By PHYLLIS ZORN

Staff writer

Marion residents Doug and Ginny Lind spent five September days in Algiers, Louisiana, making homes ravaged by a hurricane safe enough to live in before complete repairs could be made.

One of the homes they worked on was built in 1906. Because building practices were different then, removing rain-damaged wall boards was not quite what Doug expected, he told Marion Kiwanis members Oct. 27.

The couple’s volunteer work was through a United Methodist Committee on Relief emergency response team.

“When we leave, we don’t know where we’re going, what we’re doing, or where we’ll stay,” he said.

Volunteers pay their own expenses, although Eastmoor United Methodist Church, the Linds’ home congregation, contributes to gasoline expenses.

The Linds were part of two teams of five people working on eight homes.

Volunteers stayed at a Louisiana church. The church fed them, largely with donated food. When they divided up grocery expenses before returning home, their cost was $11 a person for the entire five days.

Locations come from a list of people who contact the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

“We are tied with FEMA, and that’s how we get those houses on the list,” Doug said.

One thing volunteers must bear in mind is that people in a disaster are under a lot of stress, and workers need to be careful not to react to things they say in a way that makes matters more stressful for them, Doug said.

“It takes a lot of patience,” he added.

Doug thinks he and his wife are the only local volunteers. The organization accepts volunteers from other denominations as well.

“You don’t have to be a Methodist to be part of it,” he said.

Ginny said she would volunteer again.

“We’ve done different missions at different times,” she said.

Doug has been on four mission trips. Ginny has been on two.

Marion Kiwanis decided to meet at noon Mondays at Cazadore’s Mexican Restaurant. But that decision may be reconsidered because of concerns on the part of Cazadore’s.