The Rev. Chan Willis, pastor of First Presbyterian Church and a partner in SWLA Responds, outlines a plan of action recently with the Rev. Braylon Harris, executive director/coalition coordinator at SWLA Responds and senior pastor of Mount Olive Baptist Church. (Crystal Stevenson / American Press)

The impact of Hurricanes Laura and Delta is continuing to be felt nearly two years after the storms made landfall in Southwest Louisiana — and will likely continue to be felt for years to come. But while the pain remains, so, too, does hope, knowing that teams of local and out-of-state volunteers continually choose to spend their vacations and school breaks here helping people and families.

SWLA Responds was born from that hope, created so that an efficient use of volunteers and resources can get more houses repaired.

“It’s a coalition of 40-50 churches that came together around the idea that they all had a similar mission to love the people in our community and a desire to do that in a way that was tangible and inspirational. We decided we can do better together,” said the Rev. Braylon Harris, executive director/coalition coordinator at SWLA Responds and senior pastor of Mount Olive Baptist Church. “All of us were hurting, not all of us had all of our facilities or all of our members or all of our resources so we realized that doing it together would be the best way. None of us had everything they needed but when we came together we all had the unique pieces that fit.”

Harris said SWLA Responds was inspired by Houston Responds, which was founded after Hurricane Harvey made landfall.

“Churches showed us what worked for them after Harvey and the idea really just took off,” Harris said. “Southwest Louisiana is community minded already and it didn’t take a whole lot to sit down and figure out that we could do greater together.”

He said the group coordinates volunteers and connects people with the right projects.

“The ecumenical effort has been unprecedented in my estimation and is an excellent example of the silver lining of such storms,” Harris said. “It’s Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, Episcopal, Pentecostal, Catholic, non-denominational, Nazarene, Mennonite, Amish coming together, loving God and loving people.”

He said the group is turning love into an action word at a whole new level, raising nearly $2 million over the last two years, facilitating 3,000 volunteers — 700 volunteers are coming in June alone — and repairing hundreds of homes.

“It’s been a herculean effort by God and we just get to watch it happen,” Harris said.

The Rev. Chan Willis, pastor of First Presbyterian Church and a partner in SWLA Responds, said the group meets the needs of those who can’t help themselves.

“We’re not dealing with any insurance agencies at all, it’s all people who have no resources,” Willis said. “We’re meeting them where they are.”

Both Willis and Harris said what amazes them is the continual offers of groups wanting to come to Southwest Louisiana to help rebuild — even nearly two years after the storms hit.

“When it gets to 12 months, so many times the recovery is stalled, wheather it’s people no longer thinking about that particular place, no one wants to go anymore, other disasters have come up and now we’re in year two and we’re still able to bring hundreds each month and it speaks to way it was handeled in year one and how we worked together and the experiences we created.”

Bill Howell, director of disaster response for United Methodist Conference, said their parnership with SWLA Responds has been “a God thing from the get-go.”

“We had a limited amount of money and after four weeks it was pretty clear that we didn’t have enough, but then all these nonprofits started giving what they could and when all the pieces were put together Lake Charles got $827,000 worth of help and labor in 10 and half weeks,” Powell said.

Harris said several recent monetary donations to the group are being matched by donors outside of the area so even more dollars are helping these organizations help people to the region — at least $350,000 has just been donated through funds at the Community Foundation for collaborative work with SWLA Responds, United Methodist Conference and SBP Disaster Response & Recovery that will be matched 100 percent.

“The reason this works is that we all have a common mission and we dropped our egos, theological stuff and we said our purpose is to be the feet and hands of God here on the ground and to help people who are in need. Period. And that’s what we have been doing,” Howell said.

Harris said this summer, several youth volunteer groups will be coming to focus on schools and parks.

“You go into schools and you realize, ‘Man, it’s been two years and these schools still don’t have permanent roofs on yet, active leaking still going on, patchwork here and there, it’s a sad situation,” Harris said. “All the landscaping was blown out and no one has time to do that because they have bigger fish to fry. It’s those little things that make a school a school that we’re going work on.”

Howell, who has been instrumental in bringing Amish volunteers to help rebuild in the area, said by Aug. 8, there will be 10-plus homes case managed, approved and ready to be worked on when members of that community arrive in October for a second round of volunteerism.

“The Amish came to us as strangers, they became friends and they went home as family,” said Howell, who with wife, Katherine, has in return visited the Amish community in their Ohio homes.

“You never thank God for a disaster, but God gives you an opportuniy through disasters to pull together and to be the body of Christ and that’s what happened here. We’re rebuilding a community here, not just in terms of physical structures but in terms of people and their lives.”