GM FYI Blog

Sue Mead is a freelance journalist who travels the globe test-driving cars and trucks as a photojournalist/feature writer for over two dozen publications and the Internet. Sue is sending reports to the FYI Blog as she leads a group of 12 volunteers from her church in Williamstown, Massachusetts, to the hurricane-ravaged town of Slidell, Louisiana. For a week the group of adults and children will live in a local church and help the residents who are still recovering from massive storm losses. General Motors loaned the group a HUMMER H2 and a GMC Yukon Denali to transport them and their gear during their mission. David Jolin and others in the group are enhancing Sue’s words with home video clips of things they see and do.

By Sue Mead

Twenty-six hours after departing the Community Bible Church, in Williamstown, Massachusetts, our group of 12 arrived in Slidell, Louisiana. Along our 1,500-mile journey, we saw many beautiful sights and watched the sun set over the mountains of Virginia and rise again in Alabama.

We all thoroughly enjoyed trading spaces in our Hummer H2 and in the GMC Yukon Denali XL donated for us to drive to do our mission work to Katrina victims. Our young adults especially enjoyed the DVD player, the XM Satellite radio, CD players, heated and bolstered seats. We used OnStar to find a breakfast spot along our way and a weather report for the weekend, and we dubbed the female voice of our navigation system “Wanda.” She kept us on a steady course and would tell us immediately when we made a wrong turn.

It was shocking to see damage from Katrina as we descended through southern Alabama and drove through Mississippi. Starting at over 100 miles away, there were work crews still clearing debris from the highways.

We were welcomed warmly into our new home at the First Baptist Church of Slidell (see video), which has been putting up 100-150 volunteers a night since September. We are sleeping on cots in rooms saved for our group, including a family room for Dave and Krista, Jolin and their children Ashley and Kevin, as well as a room for our four men and four women. After touring Slidell and the surrounding region and seeing the effects of Katrina (video), we had a much-needed sleep.

Today, we attended church and visited with an 85-year-old man, Royal N. Royal. Royal has lost family and his home in the hurricane, but has a spirit of grace that touched our hearts. We plan to visit him again this week for a cookout and the men will build him a shed next to his FEMA trailer.

After driving a short distance to our work site tomorrow to check out the damage and develop a plan (video) for tools and materials, we have finished a warm and wonderful meal prepared by Chandra and Ashley. We know how many blessings we have and will pray for a good night’s sleep as we begin our work tomorrow.