Getting settled in Lizana, MS

As many of you know, my plans for the summer included the possibility of working with Katrina survivor children at St Thomas parish in Long Beach, MS. Last Tuesday, May 22nd, I rode my Honda from Irish Bayou to Long Beach to sign release forms for background checks, etc. that the Church requires for anyone working with children.

I also intended to spend the afternoon checking out campgrounds to see if I could find one that I could afford. Most of them are full of FEMA trailers and the govt pays about double the regular rates so most of the campgrounds have drastically raised their rates.

The parish secretary at St Thomas, a wonderful lady named Patsy Bishop, took care of the paper work. I had been there for Mass on Sunday and told her I'd be by early in the week. She had already called another parish about 15 miles away and confirmed that they would have an inexpensive place for me to put the Airstream. So I got back on the Honda and rode to St Ann's parish.

There I met Karen Parker who said that they had one space left but I would have to move into it that day if I wanted it. So I hurried back to Irish Bayou, hooked up the Airstream and hurried back to get set up behind the church's community hall. After I was all set up, Karen said she was really impressed with me and my desire to help the kids. So I could stay as long as I liked. For free. As in "No Charge". Not even for electric.

THEN she told me that this was the weekend of their big Catfish Festival/Carnival and she sure could use some help. The next morning the carny's set up all the rides and blocked me in, so I couldn't have escaped for a week anyway. SO I said, "Sure. What can I do?" Little did I know.

St Ann's is an amazing little parish of about 200 registered families, of which maybe 50 are actually active in even a slight way. So we're talking about roughly 180 people that come to Church. In most parishes about 10% of the people do all the work. Here it might be nearer 20%. But that's still only about 3 dozen workers.

The Festival runs from Thursday through Sunday. Carnival rides and games, a really big softball tournament, church run games for the little kids, bands on Friday night, all day Saturday and Sunday, and food - oh, my goodness, the food. Catfish, of course - fried, in Gumbo, PO-Boys, and a special dish prepared by Karen, "Catfish Lizana" which is catfish covered with a sauce made of crabmeat, shrimp, butter, lots of heavy cream, and her secret seasonings. I loved it. I ate it over catfish, over rice, and just plain from the pot. Then there was Seafood Gumbo, Chicken Gumbo, Red Beans and Rice, Hamburgers, Hot Dogs, Funnel Cake, a Green Bean Casserole to die for (WITHOUT mushroom soup OR French Fried Onions), a crawfish boil with new red potatoes and corn on the cob, and a BIG Budweiser truck.

Karen prepares it ALL, except the crawfish and the funnel cakes, as well as coordinates the entire festival. She is the most hyper person I've ever met. Since I showed up the day before it all got started, I was the only person within her reach that hadn't already been assigned a position. Being her "Sidekick" consisted of daily trips to Sam's, usually punctuated with three or four phone calls adding stuff to my list, chopping, peeling, rinsing, washing, cooking, carrying, mopping, just about everything except selling because those crews were already organized from the previous 5 years.

In these four days, this little parish raises 40% of its annual budget. I've never seen anything like it. And after 4 days of 18 hours each, I hope I don't again, at least not any time soon! But it was wonderfully satisfying to see the incredible results.

Wait - there's more. After Katrina, Karen and a friend formed "Project Hope and Compassion" which provides housing and meals to volunteers and coordinates their work in the area. After we finished cleaning up the kitchen Sunday night we started cooking for the first group to come in after the Festival. This group is 24 college architecture students from many different colleges and universities. And I've got to brag a little - their trip is funded by Penn State!

The day before they arrived, their sleeping and eating areas were set up for Bingo, a live auction and a silent auction. With their help, we got the rooms emptied, and cots and air mattresses set up.

They fix their own breakfast before they leave early in the morning. They return to a big dinner in the evening, prepared by Karen and her husband, and, now, me. Today was especially gratifying for them because they were actually building instead of tearing down things. Several of the leaders have been here 3 or 4 times with different groups of kids. We eat dinner with them. They are an impressive, truly dedicated group doing hot, dirty, backbreaking work.

Today I finally escaped from Karen and went to St John's Summer Camp. I'll tell you all about it in the next entry. For now, I'll just say that I'll be working with 27 kids aged 3 to 5.

Life really is good!