Hurricane Katrina single-handedly ripped the Gulf Coast asunder in a few short hours.

Since then, the hands of many people from many places have joined with an equally fierce determination to knit it back together.

And though it has taken months, one church-based group has begun to emerge as a major force in the reconstruction effort.

Westminster Presbyterian Church lies far enough away from the beach to have escaped the massive tidal surge. The shock of the ordeal, however, forced its minister into early retirement and left operations to the elders.

The Methodist church next door began operating as a soup kitchen and Pearce Sunderland helped set Westminster up as a distribution site to aid their neighbors&8217; effort.

One thing led to another.

&8220;We started housing volunteers in the church, and when word got out, it just continued to grow,&8221; Sunderland said.

They got right to work.

After helping people clean up their homes and clear debris, Sunderland and his volunteers started doing repairs on neighborhood house before running into a problem.

&8220;We didn&8217;t know what we wanted to do,&8221; Sunderland said.

Hands need eyes to show them where to go.

Sunderland didn&8217;t have to look far to find someone to help with the construction aspect of the operation. Paul Risk, a contractor who had come down from Lancaster, Pa. to volunteer, knew exactly what to do.

&8220;Paul Risk helped us see a vision to where we could do more to help,&8221; Sunderland said. &8220;He got us focused.&8221;

Take it from the top

The best place to start, Risk knew, was at the top.

&8220;The roof is the first step towards getting the homeowner back home,&8221; Risk said. &8220;It doesn&8217;t matter how nice your house is if it gets wet whenever it rains.&8221;

The operation started small: they found people, one at a time, who needed new roofs but hadn&8217;t gotten a large enough insurance check to cover the cost.

&8220;We took them to Home Depot, they paid for the materials and we put the roof on,&8221; Risk, 75, said.

In return, the recipient was asked to donate an amount equal to the cost of materials to the church, in effect passing it forward.

As the operation grew, Risk was able to help secure a steady stream of roofing materials through the 84 Lumber store in Gulfport &8212; the only one not on allocation.

With the help of five work crews he brought down from Lancaster, they were able to form multiple teams with skilled labor teaching the unskilled volunteers.

With the organization and labor force to take on more projects, all they lacked was money to get the equipment and materials to really get roofing.

Enter George and Linda Bates.

Paydirt

The Bates had left their Natchez home in the days after the hurricane to help the Mississippi Presbytery&8217;s coastal churches pick up the pieces. Both have served as missionaries and were asked to lead the presbytery&8217;s disaster recovery effort.

They worked with Sunderland and the other Presbyterian churches to coordinate and book housing at the area churches for incoming volunteers, be they church groups, couples or individuals.

&8220;Every day is a different challenge,&8221; Linda Bates said. &8220;It&8217;s never dull.&8221;

Seeing the need for money, George, who had retired as the research director at Alcorn State in May of 2004, set to work on a grant proposal.

With Bates&8217; grant-writing skill and the volunteers&8217; track record of success, they landed a $500,000 materials and equipment grant from the Presbyterian Disaster Assistance Program.

That money, along with another $100,000 Bates estimates Risk personally contributed, the operation was rolling.

The holiday rush

The first major test of the organization came over the winter holiday as groups from all over descended on Gulfport to help.

Sunderland, Risk and the Bates were ready, and the Christmas Roofing Blitz began.

A Friday night visit to Westminster found 250 high school and college students from Tennessee, Virginia and Ontario, Canada in the sanctuary for a worship service.

The students, exhausted after a day on the roof, were ready to unroll their sleeping bags on the pews for a good night&8217;s sleep before their last day at work.

&8220;Anyone who wants to play dodgeball, meet at the front after the service,&8221; announced one of the student leaders.

Did someone say exhausted?

George Bates had addressed the group earlier in the evening, telling them that the hurricane had not been an act of God, &8220;you are an act of God.&8221;

Meanwhile, the pros were out back, planning the next day&8217;s labor. With 2o teams going out, figuring out who needs what when is no mean feat.

But these were pros and they moved right through it, eager to hop into their campers and hit the sack.

The Blitz had hoped to get 50 roofs on in the week between Christmas and the end of the year. They might not have hit the number, but they got pretty close.

And the people of the Gulf Coast appreciate the effort.

Ben Richards rode the storm out in his Long Beach home. The small community west of Gulfport might have gotten the worst of Katrina, the fifth block of houses from the beach now have a completely unobstructed view of the water.

Richards&8217; house still stands, but that&8217;s about all that can be said for it. Except now, he has a new roof, courtesy of the same group that was causing all the ruckus too early Saturday morning. Richards had gotten $6,400 from his insurance company and said the sounds of nail guns popping were music to his ears.

&8220;People down here couldn&8217;t have made it without the church groups,&8221; he said. &8220;I appreciate FEMA and all, but the church groups have really stepped up to the plate.

Whatever one&8217;s views on religion, it&8217;s pretty hard to argue with what the Presbytery of Mississippi is getting done on the coast.

And while George Bates says he&8217;d love to have people join the area&8217;s Presbyterian churches, that doesn&8217;t enter the realm of their work.

&8220;We put roofs on houses, we don&8217;t discuss religion,&8221; he said.

Well, making the Westminster kitchen kosher for the 150 Jewish volunteers due in the coming week was probably a hot topic, but you get the idea.

Where do we go from here?

With the Christmas Roofing Blitz showing early signs of being a success, Bates, Risk and Sunderland are already planning for the next big student volunteer rush, which they will call the Spring Break Blitz.

In the meantime, the work continues. As for money, Bates isn&8217;t worried.

&8220;The grant money will last into the spring,&8221; George Bates said. &8220;Our performance should strengthen our case for getting another grant.&8221;

Undoubtedly it will. And as long as there is money for materials and enough skilled roofers to lead teams &8212; hint, hint &8212; the Bates&8217;, who have groups booked into September, know they&8217;ll have plenty of volunteer help to do the hammering.

And no matter what their religious affiliation &8212; Christian, Jew, other or none &8212; they&8217;ll learn a valuable lesson while they help the battered area get itself back on its feet.

&8220;This is an incredible thing, we can do more working together than we can do alone,&8221; George Bates said.

&8220;I don&8217;t know how many people outside the Gulf Coast see that, but people here see it.&8221;