Hwy 308 reopened to traffic
June 28, 2011John Alford Ashley
June 30, 2011
Volunteers come from across the country. Some invest vacation time to be put to work. Those in day-trip driving distance get an early start to arrive at the United Methodist Committee on Relief Sager Brown Depot in Baldwin in time to begin a 3.5 hour shift of assembling disaster relief and recovery kits, packing them into specifically designed cargo containers and preparing them for staff members to store in a 48,000 square foot warehouse until victims of the next natural or manmade disaster anywhere around the globe need them.
“Out of this facility
UMCOR Sager Brown Depot was among the first relief responders following the January 2010 earthquake in Haiti and also the Japan earthquake and tsunami in March of this year.
Closer to home, the UMCOR domestic division offered assistance to victims of the deadly tornado that leveled Joplin, Mo., and offered flood victim relief in Tennessee and other states when the Mississippi River left its banks during May. UMCOR is also prepared for service they hope will not be needed during hurricane season along the Gulf and eastern coasts.
“There are several warehouse mission sites [representing various humanitarian and religious organizations] across the nation,” Kraiza said. “We have formed a network and deal with them. Right now there are seven in the relief supply network. That is helpful because donors [of designated basic supplies] are closer to [those locations].”
In addition to annually assembling more than $4 million of donated supplies into health kits, clean-up kits, and school supply bags at the Baldwin center, more than 3,000 volunteers per year also participate in urban renewal programs that include construction, restoration and renovation of residential structures. They willingly and often work unnoticed. “There are a lot of people that don’t know we are here,” Kraiza said.
Activity among the 10 buildings on the 22-acre Sager Brown campus has long been in service of others.
In 1867, the Methodist Church’s Freedmen’s Aid Society, predecessor to the Black College Fund, secured land from plantation owner John Baldwin and opened an orphanage for the male children of former slaves.
At the end of the 19th century, large financial donations offered opportunities for program expansion and the Orphans Home added the Gilbert Academy and Industrial School under the direction of Dr. W.D. Godman.
It was during the early 1900s that the institution, in dire financial straits, became nationally known for its boy’s choir that would travel the country and perform as a way to raise operational funds.
During a concert trip to upstate New York, Mrs. Addie Sager and Mrs. C.W. Brown were impressed not only with what they heard, but with the mission of bettering the lives of boys still existing in a world of discrimination and disadvantage.
The two women purchased the school and gave it to the Methodist Church’s Women’s Home Mission Society. The institution then became known as the Sager Brown Home and Godman School. It operated until 1978, when the institution was closed and the property put up for sale.
For 14 years, the buildings remained vacant and land unused as the Methodists failed to secure a buyer willing to accept their asking price of $100,000.
In 1992, Hurricane Andrew cut across Florida and made a direct line for Louisiana, causing damage to St. Mary and Terrebonne parishes. UMCOR, already established in 1940, originally as a relief agency addressing disaster zones of World War II, responded to the storm and was made aware of the Sager Brown property.
By 1994 UMCOR had decided the Baldwin campus would be an ideal location from which their disaster collections and distributions could be made available to the world. The depot opened in 1996 and today responds to various needs in 81 countries.
“I’ve done some mission work in the past,” said volunteer Paul White. “[Working at the depot] gives people an idea of what goes into getting things ready for others.”
“I feel like we have been so blessed,” said volunteer Dena Johnson. “We feel like we can give to other people.”
Niki Barr is youth director at the First United Methodist Church of Houma. She expressed hope that taking young people to participate in the building of disaster kits will plant in them a feeling of reward and appreciation in helping others.
“I want our youth to get out into the community and help,” Barr said. “People in our area don’t often feel like they need help, but having been through hurricanes they are more than willing to volunteer for others. It’s easy to do. And it is good to know it is going to help someone else. Not just frivolous stuff.”
On this particular Saturday, volunteers from Methodist churches in Houma, Bayou Blue, Winnfield and Destrehan were on hand to build disaster kits. Another weekend will welcome volunteers from Thibodaux, Morgan City or Lafayette. “We live in a pretty giving community,” White said.
“You make so many friends [in this job],” Sager Brown Director of Depot Operations Glen Divilnet said. “You get some that come back again and again and you get a lot of new people who want to be a part of what we are doing.”
“I’ve been retired for 26 years,” said volunteer Herb Johnson. “So we volunteer.”
“Part of our mission is providing a mission experience for volunteers,” Kraiza said. “We training with disaster coordinators. We work with the Red Cross and several services. We work with governments in the U.S. and outside the U.S. We come together in our communities, in our churches and spread out in our local areas. I think it is a great way of responding.”
“We call ourselves the Krewe of Disaster,” said volunteer Juana Woodard as she tossed a completed personal care kit into a waiting collection basket.
Volunteers from Houma, Bayou Blue, Winnfield and Destrehan pack, and prepare for shipment, disaster recovery kits at the 48,000-square-foot UMCOR Sager Brown Depot in Baldwin. MIKE NIXON
