Navigation Back Search
Search

Katrina work crew remembers 100 trips

By Lilla Marigza
Aug. 1, 2025 | TIPP CITY, Ohio (UM News)

Twenty years after Hurricane Katrina, volunteers recall how “being the hands and feet of Christ” affected their lives while rebuilding homes in Louisiana. Video by Lilla Marigza, UM News.

E. Dwight Franklin helps with the gutting of his parents’ home in New Orleans six months after Hurricane Katrina. Virginia Tech student Ivy Gorman (background) was part of a team from her school working through the Louisiana United Methodist Storm Recovery Center during their spring vacation. A UMNS photo by Mike DuBose.

All eyes were on the Louisiana Gulf Coast following Hurricane Katrina in August of 2005. In the months and years following the Category 3 hurricane, the destruction faded from the headlines. But some United Methodist Volunteers in Mission teams didn’t stop going back to help.

For over a decade, Ginghamsburg United Methodist in Ohio was one of those churches still helping people put their lives and their homes back together.

Learn more about Ginghamsburg United Methodist Church in Tipp City, Ohio.

Watch video documentary, “Mission Slidell,” produced by Ginghamsburg United Methodist Church.

Marigza is a multimedia producer for UM News. Contact her at (615) 742-5470 or [email protected]. To read more United Methodist news, subscribe to the free UM News Digest.

Related Tags

Sign up for our newsletter!

Subscribe Now
Congregations
Worshippers sing traditional Shona hymns during a revival organized by the Women’s Fellowship of The United Methodist Church’s United Kingdom District, July 2-5 in Blackpool, England. The annual Chiringanyanza Revival brings together Zimbabwean United Methodists from across the U.K. for worship, fellowship and spiritual renewal. Photo by Priscilla Muzerengwa, UM News.

Church keeps UK Zimbabweans connected to home
The United Methodist Church’s growing United Kingdom District demonstrates that when faith crosses borders, it does not lose its roots.
Local Church
The United Methodist Church, solar power, solar energy, environment, climate change, creation care, creation, earth, energy, North Georgia Conference, South Georgia Conference, Georgia, church, religion, theology, finance, UM News

Grants available to help churches switch to solar
Up to 20 churches will be selected for the UMC Solar and Battery Pilot Program. Select participating churches will be invited to apply for an UMCOR grant up to $100,000 to support their projects.
Local Church
Workers install solar panels at Chamblee United Methodist Church in Chamblee, Ga. The Rev. Blair Zant, senior pastor, said the church has already saved $40,000 since the installation was completed in April of this year. Several other United Methodist churches in Georgia are hooking up to solar power, helped by a nonprofit organization that guides them in setting it up with no upfront costs. Photo courtesy of Chamblee United Methodist Church.

Churches go solar, putting creation care into action
United Methodist churches in Georgia are jumping on the solar power train, helped by a tax break from the Biden administration and a nonprofit that’s showing they can care for the environment while also reducing their electric bill.

United Methodist Communications is an agency of The United Methodist Church

©2026 United Methodist Communications. All Rights Reserved