Last night, NJPIRG’s AmeriCorps chapter, New Jersey Community Water Watch, returned from a week-long Hurricane Katrina relief effort in Ocean Springs, Mississippi on the Gulf Coast, where they cleared hurricane debris and demolished mold-infested homes. Based out of the Christus Victor Lutheran Church – which has served as a relief center since the storm hit – the nine-person group slept in a tent village, served meals to over 200 still-stranded Katrina families and went out in daily work crews in Ocean Springs and near-by Biloxi.

“What worries me most is that people will think that the disaster is over. Sadly, that’s not the case. We worked at a church that feeds hundreds of people daily, and we saw them forced to turn hungry families away after they gave out their last box of food,” said Matt Elliott, NJPIRG’s NJCWW Program Director. “We worked in houses of people who have waited ten weeks for volunteers to help them clean out their homes so that they can start rebuilding.”

The Christus Victor Lutheran Church – where the group worked out of – is entirely volunteer run, coordinating between 50 and 100 volunteers each day who work in Ocean Springs, Biloxi and other surrounding towns. The church estimates that, in this area alone, nearly 80,000 homes – representing 200,000 people – have been completely destroyed, and for most, the situation hasn’t changed much since the hurricane first hit. Each day, the church still provides food, clothing and cleaning supplies to hundreds of families who are still homeless and hungry.

“What we saw will stick with us for a while. Entire blocks were bulldozed, with nothing among them salvageable. Of the standing houses that we did see, many of them were spray-painted with the request to be torn down, and the rest were still there – just as they were the day after Hurricane Katrina – waiting for help,” said April Putney, a NJCWW Lead Organizer, who works at the Rutgers College Ave. campus. “Many houses were filled with as much as eight feet of water, leaving belongings damaged, and walls covered in mold to the ceilings. For residents who are elderly, or single parents, the task ahead of them is particularly daunting.”

What the group found in Ocean Springs and in Biloxi is that organizations along the Gulf Coast are in desperate need of money, supplies and volunteers. Halfway through the week, the church temporarily ran out of food donations and had to turn away families. As the group prepared to leave, the volunteer pool was still lower than the preceding week. As the NJCWW organizers return to their respective campuses across the Garden State today, they will be telling their story and urging for students, community groups and residents to follow their lead by heading to the Gulf Coast to volunteer or to donate money to local relief efforts.

“When we gutted houses last week, we worked alongside elderly residents, single mothers and families, moving their family photos, family heirlooms, clothing, appliances, even walls and insulation to the curb because it was complete destroyed by the water that filled their homes,” Elliott said. “More than anything, though, we provided hope to people who have been waiting for help, and we hope that all who hear of our trip will help in whatever ways they can – by donating money, or by taking a week off to volunteer in the Gulf Coast – to make the coming holiday season a little easier for the hundreds of thousands here who are still homeless.”

This relief effort by NJPIRG’s AmeriCorps Water Watch chapter was planned in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. They are the first state AmeriCorps program to organize a Hurricane Katrina relief effort in the nation. The organizers started to research how they could organize a Gulf Coast relief trip and started fundraising from local businesses and individuals to pay for their gas fare down to Mississippi and to donate funds to the church where they stayed and were fed.

Early on Friday morning, Nov. 11, the group piled into cars to begin the two-day journey, 20-hour plus driving caravan journey to Ocean Springs. Stopping to stay over in a church in Knoxville, Tennessse, the group was able to arrive in Ocean Springs late on the evening of Nov. 12, and were immediately put to work.

To learn more about the trip, the group encourages people to read their online blog which chronicled their daily efforts at www.waterwatchonline.org/nj. Donations can be made directly to the church by visiting www.christusvictor.com. For information on volunteering directly in the Gulf Coast, contact Water Watch Director Matt Elliott at 908-217-2496.

Organizers, Where They’re From and Contact Info:
April Putney, Rutgers College Ave. Organizer, Cell: 609-947-8121
Kristen Elia, Cook-Douglass Organizer and Long Branch native, Cell: 848-228-1846
Emilie Rabbitt, Livingston-Busch Organizer, Cell: 608-217-2735
Kym Klein, Rutgers-Newark Organzer, Cell: 570-765-1015
Lexi Gelperin, Princeton University Organizer and Princeton native, Call Matt for cell #
Alexis St. Juliana, Brookdale County College Organizer, Call Matt for cell #
Amber Hoover, Richard Stockton College Organizer, Cell: 570-765-8170
Elyse Conde, Montclair State University Organizer and Cherry Hill native, Cell: 607-275-7765