Two weeks before “Rita” became a threat, the teens of our parish worked in our youth facilities putting together over five hundred “snack bags” for victims of Hurricane Katrina who had evacuated to our area. We did not realize at the time we would soon become victims ourselves.

Hurricane Rita hit on September 24, 2005. My family and I watched from our hotel room as Rita came ashore in Sabine Pass, Texas. It was strange to see news reports from the Golden Triangle on Fox News and CNN. After all, this is where we lived, and we always seemed to be safely tucked away in our corner of the state. All we could think was how, just one month prior, we were sitting in our homes watching the devastating effects of Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana and Mississippi.

Need for Connection

In the days that followed we came to realize we now were dependent on the kindness of others. Our hotel was full of people just like us, who nervously sat watching the TV in the lobby and shared worries of what was left at home. Cell phones rang as families tried to connect to one another and maybe hear news from home. My own cell phone rang often, with calls from my pastor, co-workers, and “my kids” (youth from my parish). There was a desperate need to be in contact with our faith community as we experienced the unknown.

Being on the “Receiving End”

While my experience was from a distance, the experience of our parish director of religious education (DRE) was much worse. She had not gone far enough north and experienced Rita as the hurricane passed over the home in which she was staying. They were without lights and air conditioning for ten days in 95 degree weather. In need of food and ice, they went daily to wait to receive these items. She related, “It was a very humbling experience to rely on the kindness of others. I find that it gave me a different perspective on serving others. I look at them more as individuals now rather than as a ‘service project.’ ”

Like all of us, she and her family were allowed to go in and check on their home a week after the storm had passed. They were not prepared for the level of devastation and damage they saw. Familiar landmarks were gone, homes and businesses were destroyed, huge trees were uprooted everywhere, and power lines laid in the streets like tangled balls of yarn.

Relationships Sustain People—Not Possessions

Two and one half weeks later, we held our Wednesday night Checkpoint for high school teens at the home of our DRE as our youth facilities were heavily damaged.

Teens shared stories of their experiences of being in the midst of the storm and what that night and the days to follow were like. Young people were exposed to the best and the worst that humankind had to offer. Stories of staying in shelters, hotels with no electricity, or lake homes where trees had fallen on or around them were shared over and over.

The universal message we received from nearly every youth was one of concern for the people in their lives and not the “things” they had lost. No matter what our experience was and continues to be from Rita, we have found the love we have for each other, the work we do for others, and faith in our Heavenly Father is what sustains us through even the most difficult of times.