Gulf Coast families get break on calmer shores

Newport churches give minister and his family much-needed vacation. He asks for spiritual support.Over the last three months, Pastor Gregory Hand has shared his message of unflagging hope with a range churchgoers -- mostly Southerners, all of whom have been affected by Hurricane Katrina.

Hand, whose church is in New Orleans’ French Quarter, tweaked the message slightly on Sunday, when he addressed congregants at St. James Church in Newport Beach.

“I thanked everyone for this blessing and reminded people that recovery is still ongoing,” Hand said. “We’re not the flavor of the month anymore, but the needs are still profound.”

Hand, his wife, Wren, their sons Ryne and Samuel, and two other Gulf Coast families spent a long weekend in Newport Beach as guests of St. James Church and Newport-Mesa Christian Center.

The visitors took part in two religious services -- one at each church -- and visited local sights, including Fashion Island and the Christmas Boat Parade on Friday.

The churches and a few of their parishioners helped pay the way for the 12 guests, intended to be a short refuge from the hurricane-ravaged region.

“It has been a most welcome change to recharge the battery and to refocus,” said Hand, who planned to return to New Orleans late Monday. “Sometimes you get tunnel vision.”

Hand and the visitors stayed for a discounted rate at a Newport Beach hotel. John Rooke, a St. James Church member who helped organize the trip, estimated the church groups raised about $6,000 for the evacuees’ excursion. St. James Church was the primarily backer, Rooke said.

Twice since the hurricane hit, Rooke, who lives in Newport Beach part of the year, has traveled on a church-sponsored trip to New Orleans, where he met Hand.

The two have distributed food, water, ice and bleach to the city’s residents together.

“The stories were heartbreaking. I cried every hour, every day,” Rooke said. “It was obvious that people -- and especially church leaders -- needed to get away. They were dealing with their own problems and everyone else’s.”

Hand’s home in Pass Christian, Miss., near the Mississippi-Louisiana border, was torn from its foundation during the hurricane. He has lived inside his church ever since.

He shared his story with a cadre of St. James Church members at a dinner party on Saturday night. Rooke said church congregants were struck by the stories they heard and that the visitors expressed their gratitude for the trip.

“The hospitality has been almost Southern, which is appropriate since this is Southern California,” Hand said on Monday.

Rooke said the churches joined together to bring a Gulf Coast-area pastor and his wife to Newport-Mesa earlier in the fall.

Churches across the country are planning to extend similar invitations to evacuees, according to a spokesperson from the American Anglican Council.

St. James Church has sponsored five separate volunteer trips to New Orleans and has raised about $50,000 for hurricane relief, according to Richard Menees, assistant rector at the church. Another trip is planned for next week, he said. A youth minister and a young parishioner are visiting the region to see how they can help in the future.

Hand, who often gives sermons to relief workers at his New Orleans church, said providing continued aid is a good start.

He said churches can help out financially and in ways that government entities cannot -- giving spiritual hope.

“That’s what we need in large doses,” Hand said.

* ELIA POWERS is the enterprise and general assignment reporter. He may be reached at (714) 966-4623 or by e-mail at elia.powers@latimes.com.

20051220irrsswncDOUGLAS ZIMMERMAN / DAILY PILOT(LA)Jerlicia Morris smiles after morning services at St. James Church on the Balboa Peninsula. The church treated her and her family, victims of Hurricane Katrina, to a vacation in Southern California.