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 This past summer, nearly 40 students, faculty, staff, alumnae and friends of Regina High School traveled by bus to assist with Hurricane Katrina relief efforts. They spent a week helping at Our Lady of the Gulf Parish, in Mississippi.
The parish is located right on the Gulf of Mexico. Church property includes a church, parish center, temporary rectory, elementary school and a girls’ high school. A boy’s high school is located on the adjoining property. Each of the buildings took a direct hit from Katrina
Very little has been rebuilt in the area so far. Insurance and FEMA are delaying progress and in many cases, preventing it.
“Conditions were worse than I expected,” said Regina senior Courtney Johnson. “It’s been two years and people sometimes forget that there are many that still need help.”
 The group was assigned several tasks at the parish elementary school including painting stairs, delivering 10,000 pounds of textbooks, assembling new desks, unloading a semi of cafeteria tables, installing ceiling tile and painting a huge mural of Noah’s ark. The school finally reopened for this school year, merging three parish elementary schools, two of which were washed away by Katrina.
Other tasks included cleaning up parish grounds and doing some landscaping, painting a house, pouring concrete pilings for a home, clearing out a home which had housed 25 people during and after the hurricane, and helping a family find a way to begin to sort out the remains of the hurricane.
The Regina team was challenged by heat, poor accommodations, insects, simple meals, and hard work. These were all overshadowed by the joy of sharing time and talents with those in need. |
