Point Au Chien, LA – Jan. 11-17, 2026

The week of January 11-17 brought a group of 10 volunteers – 5 men and 5 women, all in their early to mid 20’s, to Pointe-Aux-Chenes, Louisiana.  They drove from Pennsylvania.

Because the pilings are not in for the houses we are assigned, this group worked with the leadership to finish up the setup on the church property – some replacement of floors in the shower trailer, an entrance repair to the parsonage, a front door and window repair on the church were included.  In addition, they painted the church sanctuary and completed constructing the church’s front sign. As we researched possible jobs in the community, these young people were very flexible.  They painted at the tribe’s meetinghouse and repaired their deck as well as a local man’s deck.  They also painted at the local elementary school.

We understood that there was a small amount of challenge among the locals when it came to ‘fairness’ in volunteer work done.  This group of volunteers served to unite with a larger number of community members even before we started our major projects.  God always has a plan!

Teresa Dar Dar, wife to the Indian Tribe’s Vice Chairman, along with Zoe Nagasaki, who works with Teresa, joined us for dinner on Wednesday evening. After dinner, they gave us a lot of information about the history of this town and tribe, as well as a description of the Hurricane Ida tragedy. There were many tears, and the weekly volunteers spent time with them afterward asking questions and truly showing caring and love.

Because the pilings are not scheduled to be in until the end of the week,  Project Director Bob Martin, Construction Supervisor Alan Roes,  Crew Leader Tobias Muff, and long term volunteer Colby Martin spent weekend time with the Pointe-au-Chien Indian Tribe leaders gathering other local repair or clean-up jobs and are planning to begin some of the building offsite – to be delivered partially constructed to the sites when ready.

We were so pleased one day when a gentleman showed up to give us 6 dozen eggs.  He was remembering the volunteer groups who were here previously and wanted to give back now that we’re back.  The church offers a monthly food distribution, and they have offered some of their food to us also. Such generosity is such a blessing.