Deerfield Pastor Continues Mission to Help Hurricane Katrina Victims

When Hurricane Katrina hit the shores of the Gulf of Mexico a decade ago, it ravaged a region, leaving thousands without homes.

But the same tragedy brought out the best in humanity in the form of volunteers who came from across the country to help the communities hit heal.

“The people who went down didn’t have building skills, they weren’t union carpenters, but they learned they could do more than they thought,” said Rev. Roger Dart, the 80-year-old associate pastor at Congregational Church of Deerfield and someone who has been a key figure in helping residents in the Gulf region rebuild their homes and lives over the past ten years.

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“It may take another 10 years to completely rebuild,” Dart told the Deerfield Review in a recent feature, noting that his next plan trip to help will come this October.

When Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005, Dart responded to a call from a seminary in Chicago looking for volunteers to go from Rockford to Laurel, Miss. There, Dart helped set up a temporary free clinic and two volunteer physicians tended to the sick.

He stayed for several weeks and returned yearly for six years following the tragedy. He would often manage groups of volunteers heading to New Orleans.

more via the Deerfield Review