St. Margaret Mary aids N.C. after Hurricane Helene

by Macie Capote

By Macie Capote
Clarion Herald

When one of St. Margaret Mary Men’s Club Disaster Response Team’s leaders, Slidell City Councilman Bill Borchert, heard about the devastation that Hurricane Helene brought to North Carolina, he decided to go outside the team’s “comfort zone” to bring relief.

Typically the team responds to disasters within a five-hour radius of Slidell – roughly from Tallahassee, Florida, to Houston, Texas – but they loaded up two motorhomes and five trucks with trailers on Sunday morning, Oct. 6, to make the long trek to Hendersonville, North Carolina.

Borchert said the decision came about when he called his contact at Catholic Charities for insight on whether they should bring aid to Perry, Florida, where the eye of the hurricane hit.

“He told us to stand down and not go to Florida because there wasn’t too much damage there,” Borchert said. “But, we were told to consider North Carolina, and specifically Hendersonville because we could serve from there and hit all of the communities around it.”

After discussing the anxieties of leaving their comfort zone, the team, who started back in 2016, took a leap of faith and collaborated with Immaculata Catholic School in Hendersonville to provide support, supplies and hot meals to the surrounding communities.

Between the group’s hot-cooked meals, which included a new menu of Salisbury steak, mashed potatoes and gravy and vegetables, a local Slidell café donating beans, rice and jambalaya and a restaurant in North Carolina providing meals, the total number of hot meals served in just a matter of three days reached 9,400, with 8,000 of those cooked by the Men’s Club.

The group is no stranger to serving a large number of hot and homemade meals. Since 2016, Borchert and the dozen men who volunteer in the disaster relief team have cooked over 120,000 meals.

The serving process is typically organized to provide meals in a drive-through setting, allowing staff to chat with the local community and offer support; however, this time was different.

“We were in the backyard of the school cooking, so we didn't really get to interact with anybody other than the volunteers and staff at the school,” he said. “Still, I had about 100 different people come up to me at some point to tell me it was the best meal they had all year.”

Despite not being able to connect with the people who were devastated by the hurricane, Borchert said Hendersonville was exactly where the Lord wanted them to be.

“We even thought a couple of times, ‘We need to pack up and go to Asheville, where the damage is,’” he said. “But sure enough, we were busy as could be, and the number of people we served grew every day we were there. We were supposed to be there.”

A Katrina motivation

In addition to their motto, “Be the hands and feet of Christ, bringing hope to those in despair,” Borchert said his team is especially equipped for this large task because they all experienced it firsthand 20 years ago during Hurricane Katrina.

“We can share hope with them and say, ‘We were there, we know exactly what you’re going through and in the end, you’re going to come out on the other side and be able to help people in the future,” he said. “I realized a long time ago that we need to focus on serving out of Catholic churches and schools so people can see the Catholic Church is responding to these disasters, but also so people can not only receive physical nourishment, but spiritual nourishment.”

St. Margaret Mary’s Deacon Louis Bauer expressed a similar sentiment, emphasizing the importance of the Catholic Church’s response to those affected by disasters like these.

“People don’t see enough of what goes on behind the scenes of such an endeavor,” he said. “This is not about boasting about what they have done and what they are going to do, this is about people knowing that their Catholic Church has responded to the need and the call of those who are hurting, hungry and who have lost hope.”

Deacon Bauer recalled the moment when Jesus sent out the 72 disciples to heal the sick and cast out demons, connecting it to the group’s ongoing relief efforts.

“In my mind, this act of evangelization is similar to what these men are doing,” Bauer said. “For those who are suffering from hunger (physically and spiritually), they are bringing them food. For those who have lost their home and lost their hope, they are bringing hope to the hopeless. For those who are struggling with the demons of fear, despair, and uncertainty, these men are driving out those demons and restoring faith and assurance that God has not forgotten them.”

The total cost of the relief efforts in North Carolina was approximately $15,000. The Men’s Club Disaster Relief Team welcomes donations of any kind to support their ongoing efforts in future disaster relief missions.

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