Published: June 07, 2009 11:39 pm      

Persons of the Week: Salix church members helping Katrina victims rebuild

Members of Bethel United Methodist Church in Salix are living the Second Greatest Commandment.

The church has shown repeatedly that it loves its neighbors, both near and far, as themselves.

This summer, the mission committee at the church once again will be donating their talents to make repairs to the home of a local family in need.

Last month, Bethel sponsored yet another trip to the Gulf states to continue the work of washing away the scars left by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Joining Bethel on the trip to Gulfport, Miss., were members of Summit Chapel United Methodist Church in East Taylor Township; Mount Olive United Methodist Church in Sidman; and Roxbury St. Paul’s United Methodist Church in Johnstown.

From May 11 to 15, a total of 27 volunteers from the churches worked on five homes, said Sue Orsargos, co-chairwoman of the mission committee.

“Once you go, you want to go back because you are reaching out to someone in need,” said Orsargos, who has been on two previous trips with her church to help Katrina victims.

The people they are helping have fallen through the cracks and rely mainly on donations and volunteers to assist them, said Orsargos, who also has made mission trips abroad.

“It’s extremely rewarding,” Orsargos said about why she helps. “You feel like you are bringing back more than you are giving.”

“Another reason to help is that the Bible says each one should use whatever gifts he has received to serve others faithfully, administering God’s grace in its various forms,” said the clerk at District Judge Leonard Grecek’s office in Johnstown.

All the volunteers share the same beliefs, said the resident of Mine 42 in Adams Township.

Orsargos’ husband, Charlie, has gone on all the Katrina trips with her.

Both Orsargoses and Marsha Pauley, co-chairwoman of the mission committee and a Portage resident, said their church has provided plenty of support for their trips.

Pauley, who has helped previously in the Gulf States and abroad, said her crew replaced the roof of a woman’s house that had been leaking since Katrina hit and built a ramp for a handicapped woman who lives next door.

The retired English teacher from the Central Cambria School District said she has had a blessed life and that it was gratifying to share the hope and joy that she has had with those who have been suffering due to Katrina.

Kevin Chesnutwood, a former Salix resident who moved to Hagerstown, Md., 15 years ago with his wife, Shawn, and daughters, Alexei, 7, and Ayden, 5, always returns home to help his home church on the trips to aid Katrina victims.

The mechanical engineer for the federal National Institute of Standards and Technology in Gaithersburg, Md., said he was overwhelmed by the amount of help still needed in the Gulf States.

“You sometimes wonder whether the volunteers are making a difference in the big picture,” he said. “But when you see the appreciation of the people whom you helped, you realize the big picture isn’t the important part,” he said.

“It is the life or two that you touched,” he said. “It’s important to them.”

He said all the volunteers care about touching lives.

For their efforts, Orsagos, Pauley and Chesnutwood are the Persons of the Week.