Young helping hands complete mission to clean up after flood
The Holy Family Parish mission group included (front row, from left) Kaitlyn Waller, Gracie Colson, Lindsey Nicholson, Caitlin Nolan, Jessica Bedtka, Veronica Kramer, Lauren Kennedy; (back row) Father Weighner, Weston Hill, Preston Hendrix, Wesley Schwager, Jack Stoeffler, Alexis Nolan, Faith Dillman, Peggy Koresh and Mary Stoeffler. Though Fr. Weighner did not go on the trip, he has been very instrumental in building the parish’s Jaywalkers group, of which many of these kids are current or past members.
The mission group tore tile out of multiple rooms in one building that is being cleaned and repaired to shelter people displaced by future floods.
Chaperone Mary Stoeffler (third from right) is pictured with some of the girls from the La Crosse Diocese inside a rain garden they dug themselves. Rain gardens include manure, sand and water-bearing plants that can alleviate some of the flood waters.
By Correne Martin
In October 2015, heavy rains and massive floods inundated Andrews, S.C.—a city of around 2,800 people. Nine months later, devastation remains for many of the residents, and a group of 15 high schoolers and college students from the Prairie du Chien area got to see the ruins first-hand during a mission trip July 5-14.
Through the Holy Family Parish of Prairie du Chien, 12 parish youth and three others from Eastman, teamed up with 19 young La Crosse Diocese volunteers and the non-profit All Hands Volunteers to provide assistance where it’s still needed the most. Chaperoned by leader Mary Stoeffler as well as six others from the diocese, local participants included Jessica Bedtka, Gracie Colson, Faith Dillman, Preston Hendrix, Weston Hill, Lauren Kennedy, Peggy Koresh, Rachel Kramer, Veronica Kramer, Lindsey Nicholson, Alexis Nolan, Caitlin Nolan, Wesley Schwager, Jack Stoeffler and Kaitlyn Waller. In total, 41 volunteers from the region participated in the mission trip.
In Andrews, the group was split into three, sometimes four, different work sites to perform numerous difficult and dirty jobs, such as tearing up moldy tile, drywalling, mudding, taping, painting, installing drainage ditches, digging rain gardens, hauling gravel, and anything else asked of them.
“These kids really put themselves out there; some of them had never worked so hard before. We hauled five ton of gravel one day. Another day, we threw manure, sand and water-bearing plants into a rain garden. These kids were covered in drywall and sand and not one of them complained,” Mary Stoeffler said. “Our kids lead by example; they were always the first to volunteer.”
One of the most talked-about jobs the girls of Holy Family’s mission experienced was a day they spent at a call center, talking to homeowners who were most severely afflicted the floods.
“One of the women said there were 53 days when the flood came where they couldn’t do anything about the devastation (except live through it),” Stoeffler recounted. “The girls had a script to follow and they worked with the emergency government coordinators to see if these people could get their property assessed and qualify for aid.
“To see these kids talk to these total strangers, they just really knew what to do, even though they were out of their element.”
While in Andrews, the teens slept in an old gymnasium on cots with all of the other volunteers. They tore up five rooms of tile, and drywalled, mudded and taped about 10 rooms in the same building.
Because this area of South Carolina receives heavy rains quite often, the community needs a gathering place for those displaced from their homes.
The mission trip volunteers also endured temperatures that pushed the heat index to 112 degrees most days, Stoeffler said. To deal with the hot and humid temperatures, All Hands’ safety-first policy allowed for plenty of water and breaks for the volunteers. All Hands also required the youth to wear oxygen masks and full-body protection when necessary.
Plus, they could only take three-minute showers at the end of the day.
Stoeffler noted that every evening, her group held talk time to discuss their highs and lows of the day. Many of the kids recognized that they were certainly out of their comfort zones. Stoeffler compared their “lows” of the day, like short showers and sleeping on a cot, to the “highs” people in extreme poverty face frequently.
Toward the end of their days in South Carolina, the youth group was surprised with a visit to the Atlantic Ocean. They hit up Myrtle Beach as well as a private beach (Pawleys Island). “Some of these kids have never seen the ocean before,” Stoeffler noted. “They had so much fun.”
She added that the kids deserved their free day.
“The transformation (of improvements) in less than a week is amazing,” she said. “The last day of a mission trip is always the hardest. The sun, the heat and exhaustion starts to set in but everyone weathered through it.”
Now that the Holy Family group is home, with a new outlook on life, there will be an appreciation dinner for those who supported the mission trip. Stoeffler said 3M donated supplies for cleanup, while the George Family Foundation and the parishioners and families themselves contributed financially.
“It’s important that these kids understand the power of a ‘thank you,’” she quipped. “I absolutely feel so blessed to watch them work and grow this past week.”
This is the fourth mission trip taken in association with Holy Family Parish. The cost was $425 per youth and each of those taking the journey was expected to fund raise at least $200 on their own.
Donations helped with the remaining costs. Next year, Stoeffler said, the group of La Crosse Diocese leaders hopes the youth can go to Texas.
