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After the 2004 Christmas tsunami, Campus Crusade in Asia had attempted large-scale relief work for the first time. The positive results stunned them. They earned new respect in non-Christian communities. That respect translated into new opportunities for Crusade staff to do relational evangelism. Crusade staff deputized Todd to coordinate field operations for volunteer Crusade teams in Pass Christian.

After Katrina, the Colbys suppressed their urge to flee Pass Christian and instead sent out an sos to their denomination and other Christian groups. They committed themselves to stay and restore their church and community. But they asked themselves: "Who in the body of Christ will stand with us?"

Greg Porter unknowingly was about to answer their question. Nonstop media coverage of the hurricanes could not fully capture how badly Katrina had razed coastal Mississippi. Still, Porter's heart was pierced. He and his wife knew God wanted him there. Within hours, Porter contacted his Evansville church and began laying plans to head to the Gulf.

After hurricanes Rita and Katrina, waves of volunteers showed up in the ravaged communities, logging thousands of hours in free labor. Mennonite and Amish volunteer roofing teams from Pennsylvania were among the first post-storm arrivals in Pass Christian. Then came Crusade-affiliated college students and church teams from virtually every state. Episcopalians began offering cash donations, encouraging letters, and prayers to rebuild Trinity.

But even a volunteer army needs logistical support. FEMA had no mission to provide clean water, food, and shelter to volunteers, since volunteers are not victims.

No restaurants had survived. So who in the ruined region could feed hundreds up to three times a day? Who could finance it?

Greg Porter, who had cooked for an inner-city ministry, stepped into the hunger gap. His church, Christian Fellowship, provided supplies. He and his team of five drove a mobile kitchen from Indiana to Pass Christian, arriving September 14. They set up on a median and turn lane of crippled Interstate 90. Their first meal provided 125 free hamburgers.

After Hurricane Rita passed by, Porter's crews moved to a city-owned lot, which is now filled with donated refrigerated trailers, storage containers, and a big tent dining room. Their canopied kitchen includes industrial-grade appliances that create meals from food shipped from across the nation, all of which is donated. An Evansville radio station has solicited volunteers for the operation. In late October, a station broadcaster christened it "God's Katrina Kitchen." Its motto is posted at the entrance: "Not One Church, But One God."

Kitchen crews daily serve 1,500 hot breakfasts, lunches, and dinners to residents, relief workers, police, road repairmen, soldiers from Biloxi's heavily damaged Keesler Air Force Base, and anybody else who's hungry—free of charge, no id required. A donation box sits by the serving line.

God's Katrina Kitchen includes a clothing center, a food pantry, and tables with Bibles and Christian literature. Volunteers who distribute food and clothing often share the gospel with those receiving aid. Nightly worship services feature music and speakers from across America.

Until mid-December, the Colbys ate supper several times weekly at God's Katrina Kitchen. Pastor Colby found that both victims and volunteers bore a heavy emotional load. He labels it "Katrina brain." But the summer camp-like environment at God's Katrina Kitchen provides a daily occasion for people to break bread and talk about what they face.

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March 2006, Vol. 50, No. 3