October 18, 2005

Before nine Corban students and Campus Pastor Kent Kersey left Saturday, Oct. 15, to help in the Hurricane Katrina relief effort, their fund-raising work had brought in at least $31,500. That doesn’t include monies received during Sunday morning offerings at area churches, the president’s office said.

The money will be used to help with the October, Christmas and spring break mission trips to New Orleans, as well as to assist First Baptist Church of Kenner with its needs, said Campus Pastor Kent Kersey.

“It’s really hard to know what they’re going to be doing the next few months,” Dr. Kersey said in a Monday evening telephone interview. “It’s one hundred times worse than you can imagine. It takes your breath away.”

The Corban Hurricane Katrina mission team arrived in New Orleans late Saturday afternoon. After church Sunday they helped a church member clear out “three huge trailer loads” of debris.

“It was kind of sad – pictures and memories ruined by the water,” Dr. Kersey said.

The drive later that day through the Ninth Ward of New Orleans was even worse.

“I thought I had prepared myself for what it would look like,” Dr. Kersey said. “It was about 200 times worse than I’d imagined. As we were driving through, no one said a word. It was so bad.”

Armed with two chain saws Monday, the Corban crew tackled brush cleanup in three locations from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
“These students worked their tails off,” Dr. Kersey said. “They didn’t stop for anything. I was so impressed with them.” Everyone they helped allowed the Corban crew to pray with them, the campus pastor said. One man, who said he’d been disillusioned about Christianity for years because of the moral failures of some prominent television evangelists, said after watching the students from Corban College he wanted to rededicate his life to Christ. Another man said the students had saved his family at least $2,000 in cleanup fees.

Late Monday afternoon the Corban crew helped a church member whose home received knee-deep floodwater damage.
“It was bad,” Dr. Kersey said. “Mold and rotted sheetrock everywhere. She had a lot of heavy furniture she needed out of there, but didn’t have any way of moving a refrigerator, stove, couch. Even more heart-breaking was her piano. It had been a wedding gift from her husband more than 40 years previously.

“Those are the things that are getting to us,” Dr. Kersey said. “People’s lives have been kind of ruined. How sacred it is to be part of their lives at this time. It’s got to be so hard for them.

“One of the trees we cut down--a lady planted it 40 years ago as a seeding,” Dr. Kersey continued. “All her kids and neighbor kids had used it as a climbing tree. It had to be cut down because it was damaged so badly, and all the memories with it.”
The Corban crew had gone to New Orleans anticipating they would not be able to shower all week long, but a Southern Baptist disaster relief team out of Arkansas is lending them their shower unit.

“These kids worked so hard today,” Dr. Kersey said on Monday. “They were completely drenched in sweat and dirt and grime. It’s a huge blessing that we can use their showers.”

The Corban crew for the rest of the week will be clearing brush; they’re expected back in Salem Friday, Oct. 21, but that won’t be an easy trip to make, the campus pastor said.

“One of the FEMA guys told us of a 70-year-old lady that no one has gotten to yet,” Dr. Kersey said. “There are just a lot of people who need a lot of help.”

--By Karen L. Willoughby