Kansas Nebraska Convention of Southern Baptists (KNCSB)

KNCSB teams serve New Orleans with ‘labor of love’

Miss Lorene leads devotions for the group that worked at her New Orleans home during spring break. The group from Fort Hays State University, Hays, Kan., tackled such projects as wiring her home and removing debris from the back yard. The Hays group was part of more than 200 people who represented Kansas-Nebraska Southern Baptists in New Orleans during spring break.

“Spring break was a big boost to the work of rebuilding homes and helping families to get into their homes in New Orleans,” says Elijah “Touch” Touchton, KNCSB team leader.

The first KNCSB rebuilding team went to hurricane-ravaged New Orleans in February 2006. Spring break in March 2007 found KNCSB’s 12th team serving there.

Here is a summary of work completed by Kansas-Nebraska volunteers from January through March 2007:

• 296 volunteers worked 13,320 hours


• Six houses insulated


• Drywall installed in three homes


• Old electrical wiring removed from five homes


• Four homes shingled


• Baptistery area gutted at Gentilly Baptist Church


• Painted Gentilly Baptist Church gym


• Installed electrical wiring installed in church gym


• Landscaping and various other projects at the Global Maritime Ministries Center across the street from the Port of New Orleans


• Completed wiring in 14 homes


• Wiring in 12 homes at least 80 percent completed.

Touchton says, “I have been asked many times,`Are we making a difference in New Orleans?’ I respond that we are making a difference in the lives of the people. We touch lives with our labor of love.

“If we look at the cost of savings to the families by our involvement in the New Orleans rebuilding project, we have saved families approximately $312,000 in wiring alone. We are making a difference.”