Spokane trio helps rebuild suffering Gulf Coast town

When the Spokane volunteers left briefly for the holidays, residents of Pass Christian – a small, hurricane-ravaged town in southern Mississippi – asked them to spread the word.

“Let them know we’re still here,” they told the three young men who helped establish “the Village,” a tent city now home to 200 people.

“Tell folks how bad things are,” they cried. “Tell them not to forget us.”

More than four months after the fury of Katrina, the people of Pass Christian remain in a world of pain, said Andy Lewis, one of three Spokane residents who volunteered with AmeriCorps to help this historic Gulf Coast town.

“I know it’s not easy to empathize with something that seems so distant,” said Lewis, who’s in Spokane for an additional week. “But we have to remember that these are our fellow citizens who are still suffering.”

Only about 1,000 of the roughly 6,000 residents have returned to the rubbish-filled ruins of Pass Christian. The vast majority have nothing left to go back to.

Since October, Andy Lewis, his brother, Ben, and good friend Seth Everts have been living among the survivors. The three men – ages 22, 19 and 25, respectively – were put in charge of the tent village they helped start when AmeriCorps first assigned them to the Gulf Coast.

“Everything was destroyed,” said Andy Lewis, describing the walls of rubble that lined the streets of Pass Christian and other nearby towns. Andy Lewis, who has traveled to Africa and South America, said the devastation “looked worse than any Third World country I’ve been to.”

Yet, little has changed in many parts of Pass Christian, said Ben Lewis, who returned to Mississippi from Spokane late last week.

When they first arrived, the men worked with dozens of other volunteers to remove tons of debris and help rebuild a school. Then the three got started on the tent city to create more suitable dwellings for people stranded in makeshift shelters. ABC News and other media organizations that traveled to Pass Christian in October described the Village as the first sign that the town slowly was coming back to life.

The tent city consists of 80 green tents, measuring 30 feet by 14 feet, with heat and electricity and wood panels for floors. Residents have to share portable toilets and showers. Their meals – powdered eggs, sandwiches, macaroni and cheese – are prepared by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The three Spokane men – who all grew up attending Valley Fourth Memorial Church – share a tent with 12 other AmeriCorps volunteers. They have no privacy and little downtime. They work 12- to 13-hour days six days a week, keeping order in the tent city, responding to emergencies and helping with the endless cleanup of Pass Christian.

Working closely with the city’s mayor and others in the administration, the young men from Spokane have been able to create a community center complete with games and televisions, thanks to donations from companies and individuals across the country. They now are working on getting a laundry for Village residents. Everts, a graduate of Valley Christian School, spends a lot of time on his cell phone contacting corporations and organizations to make them aware of the need in Pass Christian.

Right now, the city’s residents could use chain saws, tools and building supplies, according to Andy Lewis. They also need money or gift cards for retail stores. Their focus is on finding money to rebuild their homes, Lewis said. Until then, residents have nowhere to store anything, including the donations of clothing, furniture and other items that sometimes come by the truckload from all over the country.

Everts and the Lewises also help coordinate the many volunteers who aren’t affiliated with AmeriCorps or other official organizations. Many individuals simply show up in Pass Christian hoping to help, even for only a few days. Others, especially bigger groups, usually contact them ahead of time.

Bridget Hillier-Vogel, who graduated from University High School with Ben Lewis, spent nine days last month in Pass Christian. She found a $324 round-trip ticket from Spokane and decided to fly to Mississippi during Eastern Washington University’s winter break. She spent most of her time amid mold and muck, cleaning out homes that once were submerged in floodwater.

“I don’t want people to forget what happened,” said Hillier-Vogel, 19. “They’re human beings, just like us. They’re American citizens, just like us. They’re suffering and trying to rebuild their lives.”

Change is slow amid all the destruction, said Andy Lewis, who recently earned a degree in international affairs at EWU and hopes to work with refugees one day.

Sometimes, he and the others become discouraged, especially after a long day of dealing with bureaucracy and having no privacy just to decompress.

“My faith gives me strength for the long term,” Lewis said. “I know this sounds cliché, but it also makes me feel better to know we’re helping out. People have shown a lot of gratitude.”

And despite all the pain and devastation, the residents of Pass Christian still have hope, Ben Lewis said. “These are people who have lost everything, but they are still optimistic about life,” he said. “They’ve taught me patience and perseverance.”