Sep 6, 2010 / 11:11 am
Our Lady of the Gulf Parish said thanks to the many volunteers from all over the country who helped rebuild the historic waterfront church with the August 29 dedication of a statue, five years to the day Hurricane Katrina ravaged Hancock County.
Called the “Angel of Light,” the statue sits directly in front of the church and has inscribed at its base the following poem penned by OLG pastor Father Michael Tracey titled “Katrina Volunteers.”
She came ashore with a mighty roar;
with nothing to compare that went before.
Katrina changed our lives forever
with destruction we’ll forget never.
Volunteers came from near and far,
led to us by a hope-filled star.
They brought their love and skill;
their presence, a vacuum did fill.
Strangers became lifelong friendly faces,
helping us mend in our broken places;
letting us know we were not forgotten;
brothers and sisters of the same God begotten.