Things I Will Miss

When I leave Southern Louisiana on Saturday, I will miss:

1. The friendliness and greetings that come with living in a small Southern town, like being called Baby, Sugar, Sweet, and even Miss Karen. People I've never seen before wave and smile, even calling from their cars, "How y'all doin'?"

2. The response of Baldwin and surrounding communities to staff and volunteers at this place. For example, voices at the other end of the phone immediately soften and become happily engaged when I say, "This is Karen Peter, calling from the Outreach Office at UMCOR Sager Brown."

3. Church Baldwin-style. What better option do you have on a Sunday morning than church, church and more church. Parishoners must feel cheated if the service is any less than two to three hours. The prayers are pleading, the music is soaring, the sermons are insistent, everything is punctuated by congregational commentary. I will never feel the same way about worship again. Yes, yes Lord!

4. Mardi Gras Trees. When I arrived in town on Epiphany eve, January 5, the Wal-Mart in Morgan City was off-loading what I thought were Christmas trees. I had to think for a moment before I remembered from a previous trip that they were for Mardi Gras. Most folks simply
take their Christmas deco off their trees and break out the purple, green and gold. There are colored foil strips and rolls, feathers, masks, hats and, of course, beads. Mickey Mouse Head Start has a Mardi Gras tree. Raintree Elementary has one decorated with masks made by its students. Chez Hope has an elaborate one, done by staff, residents and volunteers. Festive, gaudy Mardi Gras trees are everywhere.

5. Fellow volunteers from many places, each with interesting expertise of their own, interrupting their lives to be in service to this community and to the world on this sacred ground.

6. The seemingly endless trains, reassuring in the daytime, then crooning lullabies at night.

It has surely been good to be busy in Baldwin.

Mardi Gras

Now that I've read the Mardi Gras flyer from the local Wynn-Dixie and attended the Jeanerette Mardi Gras Parade, I can write the following:

Mardi Gras literally means Fat Tuesday and is always the day before Ash Wednesday. Mardi Gras is the last day of revelry before the forty days of Lent, which ends with Easter Sunday.

The Carnival Season begins January 6, on the Feast of the Epiphany, or Twelfth Night. The origin of the word 'Carnival' is from Latin, meaning "farewell to the flesh," when one is expected to forego earthly pleasures.

The traditional colors of Mardi Gras are: Purple=Justice, Green=Faith and Gold=Power.

The King Cake is an oval-shaped, sweetened, yeast bread covered with sugar topping and decorated in traditional Mardi Gras colors. The colorful topping represents a jeweled crown in honor of the Three Wise Men who visited the Christ Child. Finding the tiny, plastic Baby Jesus inside the King Cake is a sign of (take your pick): 1)You're King/Queen for a year, 2)Good Luck, or 3)You get to buy the next King Cake!

Every Louisiana town has a Mardi Gras parade. Cities generally have more than one, often three or four. New Orleans has too many parades to count. Jeanerette is about nine miles northwest of Baldwin and held its parade today. (Baldwin's parade is next Saturday.). If Jeanerette is typical, Mardi Gras parades are mostly about the beads. Truck after truck, car after car and float after float carried people who were tossing strings of beads to the parade watchers. Head Start had several princes and princesses, social clubs had several kings and queens; all of them were tossing out beads. Their drivers were throwing bead necklaces as well. People ran out into the street with shopping bags to pick them up. There was some candy, but mostly it was all about beads. There were metal beads, plastic beads, small beads, large and jumbo beads, round beads, long, shaped and patterned beads. The only people not involved with beads were the bands, drill teams, dancers and baton twirlers, and they were stepping on and around the unclaimed beads. I think the importance of Mardi Gras here eclipses Christmas. It was quite the happy cultural event. I'm glad I went.

People Power

Today is glorious in Southern Louisiana. Yesterday we got our sunshine in liquid form, but today the sky is blue and cloudless with a high of fifty-something. Good thing, too, because we are close to the height of Carnival season and there are parades everywhere for the next week before it all culminates in Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday). Jo was going to do February Food Distribution, as always, on the fourth Wednesday of the month. That would be Ash Wednesday, the day after Mardi Gras. When she told Catholic Charities, our sister organization on the project, about plowing ahead as usual, they said, "You're not from around here, are you?" Jo replied she was from Atlanta, and they explained, "On Ash Wednesday, most folks in these parts will either be in bed or in church." Food Distribution this month will be on February 29th.

So, Jo is the Director of Outreach Services here at UMCOR Sager Brown. That means she coordinates not only monthly food distribution, but also Hearts and Hands for Homes (local home repair), volunteerism in the community (Chez Hope, Head Start, etc.), and campus worship opportunities for volunteers (primarily the weekly Vesper Service). I am partial to her because she is my boss.

As with all volunteer nonprofits, USB is staffed with people whose jobs are designed to maximize volunteer usefulness and potential. USB is extremely good at this, because it has an excellent staff.

Kathy is the Executive Director of Relief Services for UMCOR. She lives in a house on the USB campus and coordinates the efforts of seven depots, the one here being the largest. She is a
hands-on person who mingles with volunteers and staff at every level and whose career military service and deaconess background dovetail nicely into organizational efficiency and spiritual understanding.

Bill and Dianna sold their home and left their lucrative careers so they could work as volunteers. This was serendipitous as shortly thereafter Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, Bill
organized a fleet of relief supply delivery trucks here, Dianna coordinated it, and they never looked back. They run Volunteer Services. Bill staffs USB with long-term volunteers (those serving for anywhere from four weeks to six months) and oversees the campus itself. Every short-term volunteer has Bill's cellphone number on the back of her name tag for emergencies.
Dianna schedules in and oversees the paperwork and finances of the more than 3,000 short-term
volunteers who serve at USB each year. (Late last year, Dianna was diagnosed with breast cancer and she is currently in Dallas receiving treatment. Please keep her in your prayers. Bill leaves to join her next week.)

Bettye is Director of Financial Operations. She oversees the USB budget. She is a rabid Saints fan. Misty is our new Administrative Secretary; she does a little bit of everything
capably and willingly. Debbie, Joanne and Sonia are the USB cooks and they are fabulous! All our bread (except toast) is fresh baked (including Communion); their sweet potato pancakes, casseroles, boiled shrimp, red beans and rice and desserts are divine! When people say they're going out to eat here, I say, "Why?" Pat, Jondalyon and Faye are the Housekeeping Department. They do more washing, sweeping, vacuuming and cleaning than I even want to think about. Jimmy, Richard and Alvin are the Maintenance Department. Jimmy zips around in his golf cart with the American flag flapping in the breeze. If it's broken or it needs to be pruned or mowed, unlocked or locked, they're the ones to do it.

Glenn, Ro, Freddie and Florida oversee the Depot, including the sewing room. They educate the volunteers so all work is up to code, load and store pallets and keep track of everything. They make the Depot hum, and when a shipment needs to go out, they take care of that, too.

All that's left are the Volunteers, the folks who give reason and justification to all of the above, and who are--for their week or more, happy to be busy in Baldwin.

FYI II

Last week we said goodbye to Arkansas, Illinois, Minnesota, Ohio and Texas. This week we said hello to Colorado, Iowa, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas. This will be my first week here without a volunteer from Minnesota. Those folks are serious about their volunteering! (On a silly note: We had a gal from Savanna UMC in Illinois last week whose name was Virginia. For some reason I had a hard time remembering if she was Savanna from Virginia or Virginia from Illinois. I got so I just called her Savanna. We laughed a lot.) It is always hard to say farewell on Friday. The parking lot empties at midday and stays empty till mid afternoon on Sunday when it fills again. Saturday is restful, but subdued. Sunday evening's Welcome and Information meeting brings new energy and enthusiasm. This week we have around sixty volunteers. USB is considered full at forty-five to sixty-five.

Friday, one of our major water heaters in Zook Hall died. Zook Hall is the USB dorm. Peck Hall is all apartments (eight, including two occupied by full-time staff). There are twelve RV hookups which wrap around the residence/admin/bayou side of the campus. Anyhow, the dead water heater will hopefully be replaced on Monday, tomorrow. In the meantime, Jan, our long term volunteer hostess, said the faucets will all yield, if not necessarily hot, at least fresh, safe water, which is more than can be said in most of the world. Sobering.

The reason USB turned out to be such a good base for relief work during Hurricane Andrew in the 90s, then again during Katrina and Rita, is that it is fifteen feet above sea level. That is considered higher ground in these parts.

Jerry, a long term volunteer from Colorado, says one out of five homes in Baldwin has been worked on by USB volunteers.

Raintree Elementary School

Like much of January, the temperature in Baldwin is well into the 70s today. Because the sky is a deep gray and rain has been pelting my apartment windows in Peck Hall, it is also plenty humid, even indoors. Residents say January felt more like March this year, and they're concerned about the heat come summertime.

This morning, before the rain, I jumped rope on one end of the basketball court while boys shot hoops on the other end. Then I walked past La Jolie Dame and the convenience store/gas station where the Middle Eastern cashier named (I think) Dahmir calls me Kah-reenie when I come in for two cans of Coke for a dollar. I was on my way to mail postcards at the little Baldwin post office, just a couple doors down from old Baldwin Elementary School, which is deserted, even though the sign on the school fence still clearly states: Be Drug Free.

Baldwin and five other elementary schools closed about four years ago when the local Chitimacha Tribe of Native Americans donated a large parcel of land, purchased with profits from their casino, for a new elementary school. Raintree Elementary sits on open land, at least a half-mile away from any other structures. It is simply, but beautifully designed, and as it's taken in the students from six schools, it's big, with wide halls and bright, functional, updated classrooms. The class size runs 20-25 students and there are at least five classes of each grade, K-6. There are aides and curriculum facilitators and even physical education coaches. The office is run by Pam, administrative assistant, and Penny, competent, compassionate and, I'm sure, underpaid secretary and it functions with amazing precision. When UMCOR Sager Brown volunteers arrive Thursday morning, they are placed in classrooms where they were chosen at Wednesday afternoon's staff meeting. Usually, volunteers tutor students one-on-one in reading and math, but last week one volunteer was in the computer lab with kindergartners and one was leading a small first grade group discussing the word 'argue.'. What happened to playing house?!

At the other end of the economic spectrum is the Mickey Mouse Head Start Program, whose shabby, white, clapboard building was supposed to give way to a new facility several years ago, but that switch never materialized. Last week's volunteers worked inside the building on Tuesday morning, then came back with a work party Thursday afternoon and cleaned 27 bags of leaves and debris from the roof and play yard, along with several health hazards. It is good to work with wonderful people and to all be busy in Baldwin.

FYI (For Your Interest)

Last week, my boss in Outreach, Jo, preached in Houma (45 miles east of Baldwin, about halfway between Baldwin and New Orleans) for UMW (United Methodist Women) Sunday. She gave a wonderful sermon on "Passing the Baton" and what an intricate maneuver that is in a relay race and how important it is for women to pass their faith on from generation to generation. After the service at Bayou Blue UMC and the requisite potluck, we journeyed to Vacherie, somewhere close to Thibodeaux, to tour a plantation. Vacherie has a tiny UMC about the size of a tract house living room which holds services the second and fourth Saturdays of the month from 4-5 pm. It is away from everything and cannot possibly hold more than twenty people. I guess that's enough. We chose to tour Oak Alley Plantation in little Vacherie, butted up against the mighty Mississippi River and fronted by two columns of 300-year old live oak trees framing the huge Big House like a canopy. Stunning! I kept expecting to bump into Rhett Butler.

Glenn Druilhet (pronounced Drew-Yet') is a gracious, aristocratic-looking African American woman who is the Director of Depot Operations at USB. Her husband went to school here along with the rest of his large family in the 1960s and 70s. He said the Methodist deaconesses (Home Missionaries) were so strict that when the Sager Brown students graduated eighth grade and fed into the high school district in Franklin, it took awhile for the rest of the kids to catch up academically.

Sunday at Trinity UMC across the street, the church drummer was resplendent in fire engine red: red shirt, red pants, red boots and red hat. Quite the sight--and sound!

Mickey Mouse Head Start

The Head Start program in Franklin next door is called Peter Pan. Mickey Mouse Head Start in Baldwin is on the other side of the tracks. Literally. The last time I picked up a group of volunteers, we had to wait twenty minutes for a freight train so we could return to Sager Brown.

Upon opening the door of an aged, white, clapboard building with Mickey Mouse Head Start Program labeled across the lower half in small, neat letters, one is greeted by a tidy, spacious, bright interior, a large desk, and a neat row of connected small tables and chairs. The desk is often manned by Miss Louise, Director. (In these parts, the title 'Miss' is a term of deference used for an older woman. I liked it better before I knew that.). The tables and chairs are where the children have snacks and a hot lunch. This large entry room and the kitchen separate two classrooms and sets of restrooms which hold twenty students each, consisting of three to five-year olds, mainly African American with a couple Latino children in each class. There are two African American teachers for each class. Miss Louise knows every child and each teacher--well. The teachers know their flocks, too. Each team of teachers consists of a head teacher and an aide, who does the majority of the discipline and carefully supervises bathroom breaks and field trip procedures. Field trips consist mainly of bi-monthly trips to the local library, where Miss Yvette (a library employee) reads a couple theme books (zoo, parade, helping mommy at home), facilitates a couple action songs and a related art project and gets a bunch of hugs for her efforts. Back in the classroom, children spend a lot of time on social skills, basic hygiene, and building a foundation for a successful kindergarten experience. Each day one student gets to be the leader, reviewing days of the week, months of the year, shapes, colors, the five senses and the weather. When the children are prompt with the correct response, they get to, "Kiss your brain!" Even the youngest three-year old knows how to pucker-up on the tips of the fingers of one hand, then tap the side of her head. There are interest centers (musical instruments, blocks, books, science, math and computers) where the children play and learn simultaneously. The program goes from 9am-2pm, Monday-Friday, includes nap time, and even the volunteers get hugs from the cutest little ones in the community before we go.

A Short History of Sager Brown

(mostly copied from the UMCOR Sager Brown volunteers' manual, "Know Before You Go")

UMCOR Sager Brown has it's origins in New Orleans. In 1867, a group of women in New Orleans formed the Orphan's Home Society Corporation. This was a means of raising money to provide a home for African American boys who had been orphaned by the Civil War. It was funded primarily by the Freedman's Aid Society, a predecessor to the Black College Fund of the United Methodist Church, and John Baldwin, a plantation owner in St. Mary Parish, La.

Very early in the life of the orphanage, a large monetary gift from William Gilbert of Winsted, Conn., allowed a school for African Americans to be built with Dr. W.D. Godman as director. The institution was named the Orphans Home and the Gilbert Academy and Industrial School. Eventually, Gilbert Academy was moved to New Orleans near Dillard University and became a preparatory school. The school in Baldwin, grades one through eight, then became known as Godman Industrial School. Godman and his wife directed the school and the orphanage and were also responsible for building a Methodist Church on the property.

In the early 1900s, the Orphan's Home and Godman Industrial School were in dire financial straits. Dr. and Mrs. Godman took the student choir, the Jubilee Singers, on a tour of the northeastern United States to raise money. Mrs. Addie Sager and Mrs. C.W. Brown became familiar with the plight of the organization through a concert given for the North Central New York Methodist Conference. Sager and Brown purchased the school and gave it to the Women's Home Mission Society, forerunner of the Women's Division of the UMC (United Methodist Church), to operate. The institution was known as Sager Brown Home and Godman School until 1978. That year, the home and school closed and the property was put up for sale. Twenty-eight acres and ten brick buildings on beautiful Bayou Teche were offered for sale for $100,000--but, there were no buyers. The property sat vacant for fourteen years!

In 1992, Hurricane Andrew hit the coast of south Louisiana causing major damage to the area around Baldwin. UMCOR (United Methodist Committee On Relief) came to the area with volunteers and supplies and used the old Sager Brown campus to stage their operations. After two years, UMCOR determined that the Sager Brown campus would be an excellent location to build an UMCOR depot, from which disaster relief supplies could be collected and provided to the world. The 48,000 square foot UMCOR Depot opened in 1996.

The campus today is a living, working monument to over a century of United Methodist mission. UMCOR is a leader in service for the UMC to those who are hungry, displaced, sick or in poverty because of natural or human-made disasters. UMCOR serves in eighty-one countries of the world. Each year, more than three thousand volunteers come to USB to work in the UMCOR Depot and in service to the community in and surrounding Baldwin, LA, to help make a difference.

Food For Families and Home Repair

While the international relief work of stitching blankets, layette items and school bags goes on in the sewing room and kits of all kinds are packed and boxed year round in the UMCOR Depot, community outreach involves more variety. This week, in addition to assisting at Head Start, Chez Hope, Raintree Elementary and local Hearts and Hands home repair projects, we also took charge of the St. Mary's Parish monthly Food For Families commodities distribution. Short term volunteers are always free to choose among offered activities. Some work at the Depot or on home repair all week; many choose to try several things.

"Two in the truck bed!" "One in the back seat, driver's side!" "Four in the trunk!" The callers barked directions. The packers made sure the right number of food boxes were placed in the designated spot for each driver. The Depot parking lot was a beehive of activity as clients and their proxies collected monthly boxed grocery items. The fourth Wednesday morning of each month, paperwork is activated and filed in the Sager Brown Gymnasium, then people drive over to the Depot for pick-up. Over six hundred boxes were sent out between 8:30 and 11 a.m. Eighty more will go out in the next week to stragglers. Sager Brown signs folks up, Catholic Charities verifies eligibility, boxes food up (each box contains cereals, juices,
pasta, canned fruits and vegetables, and cheese), and delivers pallets of boxes to
distribution points, and, locally, Sager Brown distributes the boxes. As Abraham Lincoln
said, it's amazing what you can accomplish if you don't care who gets the credit.

Home repair projects are designed to provide safety, security and sanitation for the residences of low income seniors and disabled persons. Since 2003, Sager Brown has completed 440 projects, all done by volunteers. There are ninety homes (probably eighteen months worth of projects) waiting to be done. Last week we finished weatherizing and securing a trailer home for two grandparents. Their grandchildren sang and danced, then we prayed the home would shelter them and provide a place of happiness and peace. My supervisor said it was the first time she had ever seen the grandfather smile.

Emma

Emma is 12-years old. She came to UMCOR Sager Brown last week with her grandmother, Betty. This is unusual, as the first few months of the year at USB are typically filled by short term volunteers who are retirees. Summer months are booked by youth groups and families come during holiday breaks. Emma was on intersession from school, so she was the only USB short term volunteer last week under the age of sixty. She dutifully and efficiently packed health kits in the Depot, volunteered to help at Mickey Mouse Head Start, and toured and worked at Chez Hope. She scraped plates and cleaned tables during Kitchen Ministry. Betty said she had chosen to come, but was afraid Emma might be bored around all the old people for a week. By Thursday, it was apparent Emma had a number of adoptive grandparents. On Friday, I told Emma it had been wonderful having her with us and asked if she had a good time. She sweetly said, "Yes." I asked if she was ready to head for home, and she said, "No." I am not the only person who likes being busy in Baldwin.

Chez Hope, Etc.

Etc.
Minnesota left yesterday, pretty much in a multi-car parade. It is unusual to have the Sager Brown Campus populated by the UMC (United Methodist Church) short term volunteers from one state. I will miss them as most stayed two weeks and they had become friends by the time they left. A big (30+) group from Tennessee, a smaller group from Iowa and some others come in tomorrow and it will be back to relying on name tags again. Another adventure awaits.
Monday of last week was MLK Day. Baldwin, like most other towns in the state, had a people's march with a church service afterwards. A good number of USB (UMCOR Sager Brown) volunteers walked with the local ROTC leading the way, from one Baptist church to another. The music at the service was stirring, as you might guess, beginning with "Lift Every Voice and Sing" and ending with "We Shall Overcome".
A few of us went to Shucks in Abbeville for seafood dinner (great crab cakes!) on Wednesday (USB afternoon off from work to allow sightseeing and eating in the area). Last night we went to Landry's in New Iberia for 'Gerald Thibodeaux and Cajun Accent' zydeco music (wonderful--accordion and all!) and buffet last night. The salads/salad bars here are chopped, usually white, iceberg lettuce, tomato slices and shredded carrots; their hearts just aren't really in it. The other food, on the other hand, mostly fried...Oh, my! I had the best fried chicken yesterday that I have ever tasted.
Last week, our Vespers Service was mostly song. The tenors, baritones and basses were amazing! One of the MN volunteers is fluent in American Sign Language and taught a choir to
sign "Jesus Loves Me".
This week we will do a monthly distribution of 650-700 boxes of food to local seniors on Wednesday morning. Apparently the Campus becomes a zoo. I can hardly wait.

Chez Hope
This House of Hope is an interesting and colorful place. The area domestic violence shelter for women and children used to be housed in what is now the administration building on the USB Campus, but is now run out of a historic hotel next door in Franklin. It was quite the destination in the late 1800s and early 1900s. So much so that movie star Greta Garbo stayed there and caused quite a stir in the neighborhood when she was caught skinny-dipping in the hotel pool with a female companion. Her picture still hangs over the front desk. Chez Hope, like most non-profits these days, is run on a shoestring budget. It begs for and receives donations, mostly from the community, to supplement a meager grant from the state. USB short term volunteers tour on Wednesday mornings (Thursday this week, because of food distribution) and work in My Sister's Closet, a second hand clothing center for residents, since many of them escape with only the clothes on their backs. The front, all-purpose, meeting room is decorated for Mardi Gras. The Christmas tree, like most in the area, has been transformed into a vision of purple and gold, with beads, masks and netting covering it's branches. The Director loves hats, so there are bright, unique, donated hats everywhere. There are quilts for an upcoming raffle and t-shirts that say "Hands are Not for Hitting" for sale, an ongoing fundraiser. There are offices, an intake room, children's play room, kitchen and pantry with three freezers downstairs. Upstairs there are three emergency apartments with more in an adjacent building out back. The Shelter can accommodate thirty people, with support facilities close by. Sometimes Chez Hope is empty in the morning and full by midnight. As well as the apartments and My Sister's Closet in the adjacent building, there is a children's and teen center, full of bright-colored toys, games and craft projects and materials. Miss Ida is the children's advocate who staffs and watches over the children's program. She has a bright smile and contagious enthusiasm. Last week, USB volunteers found a brand new, donated air hockey game with broken legs lying unusable in the teen center. Some of our men and women devised a way to fix the legs, drove over to Chez Hope with the repaired parts, assembled and installed it. By nightfall, Miss Ida called to say the kids had already played their first games. USB: Serving the world and serving the community, a dynamite combination, aptly illustrated at Chez Hope.

Baldwin

In Louisiana, counties are called parishes. The town of Baldwin, 2,500 souls--give or take, is in St. Mary's Parish. St. Mary's Parish is, arguably, the poorest parish in Louisiana. The population of Baldwin is about 65% African American, 32% White, with a few Latinos, Asians and Others. The Latinos came when Katrina and Rita hit and there was a groundswell of need to fill jobs in (re)construction. Even after the official demise of designated prayer in the schools, prayers are said before football games and assemblies. "Separate but equal" may be legally over, but in St. Mary's Parish the white kids attend private (mostly Catholic) schools and the African American kids attend public schools. Baldwin is about ninety miles west of New Orleans in southern LA. It is 1.1 miles square and bumps up on Bayou Teche. It has one stoplight. Besides the stoplight, downtown Baldwin consists of a post office, city hall, public library, police department, drugstore, seedy bar, a couple gas stations/convenience stores, Asian foodmart, Breaux Foodland (Mr. Breaux is also the town mayor), Dollar Store, Lovely Nails, Le Jolie Dame Beauty Parlor (in a private home), Justice of the Peace/Notary (also in a home) and a few other odds and ends. Beautiful live oaks, their branches dripping with moss, languish in front yards between the main drag and the Bayou. Trains pass a couple blocks from downtown at all hours; some speedy, some plodding, some with mighty whistles, some melancholy, all going clickety-clack in some sort of reassuring rhythm. The late afternoon pick-up basketball game, held on a cement court and recycling center area next door to my apartment building, which the town rents from Sager Brown for one dollar a year, has just begun again, to break up around dark. It is interesting to be in Baldwin, busy or not.

Week One

Yesterday, the group from Kansas left to return home. The two Minnesota groups are staying one more week and will be joined by yet another group from Minnesota. The MN folks drive here and they like to get maximal return on their mileage.

Highlights from my first week include:
Monday--My first Vespers' planning meeting with two representatives from each group during dinner. Every one said yes to each dispensed responsibility. A remarkable pianist and choir director appeared to handle music, as well as two clergy members to handle Communion. The hymns were lined up and the Order of Worship explained. A MN volunteer agreed to do the Meditation. I was left with pencils, hymnals, suggestion books and remnants of supper strewn asunder at the conclusion as people in excited discussion went their merry way. It was energizing!
Tuesday--As one of my tasks is to do outreach in the community, I took interested volunteers to Mickey Mouse Head Start here in Baldwin. I had been told by the director we would be working with two twenty-student classes of three to five-year olds. Upon our arrival, the Center was so quiet, we thought the children were elsewhere. Then the Director appeared and
we were parceled out to classrooms. Marjie from MN hadn't been sure what she was going to do
until a three-year old African American little girl came over and took her hand and led her
into a classroom. Problem solved.
Wednesday--It was tour and work day at Chez Hope, the domestic violence shelter for women and
children in Franklin, next door to Baldwin. Chez Hope deserves a post all it's own, so suffice
it to say we had an informative, hope-filled morning.
Thursday--On this, the second anniversary of the earthquake in Haiti (to which UMCOR Sager
Brown fulfilled it's promise of aid), our volunteers in the community spent their morning
assisting teachers in first-grade classrooms at Raintree Elementary School, except for Marilyn from (you guessed it!) MN who taught a fourth grade class a lesson in American Sign Language. In the evening, Lloyd from MN did a Meditation on "Pebble in a Pond" and spoke about how we never know where our ripples will end.
Friday--With many newly-packaged and boxed kits ready to leave the Depot to help a world in need, neighborhood housing repairs in progress and community volunteer experiences fresh in our minds, it was time to bid a fond farewell to some. New folks arrive on Sunday and we will again begin to be busy in Baldwin.

Church

Tiptoeing into the sanctuary just past 8:30, I was embarrassed I was late and afraid I had missed the sermon. I had been told the service started at 9:00 am, and since the Church is just across the street from Sager Brown, thought I had plenty of time to walk over. Noticing the small parking lot was full of cars, I looked again at the marquee which just yesterday had proclaimed, "Jesus is the Reason for the Season". Now it read, "Sunday Service - 8 am".

A lovely matriarch of the congregation greeted me discreetly and made sure I had a bulletin. I was just in time for the "Alter Call" with "The Word of God" still to come. I have rarely participated in an altar call, but here it seemed the most natural thing to do. I found myself kneeling between two fervent women and prayed for a positive, productive volunteer experience and opportunity to be in service. All the while, the congregation was singing, "Thank You, Lord.". Then a substantial female congregant came to the lectern to lead us in prayer. She could have been speaking in tongues her pleas were so earnest, and frequently punctuated by others adding, "Yes, yes Lord" and "We need you, Jesus". She didn't stop praying until she circled the sanctuary, arms raised in supplication, and sat back in her pew.

The hymn of preparation was "Shake the Devil Off", with the youth choir leading the hand motions and all participating in the joy. The pastor preached on the saving grace of baptism, supported by Scripture and personal testimonial. Everyone greeted everyone enthusiastically
as we sang yet again and the offering was taken. January birthdays were celebrated with
cupcakes and candles. A "Pastor's Wheel of Blessing", a sort of hybrid "Wheel of Fortune",
was conducted with a young lady having lucky bulletin #36 winning a spin of the wheel for a
Bible Story book, then we slowly made our way back out into the world to the strains of "Amen" as our benediction. It was 10 am. I get to attend church in Baldwin five more Sundays. I'm in heaven.

Day One

The beauty of the moon over Bayou Teche was amazingly matched by the glorious sunset over the Gulf of Mexico. Satisfactorily settled into a cute, little apartment on the UMCOR Sager Brown Campus in the tiny town of Baldwin, LA, I set about learning the lay of the place today and how I might most effectively justify my space in it. Sager Brown serves as the location of support services for a Depot which sends relief supplies all over the world. Short term volunteers, primarily from United Methodist Churches in the Midwestern and Southern sections of the Country, contract to serve a Sunday-Friday term each week. Mostly they work in the Depot assembling relief kits (health, school, layette, birthing), but some choose to do outreach in the community as well. I am a long term volunteer (two months, in my case), working in Outreach. I help liaison between the short term volunteers and the community, which includes working at a local Head Start program, elementary school and a domestic violence shelter for women and children. I also coordinate a weekly Vespers Service and assist in the Outreach Office signing folks up for food aid and home repair. It's good stuff and I'm surrounded by a wonderful, nurturing, professional staff and several other long term volunteers.

Joys of the day include: The efficiency of mass, rapid transit; Squirrels on the grounds; Trains speeding by on local tracks with all their satisfactory sounds; My first food aid sign-up; Southern accents and being called Miss Karen. It is an exciting new challenge to be busy in Baldwin.

Ready or Not

It seemed so simple ten months ago, when I was asked to do a long-term volunteer stint at the UMCOR (United Methodist Committee On Relief) 
Sager Brown Depot campus in Baldwin, Louisiana.  Now the privilege is less than twenty-four hours away and I am both excited and overwhelmed.  I hope to serve well.  I hope to be a positive, helpful advocate for the 
short-term volunteers, the people of Baldwin and everyone my life touches during the next two months.  I hope to represent my church, my family and my friends--my support system--honorably as I seek to be an outreach liaison between the volunteers and the community.  I hope to remember my smile.  I hope to learn a lot and to be busy in Baldwin.  May it be so.