When Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast in late August of last year, numerous donations of time, money and resources filtered in to assist the devastated region and the people who lived there.

However, the Snoqualmie Valley Alliance Church, a part of the Christian and Missionary Alliance (C&MA), wanted to wait until the initial surge of donations faded away because church members knew there would still be a need after the contributions began to taper off.

“When the hurricane first hit, everyone wanted to give something,” explained church pastor Marty Benedict. “Four or five months from [the time of the hurricane], there would still be need.”

That fall, a pastor of an associated C&MA church in Colorado made a trip to the tiny Gulf Coast city of Waveland, Miss., to view the damage.

Two months later, Benedict said, the Colorado church had put up 60,000-square-feet of tent space in a Kmart parking lot that was designated “Camp Katrina.” The Colorado church also made a year-long commitment to the area.

Waveland was a community of about 7,000 people. New Orleans resides about 60 miles to the west.

Benedict said that though it did not receive much press coverage, Waveland was the area hardest hit by the hurricane.

“It was pretty much ground zero for the hurricane,” said Jason Gram, a member of the Snoqualmie Valley Alliance Church. “I’ve never see anything like it before with my own eyes.”

News spread to other branches of the C&MA and Benedict and Gram felt compelled to check out the area first hand.

So, in late December 2005, Gram and Benedict visited Waveland.

They arrived during phase one, the “feeding and clothing stage” for those who still lived in the area or who were residing in temporary housing.

Eighteen participants from the Snoqualmie church (though one does not need to be a member to be involved) returned in late January; an additional group will travel to that location in April.

The trips last four days each and cost about $400. Participants pay their own way or find sponsorship.

“Camp Katrina just exploded in activity,” Benedict said, noting that the devestaton and need was overwhelming. “It’s not like buildings were flooded, they were just gone,” he said.

C&MA members from all over the nation came out to help.

The January Snoqualmie Valley Alliance visit happened during phase two, the “cleaning and demolition of homes” stage.

In April, there will be one more phase, which will focus on helping to rebuild.

Eleanor Mitchell, who traveled as a part of the 18-member group who visited in January, noted that though she expected the scene to be bad, it was actually far worse than she could even imagine.

“There were whole blocks leveled and we drove by what used to be the bank, and the only thing left standing was the vault,” she noted. “It was complete and total rubble.”

“[When I first got involved] I said, ‘I don’t have anything to contribute.’ I was told, ‘When you get there, you will know why you came,’ and I did,” said Mitchell, who helped tear down the home of a man who was too emotionally fragile to re-enter his former residence.

Damaged beyond repair, Mitchell said that the water level in the home was above the windows.

“To know the difference that we made in that homeowner’s life … I thought about how much it would mean to me if I was a homeowner and somebody did that for me,” she said. “It’s not something I would do as a living, but I felt I was doing it for him because he didn’t have the strength to do it.”

Benedict told of being able to gather only enough of a 75-year-old man’s belongings to fit inside a laundry basket.

Gram noted that there were slabs of cement where homes should have been located.

“You see stuff on TV and it’s interesting and it’s sad and there’s a lot of different emotions, but still you are removed from it, so it’s not really real,” Gram said. “When you see it in reality, it’s almost surreal. There was so much destruction, so much damage and dirt and grime and mud and utter destruction, it was amazing.”

The church hopes that at least 75 percent of those traveling in April will be skilled laborers to assist in phase three, though others may participate, as well.

“The need is so great,” said Esther Lundeen, who traveled to Waveland in January and is not a skilled laborer, but who would like to participate by helping feed other volunteers. “I’d like to go back; it’s my desire to go back.”

The church is still looking for volunteers who have experience in construction, drywall and other home-building skills, but there is also the option for those who want to help but do not have the skills to fund others with those skills to travel to the area.

Throughout everything, though, Benedict said he took away with him the idea that people are resilient, even in the face of such tragedy.

“There is still a continuing need,” noted Mitchell, who is interested in sponsoring a skilled laborer to make the April trip. “My heart just goes out to those people.”

For more information, call the Snoqualmie Valley Alliance Church at (425) 831-4590, visit www.svaonline.org or e-mail Benedict at pastormarty@svaonline.com.