Saline Countians travel south to help those devastated by Katrina, Rita

Archie Blumhorst of Slater works on a structure that was damaged in last summer's hurricanes. This photo was taken during his first trip, a month-long stay last fall. Blumhorst also joined a group from Concordia that went to the Gulf Coast in January.

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In the months since hurricanes Katrina and Rita, national attention seems to have turned most often to the big issues of blame and rebuilding. But meanwhile the people who were in the paths of the hurricanes struggle to rebuild homes and churches.

While politicians in Washington, D.C., sort out how many billions of dollars will be spent and where, people from around the country have rolled up their sleeves and gone to work helping those in need.

Groups of people from Saline County have been making regular trips to Mississippi and Louisiana to lend a hand with cleanup and rebuilding efforts.

The First United Methodist Church of Marshall sponsored a group of 10 members who traveled to Lake Charles, La., Feb. 6 through 11 to help an elderly woman whose home suffered wind damage from Hurricane Rita.

Pastor David Huck said that in the past five years Dorothy Washington had lost her husband and her daughter, the brick home she had lived in for many years burned down and her son-in-law went blind. Then Rita hit.

Washington was living with her son-in-law nearby but was thinking of going to a nursing home when the Marshall contingent arrived, according to Huck.

"She was just a delightful lady," Huck said. "We were there for her birthday and she said we had given her the most wonderful present -- a home."

Huck credited one member of the group in particular, Darrell Ahrens, of Darrell Ahrens Construction, who brought the know-how needed to make repairs and improvements to Washington's home.

The group built a ramp to help Washington enter her home more easily, added a porch and replaced a door and window.

Huck said the trip was very rewarding.

"The response of all the people on our team was they want to go back," he said.

He hopes the news will spread about the trips Saline Countians are making and that more people will get involved in the effort since there is still much work to be done.

"Lake Charles took a direct hit from Rita," he said, noting that even so it was spared the worst of the storm. "Cameron (La.) looks like Hiroshima."

Cameron is a town of about 2,000 people 50 miles south of Lake Charles.

Another member of the local clergy to assist in rebuilding efforts is Gene Page, pastor of North Street United Methodist Church in Marshall and Elmwood United Methodist Church in Elmwood.

The group Page joined stayed in New Iberia, La., in late January and helped one man whose home suffered some flood damage.

The group also provided assistance to a small nearby church that actually had not suffered much storm damage but needed repair work the congregation could not afford.

Archie Blumhorst of Slater was part of a group of 26 people, mostly from Concordia, who went to Chalmette, La., Jan. 1 to help with hurricane recovery. The group also included two people from Alma, Luke Tieman and Freddie Hertwig, and one from Marshall, Jarid Stiek.

"The church that we gutted and mucked at Chalmette was 11 feet below sea level," he said.

"Yes, the work was hard and at times uncomfortable, but it was rewarding to realize that we were helping others that truly need it."

Contact Eric Crump at

marshallfaith@socket.net