Project Erath


	Vermilion Faith Community of Care PO Box 554 Abbeville, La. 70511 Voice/Fax: (337) 893-5589 E-mail: vfcc@cox.net Uniting the faith community of Vermilion Parish in service through meeting critical human need.

		PROJECT ERATH: CASE CLOSED “Pat Trahan’s House in Erath Blessed” By The Rev. Keith Milligan Rector, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Abbeville *Originally published in Alive!, the newspaper of the Episcopal Diocese of Western Louisiana, December 2006*

“Through many dangers, toils, and snares, I have already come,
Twas grace that brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.”

About fifty people sang this verse of “Amazing Grace” with heartfelt gusto, Saturday afternoon, November 4, at the home of Ms. Patricia “Pat” Trahan in Erath, just five miles east of Beautiful, Downtown Abbeville, as family, friends, and volunteer crews united to bless her newly renovated and restored home, which had been flooded by twenty-two inches of water from the second surge of Hurricane Rita just over a year ago late on the morning of September 23, 2005.




	Homeowner, Pat Trahan, shows the mark made by the 22-inch water level that flooded her home.

About two dozen volunteers from St. Michael’s, Pineville, and St. Paul’s, Abbeville, were on-hand for the festive occasion, hosted by Pat and her close friends from Erath. The house blessing was an ecumenical service, presided over by Pat’s pastor, Father Wayne Duet, Pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes Roman Catholic Church of Erath. Fr. Keith Milligan, Rector of St. Paul’s, Abbeville, assisted and provided the joyous music for the happy occasion with his guitar.

Volunteers from St. Michael’s, Pineville, were led by a trio of “hurricane recovery heroes,” or as Pat called all the volunteers who worked on her home, “her angels.” M. F. “Matt” Matthews, Dwain West, and Brent Smith first visited Abbeville to tour Vermilion Parish and visit possible house sites on April 28, 2006. After viewing several houses, the Holy Spirit led them to select Pat’s home as a challenge that they prayed they could meet.

The three men went back to St. Michael’s, Pineville, to try to gather together a team, to formulate a plan, and to muster resources. It wasn’t long before they had over a dozen volunteers committed to Pat’s house.

Meanwhile the story developed in Abbeville as well, under the leadership of Father Keith and the Vermilion Faith Community of Care, Inc. (VFCC), a faith-based nonprofit 501(c) (3) corporation for unmet critical needs, of which he was the Founding Chairman of the Board after Hurricane Lili struck Abbeville in October 2002.

VFCC had recruited a volunteer team all the way from Nova Scotia that had come from “Acadie” to assist their “Cajun” cousins in “Acadia,” or “Acadiana,” in May 2006. This volunteer team stripped, or “de-constructed”, Pat’s house down to the studs and sub-flooring.

That’s when St. Michael’s, Pineville, came onto the scene and began the long, hard task of re-construction. Pat had received a maximum grant of $5,200 from FEMA for reconstruction, but how far would that go? Not very far – since construction prices and building supplies more than doubled after Hurricane(s) “Katrita” struck the Gulf Coast.




		The St. Michael, Pineville, crew poses in the kitchen at the end of a 9-hour day.

Meanwhile, VFCC was busy trying to develop financial resources for “Project Erath” as Pat’s house came to be known. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Lafayette contributed a $500 voucher for building supplies at the nearby Otto Hebert Lumber Company in Delcambre. Southern Mutual Help Association (SMHA) of New Iberia contributed a $5,000 grant at Stine’s in Abbeville. VFCC contributed $3,083 at Stine’s as well. St. Michael’s, Pineville, members contributed $5,416 toward building supplies, which included brand new windows and wood for all new kitchen cabinets. St. Paul’s, Abbeville, members contributed $1,058 toward supplies, mainly to help reconstruct one of the two bathrooms. In all, volunteers contributed a total of $15,057 which when combined with Pat’s $5,200 FEMA grant, meant that it took $20,257 in building supplies to reconstruct Pat’s home. The twenty (20) volunteers from St. Michael’s, Pineville, and ten (10) volunteers from St. Paul’, Abbeville, contributed a total of 1,699 hours of volunteer labor, the minimum value of which is estimated at $35,190. Pat’s beautiful “new” home therefore has had a total value added of $55,447 in donated building supplies and volunteer “people” hours. I say “people” hours because the volunteer teams included eleven (11) women, as well as nineteen (19) men. Matt Matthews of St. Michael’s, Pineville, an active Cursillista, felt God’s call to respond. “We ought to do something,” he reflected. His faithful response led to the St. Michael’s volunteer team.



	Father Keith Milligan administers Holy Communion to the St. Michael’s crew in the kitchen.

When Gwen & Jeff Klorer, Cursillistas from St. Paul’s, Abbeville, heard that St. Michael’s, Pineville, was working on Pat’s house, they too reflected on God’s call. They had already signed up for the 2006 Diocesan medical mission to Honduras, but after much prayer, they decided that the Holy Spirit wanted them to help with Pat’s house instead of the Honduras mission. Their faithful response led to the St. Paul’s volunteer team.

Saturday afternoon, we ended the House Blessing, with a rounding chorus of a most appropriate song, “Our God is an Awesome God,” and then shared in a splendid reception provided by Pat and her “decorating committee” friends, who had helped her furnish her home.

So Matt, because you said YES to God’s still, small, quiet voice in your heart, “WE DID DO SOMETHING!” And God looked at what He had done, and said it was very good. For all who helped on Pat’s home, may you hear the words of God to you, “Well done, good and faithful servants!”


	For additional photos.


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