How do you spell relief?

By Nate Delesline III

Published: October 5, 2008

Although the winds and rains of Hurricane Ike have blown into history, the devastation on the Texas Gulf Coast is still a daily reality for the residents of Galveston, say three local women.

Culpeper residents Angie Naish, Cindy Quinones and Monica Huckabee joined dozens of other volunteers days after the storm as part of Christ In Action, a Manassas-based disaster response ministry group. It was the first time any of them had volunteered to help a community recover from a disaster.

“I’ve never seen anything like that, just total devastation — it’s overwhelming,” Naish said.

All three — members of Mountain View Community Church — spent a week in Texas. Quinones and Huckabee returned immediately after a brief trip back to Culpeper and are continuing to work in Texas. Meanwhile, with a five-month-old daughter at home, Naish said that for now, she’s lending her efforts to drawing attention back to Texas, in hopes of recruiting more volunteers and support.

“I have been gutting houses all day,” Quinones said by cell phone Saturday evening. “There’s so much work to be done. “God laid it on my heart to come back. It’s not going to be over anytime soon.”

“Nobody even realizes anything is even happening in Galveston,” said Huckabee. “Every street you go down, every single person has lost everything they spent their life building up.”

“From a Christian standpoint,” Naish said, “It is all just stuff, and we can’t take it with us, but from another standpoint, but it’s the only stuff these people have,”
Still, she said that for the most part, people are able to keep the loss of their possessions in perspective.

“Everybody that we met was just thankful that they had their lives,” she said.

Formed in 1982, Christ In Action volunteers have ministered in disaster areas for 10 years, said Denny Nissley, who started the group along with his wife Sandy.

In addition to cleaning up, clearing trees and gutting homes, one of the group’s key roles is serving meals to disaster area residents and others that are helping to recover.

Naish noted that the organization prides itself on serving hot, home-cooked meals and not just assembling cold-boxed lunches. She said fajitas and pork chops are among the items that are served or available to take with them everyday as the recovery work continues.

Naish and Quinones are also trained in crisis intervention stress management, helping people to deal with the emotional issues that surround catastrophic events. And through their work, all three women say they’ve been afforded the chance to share their faith firsthand.

Everyone also said they were also shocked at how quickly attention shifted away from the disaster.

“Katirna set the bar so high that there’s people that say ‘It’s not as bad’ Nissley said. But he says that’s just not the case. As an example he said that while driving around in Galveston on Saturday, not a single home appeared inhabitable.

For volunteers, the day usually begins around 8 a.m. with breakfast. Afterwards, everyone is dispatched to different areas depending on that day’s needs. One day might be spent cooking and serving food, while another might be spent clearing fallen trees or helping residents empty their homes of ruined belongings.

“Really, it’s everybody is just trying to help everybody put their life back together, or trying to salvage what little they can,” Huckabee said.

With many areas still without power, Huckabee said the volunteers usually break out board games or think up another prank to play on each other to unwind as they reside in a Houston church.

“Everything that was wet is getting moldy,” said Naish. “The drywall, the insulation — everything has to be removed.”

Nissley said their most pressing need is more volunteers and more funding to cover the approximately $2,500 per day it costs to operate the ministry. To learn more about Christ In Action, call 703-368-6286 or go to christinaction.com.

Nate Delesline III can be reached at 825-0771 ext. 110 or .