Hancock County Food Pantry Christmas Blessing

When the Ringdahl family delivered food to Lafayette County, WI a couple weeks ago they discovered that the food pantry had a surplus of collard greens looking for a home.

Bonnie, being very familiar with the Hancock Count Food Pantry, knew just the place.

Bonnie returned this week from WI with her truck loaded full of greens, sauerkraut, juice and playing cards. 

The pantry was so thankful for the surprise Christmas Blessing from their sister food pantry in Wisconsin.

The Legacy of SOAR

St. Rose de Lima Church today celebrated a beautiful Mass in honor of all the volunteers who have assisted in the Katrina rescue and recovery efforts.

Volunteers returned “home” from California, Colorado, Washington DC, New York, Idaho and other areas to join in the closure of the organization that has provided the life blood of love to the community since August of 2005.

The mass included a beautiful dance by the Handmaidens interpretive dance team of the parish.

Following the Mass there was a celebration continental breakfast in honor of all the volunteers in the Holy Spirit Center.

Love Reaches LaFayette County WI

The grip of the national economic hardship has reached into the heartland of America’s farmers.  

Many families are struggling and in LaFayette County, Wisconsin, the local food pantries are trying to care for double their usual load.  

Wes and Ellie Ringdahl, board members of PNEUMA have responded to the call for help.  The red Dodge truck began the journey to Chicago to “Gleaners for God” a surplus food supplier that assists food pantries in need.  

Fresh items such as beets, cabbage, pumpkins and squash supplemented juice, bread, crackers and sauerkraut and filled the truck to overflowing.  Following lunch with other believers from “Gleaners for God”, they headed back to Wisconsin their souls and truck full of encouragement for others.

Intern Appreciation Day

During the course of the past two years, PNEUMA has been blessed in so many ways!

Among our many blessings is our wonderful interns who have sacrificed in so many ways through their daily acts of devotion and service to the organization and the people of Hancock County. 


Today it was all about them and celebrating their contributions and unconditional love!  A progressive dinner began at Lil Rays in Long Beach and ended at Marble Creamery in Gulfport. 

We laughed and ate, laughed and ate, and LAUGHED and ATE!  We talked about all God has done in them and through them, what He is doing now and pondered what He is up to as they head into a new season of serving. 

First Annual Fundraiser

On October 30th, PNEUMA Winds of Hope celebrated four years of accomplishments and unveiled the vision for the future of Resiliency Training through Habitat and the Bay/Waveland School district.

For those who may not know, St. Rose Outreach and Recovery (SOAR) will close operations in December, 2009 leaving a void in the outreach and community recovery efforts. 

During the past 18 months di and bonnie have become certified resiliency trainers and are excited to continue the work begun in Bay St. Louis and througout the US.

Our first annual fundraising dinner kicked off with the sweet aroma of love, coupled with the tantalizing fragrance from the kitchen of Chef Zac. Hugs and laughter were the attire for the evening. The evening began with appetizers and music by Relative Unknown, followed by lovely dinner and Celebration program.

October Bouncing Back Resiliency Training

As participants registered for the October 13-15th Resiliency Training, many came with burdens clearly weighing them down. 

Some participants facing multiple hardships post Katrina with health, housing and hopelessness came with shoulders bent over, heads down and unable to make eye contact. 


Others came challenged by life’s hardships long before Katrina tore away the remaining fiber of their being,  were seeking help for themselves and others. 

In the midst of all the obstacles, men and women came looking for answers and help to break free and bounce back. 

As day one unfolded, the participants were challenged to create a poster of “Yes I Can”.  This poster would become the foundation to build a life structure of hope to regain and restore hidden coping strengths lost in the challenges of repeated disappointments, loss of physical mobility, and facing the long road of restoration and recovery in the face of Katrina’s destruction. 

Busy Week for Resiliency Workshops

So what does a week of Resiliency training look like? Glad you asked. The following summary highlights the events of this past week and we will post other stories down the road.

Monday October 12th:  Care for the Care Giver
An important part of rebuilding healthy community is helping those responsible for the caring of others.  Monday morning began with Ruvie Rogel, Deputy CEO of The Community Stress Prevention Center presenting the topic of Compassion Fatigue and Burnout. 

The training included a self test offering participants opportunity to evaluate their current state of being in regards to self care.  Compassion Fatigue occurs when a person “Just can’t do enough”.  Burnout however occurs when a person says “I’m DONE!  Gotta get out of here!”   

The symptoms of both Compassion Fatigue and Burnout are the same, and the solution rests in Self Care.  We gave participants time to practice what they were taught, the afternoon was spent with free massage, haircuts, an art box to create cards and posters, a writing corner with journals, and a chatting corner with tea, coffee and cookies  All the participants had time to spend on themselves, a true luxury! Participants took their smiles home to share with family and friends.

Three Day Youth Art Camp

Youth Art Camp (YAC) was a summer program that we planned for kids grade K-5.

It was designed to give children a fun place to do art, while also learning some basic coping tools from our current Resiliency program. Through art and older youth leadership we have been able to show children a number of positive outlets for their daily and disaster crisis.

We did “Yes I Can” posters on the first day to help the kids find good things that they are capable of doing for themselves and to help others.

It also helps them to think about what they want and expect from themselves.

On the second day we transform our bad experiences into something good using Play Doh. Every child is given a can of Play Doh to work with and take home at the end of the day.

They use the clay to make something that represents a bad experience and then use the same clump of clay to transform that into something that helps them or that represents a good experience since. It was incredible to witness the things that kids are willing and wanting to share.

Youth Resiliency Training

Challenge Day involved 400 youth and over 100 adult facilitators last week in Bay St. Louis.  The question was, where do we go from here? 

The answer is YOUTH RESILIENCY DAY. The next scheduled training will be held on October 17th from 9:00am to 3:00pm at the St. Rose de Lima pavilion behind the parish center on Necaise Ave. 

This event will take the fire from Challenge Day and keep it burning by providing the youth with skills to take their compassion to the next level! 

Resiliency is the “art of bouncing back” and the topics for the day will be recognizing the difference each person can make in the world around them. 

We will be using the BASIC Ph model to build on the work accomplished during Challenge Day. The BASIC Ph model was designed to help identify and understand the ongoing dialogue, struggles and survival mechanisms a person uses to deal with a situation, as well as establishes a starting point to develop the necessary rapport going forward.

Youth Challenge Day

As the four year anniversary passed by the students at Bay High and Our Lady Academy in Bay St. Louis had the opportunity to “Get Real” about the issues they face in school at home. 

Nervous laughter and tremors quickly faded as the games began.  Each activity specially designed by Challenge Day to break down barriers and build relationships. 

Following the activities time to talk and listen from the heart.  The youth were placed in a group with an adult facilitator where we shared “If you really knew me you would know….” 

Challenges and circumstances from life began to flow as their group listened with compassionate concern. 

The day ended with the youth making a commitment to “Be the Change” in the world around them.  

Teaching Resiliency Training

The school year finishes in 8 days and you can tell that the children are eager for summer and the teachers are ready for a break.

When we arrived at the school today for the teacher training, many of the teachers had just been told 2 hours before of the meeting.  I knew we had some work ahead of us!! 

We gave a brief review of how our coping channel is just like our favorite radio station.  When events and stress happen, things get all static and we hit the scan button looking for a clear channel. 

So it is with coping, our core channel gets lost sometimes in all the emotional and physical stress of an event.  Gradually we began to see teachers let down a bit, nod their heads and become engaged in what resiliency is.

Then the FUN began.  As the teachers squirted the paint, some started laughing, some sighing and few said “I am so glad we can play!”

The Bay is Coming Back

In 2005 Hurricane Katrina wiped out the Bay Bridge.  For those not from here, we had little ability to understand the significance of the catastrophe. 

Yes it was inconvenient to travel out on I-10, but we had never known another life as disaster relief workers.  When the bridge reopened on May 17th, 2007, shouts of joy as the community felt like it was coming back.
 
TODAY IT DID!  The Bridgefest Festival was the first since Katrina to be held on Main Street. 

The overwhelming spirit and vibe in the air was "we are coming BACK!" Reverberated everywhere, two bandstands were set up, over 80 vendor booths and of course lots of great southern food ;-)  

Children played on water slides and painted murals with their hands, artists painted pictures, candidates for office kissed babies and the memories of Katrina faded yet again.

Yes I Can

Our mission for the 2nd Annual Crawfish Boil was to provide the children with fun things to do during the event. 

Not sure who had more fun, the children or us! 

A beautiful sunny warm day with low humidity and a great sea breeze!  Everyone was ready to play. 


One of our activities we learned from the Resiliency Training is to have the children create a "Yes I Can" poster. 

We sat and talked with each child about what they Can Do!  At first they were a bit reluctant, however after a brief time, posters were filled with positive fun goals, such as; have a great summer, do good in school and go to college.

Delores D. Manyama Tribute

The first time I met Stephen and Dee Manyama was in NYC at a friends ordination. Stephen and Dee extended their arms of love and invited us to come and join their family in Birmingham.

On my first trip to their home, the sound of praise met me at the door. Dee was a worship warrior.

She deeply understood bringing heaven to earth. She constantly sang with the angels the unending hymn of praise: Holy Holy Holy is the Lord God Almighty, Worthy is the Lamb of God to receive all glory, honor, and power.

Two years ago when God defeated breast cancer in her life, she dedicated whatever time the Lord gave her to building the Kingdom of God.

Her daily focus was sharing the love and saving knowledge of Christ to all. Her stories of students set free from self hatred, suicide, anger, gangs and violence permeated every conversation I had with her.

Most of all I truly believe that the love relationship she shared with Jesus had become so deeply intimate the next step was for her to be joined with Him in heaven.

The Dance of Eternity is now celebrated in wholeness as she is wrapped in His loving arms. A wonderful example for all of us to follow.

To my dear Brother Stephen, Jaron and Malima, I love you and will walk beside you as we seek the Lord to fill us with more of Him and learn to live and celebrate as Dee gave us the template for life with Christ.

Love ya,
Di

Click Here to see the Memorial Page

Hancock County Health Fair

The forecast for April 20th was 70% chance of rain, tornado warnings and thunder storms; however God had a different plan.  
The sun came shining through by 10AM, and the day was beautiful.  Not a cloud in the sky or a drop of rain to dampen the excitement of the second annual SOAR Health Fair.

The Health Fair is sponsored by SOAR, University of Southern Mississippi, United Jewish Communities, Hancock Medical Center, Hancock County Department of Health, Mississippi Nurses Association District 5, and Coastal Family Health Clinics.
 
The University of Southern Mississippi students did a phenomenal job preparing for the event.  The topics were extensively researched and well presented to the public.

Participants had the opportunity to have bone scans, glucose checking, circulation assessment, BMI and over 25 other health related topics were presented.  

Following the Health Assessments, all enjoyed a wonderfully healthy grilled chicken supper.  

Plans are already in place to repeat the event this fall. Check out our Memories section of our Web site for more photos from the day and other events.

Women's Luncheon - Beauty for Ashes

There was an excitement in the air and another beautiful spring day in Mississippi. Everything was perfect for the monthly Bay St. Louis Women’s Luncheon!  

Mel Mitchell was this months host and 42 women celebrated the day.  As always we prayed for people, special needs and closed with the Lord’s Prayer. We began with community action items, like getting involved in local politics such as the Mayor’s race and City Councilman.  The women were also encouraged to welcome volunteers to the community.  This month Bay St. Louis has over 1,000 volunteers between SOAR, Habitat and Lagniappe.  Lots of work getting done and everyone in the community is so grateful for the love and support.
 
We collected food items for the local food bank.  We welcomed back women who had been absent and welcomed new friends to the crowd.  Bonnie Ringdahl had donated a beautiful hand crafted bird house for a raffle to support the monthly craft and supplies. A total of $107 was raised.

It has been decided by the women to meet monthly and that each month they will collect items for the food pantry and send all left over food to the local home for foster children. Outreach to the community is our theme for this year!
 
It was discussed to do a food drive for the food pantry at Wal-Mart again, so check back for more information on next month's drive.

As we sat around the table and celebrated the future, I realized how little the talk of Katrina is now on the tongue. Hearts have opened up to serve one other with LOVE.   Mother Teresa has it right, “Do ordinary things, with extraordinary LOVE." I am so thankful to God for allowing me to remain here in the Bay and watch the community rise from the ashes.  

Beauty for Ashes, what an AMAZING GOD we serve. Check out our Memories section of our Web site for more photos from the day and other events.

Resiliency - Train the Trainer

SO what is RESILIENCY? Simply put, it's the ability to “Bounce Back” from things that take you down, whether briefly or from a major catastrophe.
 
Even though it's been three and a half years since Katrina devastated the community of Bay St. Louis, our downtown roads are still a mixture of dirt and new concrete as the replacement infrastructure is being put in place, and like the rest of the nation, the local economy is in the tank. Truth be told, we were running on an empty tank before the rest of the world started to feel the pinch and around here some days even finding the car keys can be a major challenge.  

In August 2008, SOAR received a grant from the United Jewish Communities (UJC) and introduction to the Community Stress Prevention Center (CSPC) in Kiryat Shmona, Israel, which enabled the ministries to engage in a collaborative effort to help the community bounce back.

Monday through Wednesday 28 people, including School Guidance Counselors, Case Managers, Clergy, and long term volunteers, met to tackle some of the challenges keeping us on the ground and learning ways to bring restoration to weary souls.  

Ruvie Rogel, Deputy CEO of The Community Stress Prevention Center in Kiryat Shmona, Israel, provided the training and oversaw the trainee’s presentations. Interactive activities included floor painting, posters and role playing.

Evaluations again proved this is the most useful and friendly training participants have ever attended.  Following the next session many participants will be certified to expand the role of the training in Hancock County and along the Gulf Coast of Mississippi.  WE ARE BLESSED! Check out our Memories section of our Web site for more photos from the day and other events.

Resiliency - Youth Bouncing Back

Being a teenager has always been a challenging time of life, however add to that loosing everything you own 3 years ago and moving from one location to another and waiting daily for your trailer to be taken away and the everyday challenges of loss of loved ones and accidents and parents unemployment and...

The solution, RESILIENCY WORKSHOPS!   

For two days, 19 youth from three Bay St. Louis High Schools gathered together with a devoted heart to be able to help them and help others.  

YES I CAN became the theme of the workshops, as the youth touched tender issues in their lives post Katrina, many of them realized that they CAN and WILL make a difference.

Through art, music, role playing and JUST PLAIN FUN, the youth addressed the challenges they have faced in the past few years and came out SMILING.  

Follow up training will be held in the next few months, with many of them saying “I learned so much-Thank You!”

Women's Luncheon - Hearts Alive

As I walked up the steps of Ms. Nola’s home on this bright sunny Mississippi afternoon, memories of three years ago flooded my mind. 

Images of food being prepared on gas burners, tables set with make shift tablecloths and foam decorations, and women walking with heads down, quiet with hollow eyes of grief and shock.

Today was a day of true celebration as over 35 women gathered for the Bay St. Louis, Women’s Luncheon. 

Our third anniversary, the sound of laughter cascaded from the door as the women greeted each other with hugs and kisses.  True to Southern Hospitality the table was filled with chicken, potato salad, corn pudding and desserts galore.

We began celebrating our time with Leverne and Pat Hendricks, they have served here in the bay for two years and have become part or our community heart and will be moving on this month.  Leverne said “I am humbled and honored, this is home for us.” 

Each woman brought their favorite Women’s Luncheon memory to share with the group!  We laughed, cried, hugged and did it all again and AGAIN! 

At the end of the afternoon, we all sat back in our chairs, tummies and hearts FULL and gave thanks to God for the remarkable legacy He has left from Katrina. 

A group of women, none who knew each other three years ago, that have bonded and made Christian community their talk and walk!

Praise the Lord for His faithfulness and love as He indeed is healing the broken hearted!