c. 2005 Religion News Service

OCEAN SPRINGS, Miss. _ Following America’s greatest natural disaster, one church stood ready to face the aftermath more than others in the area.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon) always has a “disaster plan in place before the storm,” said Mary Strength, a local church member.

Strength was one of more than 100 people who sought shelter in the church in nearby St. Martin, Miss. The building was constructed to withstand Category 5 hurricane winds and proved to be that sturdy. The only damage it had was to the steeple, and even that was minor.

Shelly Craig, wife of the bishop of the Ocean Springs ward (local church), said children were in the gymnasium playing basketball by flashlight or in rooms playing games during the storm.

“We had no idea the devastation that was occurring around us,” Craig said. Strength said they watched a station wagon in the parking lot being lifted and set back down repeatedly by the wind, but it never swayed over to hit the cars parked beside it. In the end, no cars were damaged in the parking lot around the church.

Both women agreed no one had anything to fear during the storm.

In Strength’s diary entry for the day of the storm, Aug. 29, she wrote, “Our 72-hour kits were ready. Our year’s supply of food was in place. Our lamps were filled and the wicks trimmed. We had trained in our stake (regional) conference to know what we needed to do. Because we had prepared, we did not fear.”

Mormons are taught to keep enough food at each family’s home for one year.

Strength credited the church’s push for preparedness as a reason for their survival. “Our preparation has come in handy this time,” she said.

Close to 1,000 volunteers from Mormon churches across the country are camped in tents in Pascagoula, St.Martin, Gulfport and Waveland each weekend. They help clean, repair and rebuild.

In addition to helping church members, the church at St. Martin takes in work orders from the city of Ocean Springs, the local Sheriff’s substation and Christus Victor Lutheran Church. The St. Martin church donates a vanload of food to Christus Victor each day, which that church uses to prepare 300 meals a day for anyone who needs it. “We’re working cooperatively,” Strength said.

Another aspect of the Mormon church is they grow, harvest, can, store and distribute all their own food. The food is grown in Salt Lake City, Utah, and transported by their own 18-wheeler trucks to their cannery in Slidell, La.

The church in St. Martin has a manual canner where they can take food in bulk from Slidell’s cannery and split it into family-sized portions.

The operation is funded by a universal monthly fast held by members. The 13 million members worldwide observe a day of fasting once a month and donate to the project the money they would have spent that day on food.

Strength said all the bishops in the southeast region conferenced with church leaders in Salt Lake City prior to Hurricane Katrina. They gave “input on what was needed” and where it would be needed. Trucks were loaded and sat ready and waiting to come in with supplies before the catastrophe. Because of road blocks and other factors, the trucks were delayed, but still arrived three days after the storm hit. The first truck came from Tennessee. “The storm was so big; it hit them all,” Strength said of one of the main challenges the truck drivers faced.

Strength’s diary entry on Aug. 31 reflected, “It was a day of realization of what we faced in the short term as well as long-term future. No water, no power, no gas or communication; we were on our own. We had to reach down and survive on what we had with us and pool those resources to make it.”

Seven tanker trucks full of gasoline were on their way to the church from Salt Lake City, but five of them were “held up by martial law in Texas and were not allowed to come through,” Craig said. The other two trucks were re-routed, so they were able to make it to St. Martin.

A total of 12 semi-trucks have brought loads of supplies to the church. People in need of food, cleaning supplies, hygiene products, water, baby supplies, tarps, yard tools or other items can go by the church any day from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Strength said most of the church leaders have either lost their homes or vehicles or have had serious damage.

“In spite of that,” she said, “all of them have decided to fulfill their call and put aside their personal needs.”

None of the church leaders is salaried. They are all volunteers who have “secular” jobs, Strength said. The lay leader of each ward is called a bishop. A group of wards is called a stake.

The churches on the Coast are part of the Gulfport stake, which is comprised of 3,000 members and stretches across Hancock, Harrison and Jackson counties.

Of the 350 families in the Ocean Springs ward, only 11 families have been able to move back in to their homes, Bishop John Craig said.

KRE/JL END STODGHILL