Camp Noah Volunteers Help Hurricane Victims

In the wake of destruction left last year by Hurricane Katrina, the nation responded with a heartfelt desire to help the thousands of Gulf Coast residents left homeless and hurting.

Among those ready to serve were Carrie (Opperman ‘01) Hartwig and her husband, Brett (’03). For six weeks last summer,Carrie
and Brett served with Camp Noah, a program designed to serve school-age youth whose families have been displaced by disasters.

The Minnesota-based program was originally created in 1997 by Lutheran Social Services to serve communities affected by major flooding in Minnesota and North Dakota.

During the summer of 2006, Camp Noah came to Trinity Lutheran Church in Baton Rouge,La., offering six week-long camps sponsored through the church and Lutheran Social Services of the South. The program offered elementary school-age kids a fun week of activities,extra emotional support and a much needed diversion from their post-hurricane daily life.

Carrie served as site coordinator for the Baton Rouge camp, while Brett provided behind-the-scenes support with set-up and computer/technical problems. They were joined by CSP student Christiane Zoch, a director of Christian education intern at Trinity Lutheran Church, who helped them organize Camp Noah.

Carrie previously worked as a Camp Noah counselor during the summers of her junior and senior years at Concordia University. She credits Concordia with giving her a heart for missions,even if it meant sacrificing summer vacations to work for Camp Noah.

It was also at Concordia, she said, that she “truly learned how important it is to share the story of Jesus … and how to share that love.”

During the regular school year, Carrie and Brett are teachers at Baton Rouge Lutheran School in Louisiana, where Brett teaches middle school history and K-8 computers, and Carrie, who taught Kindergarten for three years, began teaching fifth grade this fall.

For Carrie and Brett,the camp experience affirmed for both that God is in charge. They heard heart-wrenching stories of loss and hurt from their youthful campers, but despite all the children have had to endure, they remain resilient and aware that God’s grace will see them through.

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