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# Chasing a rainbow SM church aids Crescent City sister
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/chasing-a-rainbow-sm-church-aids-crescent-city-sister/
- Published: 2006-05-13T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T17:49:14.000Z
- Author: Carolyn Sackariason
- Tags: Community, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*Putting the pieces back together*

11th STREET — While far removed from the minds of the general public, there is still a world of suffering going on in New Orleans.

But the congregation at First United Methodist Church of Santa Monica (FUMCSM) hasn’t forgotten. That’s why 15 people from the church put their lives on hold for one week in April, traveling to New Orleans and working towards infusing life back into a community that desperately needs it.

Earlier this year, FUMCSM was called upon by its now sister church, Bethany United Methodist Church, to help rebuild its property and help return its community to some normalcy. The church sat for three weeks in more than 10 feet of polluted water. And whatever the water didn’t destroy, the termites did.

“They asked for help landscaping,” said work team leader Jim Krause. “We were surprised about that, given the level of devastation there, but it is literally a sepia of landscape. (The pastor’s) vision was to create a visual expression of life in that neighborhood, as well as reopen the church and give them a sense of life.”

The work team — all members of FUMCSM ranging in age from 7 to 82 — spent five full days working outside of the church, installing a sprinkling system, planting trees, flowers and shrubs, laying down sod and rebuilding a fence.

“Imagine from Santa Monica to LAX was devastated and there was only one patch of greenery, that’s what it looks like now,” said Cindy McQuade, who didn’t travel to New Orleans with the team but helped organized the effort. “But who even thinks about stuff like trees? There has been no shade for these people to keep the sunlight out.”

Before the team engaged in their work, FUMCSM donated hundreds of yellow bows at the request of Bethany Pastor Hadley Edwards, in an effort to make some of the area “look alive,” volunteers said. The Santa Monica church also sent Easter baskets for the boys and girls in the Bethany congregation, also donating hymn books, a baptism fountain and lecterns.

The church has gone above and beyond donating materials. Last fall, FUMCSM raised tens of thousands of dollars in emergency relief when it hosted a standing-room-only concert in its massive sanctuary which featured singer-songwriters k.d. Lang and Jackson Browne. For its latest effort, FUMC- SM was able to raise about $24,000 for the New Orleans trip through red beans and rice fund-raising dinners. Still, many volunteers paid their own way to New Orleans.

“The message at the September concert was ‘Be the Hope,’” said work team volunteer Kendra Fleagle Gorlitsky. “We wanted to send the message that ‘you are not alone, you are not forgotten and you won’t be forgotten.’”

FUMCSM plans to continue fund-raising for the Bethany congregation in the months to come.

“I think the financial part needs to keep going,” McQuade said. “This is a partnership.”

Some members of the work team are planning a return trip to New Orleans for more rebuilding efforts.

“Now that we’ve been there and know what they need and what their congregation needs, it’s time to talk about organization,” Krause said. “And I agree, we need to amass a war chest.”

One of the goals for the FUMCSM work team was to rebuild the Bethany congregation so it can help others in the community like it has done in the past.

“This is a congregation similar to our own who have done a lot of mission work and we wanted to restart it,” Krause said. “We needed to help these people and this congregation get back in business... that will be part of their own healing.”

Volunteers said what was so shocking was the devastation still so apparent in every section of the city. Houses are still boarded up and spray-painted to indicate whether people were still living inside. Wreaths hang on the front doors of homes where people had died. Cars and boats are still lodged in buildings. Classrooms are abandoned and rotting books are strewn about in school hallways. The volunteers described the city’s appearance as reminiscent of a war zone.

“It is total appalling devastation still in that state,” said volunteer Carol Reich. “It’s tragic. But there was this incredible elation and satisfaction being there and being grateful that we are part of a church that can put this kind of group together.”

What’s more tragic, the volunteers said, is that more relief efforts haven’t been made in New Orleans.

“If you lived in a bubble and didn’t know what had happened down there it looks like it happened yesterday,” said volunteer Jennifer Worley. “It looks like it hasn’t been touched... and you can still see the water line around the city.”

New Orleans isn’t much different than Southern California in that natural disasters — be it hurricanes or earthquakes — are going to happen. How people help each other afterwards is what matters.

“Why aren’t people rushing in to help?” asked McQuade. “It’s really a sin.”

> “Why aren’t people rushing in to help? It’s really a sin.” — CINDY MCQUADE WORK TEAM MEMBER

For volunteer Karen Hopkins, the reality of it all made her appreciate life in Santa Monica that much more. She also was amazed at the attitude of those who chose to stay.

“I didn’t hear one person say ‘poor me’ or feeling sorry for themselves,” Hopkins said, adding many people stopped to talk, curious about what they were doing and expressing appreciation when they learned of their efforts. “It was great seeing people with nothing be grateful.

“For me, it made me grateful for what I have,” Hopkins said. “Sure, I came back to bills and 400 e-mails, but at least I have a mailbox.”

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on May 13, 2006.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/051306.pdf?ref=smdp.com)