers, farmers, administrators,” volunteer and church secretary Zanna Traweek said. “People are still displaced, and there is so much left to do. We just got back, and we are already planning our next trip.”

Volunteers who have served there stress the need for Texas Baptist churches to remember their neighbors in Southeast Texas who still face challenges.

“People have lost hope. They don’t think help will ever come,” said Williams. “But they feel so blessed when help finally does arrive.”