Mission trip assists families impacted by Florida hurricane

By Steve Van Kooten

On Sept. 28, 2022, Fort Meyers Beach, Fla., took a beating like no other from Hurricane Ian. 

Battered by 160 mph winds and calamitous flooding, the town of less than 6,000 incurred $113 million in damages, and more than 150 people lost their lives. It was the deadliest hurricane in Florida since 1935, according to AccuWeather.

Nearly two years later, the Florida community is still rebuilding from the disaster.

“There is still a lot of devastation there,” Mary Stoeffler said. “We saw a whole apartment building that was just demolished.”

Stoeffler, who organizes mission trips for the Holy Family Parish, took 40 people to Fort Meyers Beach to assist the disaster relief effort, and their ambition presented unique challenges compared to previous years.

“Normally, we’re in the process of gutting, and we did a little bit of that,” said Stoeffler. “But we did more of the painting, putting in the cupboards and the finishing work, which we haven’t done before.”

Morgan Chase, 19, who participated in her fourth mission trip, said, “We worked on the same house all week. There were eight of us working on it, and there was a group of boys that worked out back.”

While the boys were outside working on the house’s patio or putting up dry wall and mudding, the girls painted and primed the ceiling, replaced water-damaged material and did other repair work.

“A lot of the houses were more in the finishing stages rather than [like] the devastation just happened and everything needed to be gutted,” Chase said. “It was a lot better than what I’ve seen in previous years.”

The Florida heat did not make it any easier.

“Even every Floridian was saying this is ungodly for them; it was hot,” said Stoeffler.

When they were not working on their assigned projects, the workers stayed at a local church and spent time with their peers.

Makayla Steger, 19, on her second mission trip, said, “We just got to know each other, especially people from other parishes. We wanted to connect with them more and become family.”

The participants attended daily mass and adoration, enjoyed lip synch contests and cooked their own meals. Stoeffler said the group had one free day during the week, so they went down to the beach and took a boat to see the dolphins.

Chase said they had a copious amount of time to make friends during the trip to Florida and back.

“It was a long bus ride,” she said. “This trip was kind of different than in previous years. The group was so much fun, and we always had lots of music playing.”

Card games and discussions were popular past times as they barreled down the highways toward a community that is still healing. They heard many stories from people that lived through the hurricane.

“Our homeowner that we worked on — we put in all of his insulation, cupboards, baseboards, painted and everything —worked side by side with us,” said Stoeffler. “He had just bought his house, and he was remodeling it. He got one box of stuff moved in, and went on vacation. That’s when the hurricane hit; he never even got to move into his house.”

For Chase and Steger, the trip offers opportunities to travel and learn new skills; however, nothing was more valuable than the way the trips have given them a new perspective on life.

“What I think I take back is you learn so much compassion and empathy when you’re on these trips,” Chase said. “You are working with people who have seen so much devastation; they’ve gone through a hard time.”

“I’ve always wanted to travel and see other parts of the country, but it is so much more than that,” said Steger. “I’ve heard stories… how it affected them and changed them. I wanted to experience that so I could learn how to change and grow.”

Stoeffler added that the mission trips let the kids have new experiences and get them out of their daily lives and their comfort zone.

She added, “When you get them on a bus and get far away, I’ve never to say, ‘Hey, get off your phone.’ They buy into the whole package. We get them out of their busyness, and they can really be themselves. I wish everyone could go on a mission trip and see what I see.”

Banquet

The St. John’s Church will host an appreciation banquet on August 7 at 6 p.m. for donors that made the mission trip possible. 

Donors will be able to hear stories from the trip and watch a video made about their experiences.

The parish helps fund the trips, but they also received support from numerous community organizations, like the Prairie du Chien Women’s Civic Club and Kiwanis.

“Everybody just jumped on board, and I think every year, seeing what the kids do, they want to give even more,” said Stoeffler.