An answered prayer
Published: December 12, 2005
In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the Rev. Lance Eden and his immediate family prayed for help.
After losing three homes, having relatives dispersed as far as Seattle and getting little help from the federal government, Eden was looking for angels.
Then Laura Kenig and Annie DesLauriers of Ely contacted him.
Kenig and DesLauriers, both 45, leave Duluth today in a 36-foot motor home the two women will drive 1,400 miles and deliver to the Eden family in hurricane-ravaged New Orleans.
“It’s desperately needed,” said Eden, 27, who before the hurricane lived with his 82-year-old grandmother, father, uncle, and a niece and nephew. “It’s been almost three months, and other people have trailers and are back in their property, but we haven’t received any word from FEMA. They (Kenig and DesLauriers) are like angels. That’s the only way I can describe it.”
Eden’s family, who lived in a New Orleans neighborhood known as the The Village, lost three homes in the hurricane. As a result of the storm, his father injured a shoulder and underwent surgery. Eden’s brother is in the military in Iraq. And in the wake of the storm, several family members were relocated.
But Eden, who before the hurricane led a congregation of about 200, was instead looking for housing and relief for members of his church.
He said it took him a while to realize that his own family also had needs.
“I’ve been doing a lot of things to help the community and other persons,” Eden said. “I had a need of my own, but with what’s gone on here, you don’t always have time to think about your own needs. All my family has been displaced and are in need.”
Kenig, a community activist since relocating to Ely in 1991 from her native Maine, heard about the Eden family from Pat and Josie Milan of Ely, who this fall participated in a relief mission to New Orleans.
With $8,000 from two anonymous donors, Kenig and DesLauriers bought the motor home from a local dealer. The women also have been raising money to transport food and household supplies to the Eden family and to cover the costs of delivering the motorhome.
So far, about $5,000 has been raised.
“It’s been a huge project,” Kenig said. “And the community has really rallied behind this. It feels like an important part of life to help out.”
DesLauriers, a native of Eagan, Minn., said a phone conversation with Eden helped direct the women’s efforts.
“After calling him, we found out that he and his extended family had lost everything,” DesLauriers said. “At first, he was hesitant to talk about his needs, but it became clear to us that he was our family. Neither one of us belongs to any organized religion, but to give this good will to someone who has needs feels so great. I still get choked up when people ask me about him.”
Kenig and DesLauriers expect to arrive in Duluth about 10 a.m. today to pick up the motor home before leaving on a four-day drive to New Orleans.
“That motor home is bigger than some of the cabins I’ve lived in,” DesLauriers said with a laugh. “It may be a little tough to parallel park, but I grew up on a farm, and I can drive anything.”
The motor home, which sleeps six, will become home to Eden, his grandmother, father, uncle, niece and nephew, said Eden, who since the hurricane has rotated between sleeping in his church and an uncle’s home. By Dec. 20, the entire family will be reunited and have a motor home to call their own.
Eden said the motor home will give his father a place to heal from surgery and allow the family to take their grandmother a short distance to visit other relatives.
“I know they’re excited about it, but they just don’t realize what a blessing this is going to be,” Eden said of Kenig and DesLauriers. “I cannot wait to meet them. I do know that we prayed that God would send somebody, and God sent them.”
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