102 Trips: How One Church Kept Showing Up After Katrina
In the decade following Hurricane Katrina, Ginghamsburg United Methodist Church in Ohio sent 102 work crews to Louisiana — rebuilding homes, restoring hope, and forming bonds that last to this day.
Following Hurricane Katrina, work crews from Ginghamsburg United Methodist Church drove the 2,000 mile round trip from Tipp City, Ohio. "It was long. I remember sleeping a lot. I get car sick. So, leaving at like 2:00 in the morning from Ohio on a bus all the way down to southern Louisiana wasn't all that fun."
"This was a big trip. There were… we had like four vans as I recall on this trip. So, there were probably 60-ish guys on this trip. Teams doing some… I remember one team built a… they built a handicap ramp. Really pretty impressive when it was done. And you know, they went from design to done in two days. What do you think of it? Amazing."
Ginghamsburg didn't just make the trip one time. They returned an astonishing 102 times in the decade following Katrina.
"You know, Ginghamsburg has always had a heart for doing something with their love for God. We love Jesus, and we do something about it."
The footage you see in this story is from a documentary made on trip number 70 in 2011. Five years after the storm, people were still hurting.
"Look at this rain! I love it. It's uh, you don't want it to be pretty and sunny all the time. You got to experience all of it. You would go from seeing a house that was devastated. Talking to people who were ripped off basically by the contractors that came down there. It was amazing how many people told us the same story. They came. I gave them $40,000. They took it and left."
"One woman's house that we were working on, the house was in studs. She had a campsite toilet that she used for her restroom. The crew that was there put drywall up, set her toilet for her, and actually had her a working bathroom in the four days that we were there. And that's all it took to get her restroom put back together, but nobody had done it in 5 years."
Years spent rebuilding homes also built strong connections.
"For men, these kind of trips are invaluable, as you get into the long conversations that go from one topic to another. That doesn't happen with guys a lot. We don't just get together for coffee and chat about our feelings. But when we're sitting in a van, waiting for stuff to show up… well, we can have some conversations."
"The guys that went down there, and the feeling of the whole mission trip was actually one of the most amazing things I've ever done in my life."
Twenty years after the storm, Ginghamsburg supports ministries all over the world. "We can be the answers to our own prayers. We see a need… it's our responsibility to fill it. If not us, then who? And if not now, then when? We really believe we are the only hands and feet that God has. We are the only bank account that God has. God wants to partner with us to make the world a better place. That's why we sent over a hundred teams to Louisiana in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina."
When Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast in 2005, thousands of churches across the country mobilized relief efforts. Most sent one team, maybe two. Ginghamsburg United Methodist Church in Tipp City, Ohio sent 102.
From Ohio to Louisiana — Again and Again
The 2,000-mile round trip became a familiar rhythm for the men of Ginghamsburg. Departing at 2:00 a.m. on buses and in caravans of vans, groups of 60 or more made the journey south to communities where the need was still overwhelming — even years after the storm.
"You would go from seeing a house that was devastated, talking to people who were basically ripped off by contractors that came down there," recalls one volunteer. The stories were heartbreakingly consistent: families who had paid tens of thousands of dollars to contractors who took the money and disappeared.
The Work That Mattered
On one trip, a crew found a woman living in a house stripped to the studs, using a campsite toilet as her only restroom. In four days, the team installed drywall, set her toilet, and gave her a working bathroom — something no one had done in five years since the storm.
Other teams built handicap ramps, repaired roofs, and restored electrical systems. The work was practical and immediate, but the impact went far deeper than construction.
Building More Than Houses
For many of the men who made these trips, the long van rides and shared labor created something rare: genuine connection. "For men, these kind of trips are invaluable," one participant reflects. "You get into long conversations that go from one topic to another. That doesn't happen with guys a lot."
The mission trips became a formative experience for the church community, strengthening bonds between members and deepening their sense of purpose.
A Legacy of Service
Twenty years after Katrina, Ginghamsburg continues to support ministries around the world, carrying forward the same conviction that drove those 102 trips: "We really believe we are the only hands and feet that God has. We are the only bank account that God has. God wants to partner with us to make the world a better place."
We really believe we are the only hands and feet that God has. God wants to partner with us to make the world a better place."
Published by
UM News Staff
UM News is the official news service of The United Methodist Church, providing coverage of the global denomination.
