Navigation Back Search
Search

Disaster coordinator recalls Katrina

By Lilla Marigza
Aug. 1, 2025 | Bay St. Louis, Miss. (UM News)

The Rev. Terry Lynn Hilliard worked as a disaster relief coordinator following Hurricane Katrina. She also directed UMCOR’s response from Gulfside Assembly. She talks about how the tragedy touched the hearts of both survivors and volunteers. Video by Lilla Marigza, UM News.

E. Dwight Franklin helps with the gutting of his parents’ home in New Orleans six months after Hurricane Katrina. Virginia Tech student Ivy Gorman (background) was part of a team from her school working through the Louisiana United Methodist Storm Recovery Center during their spring vacation. A UMNS photo by Mike DuBose.

The Rev. Terry Lynn Hilliard was the pastor of Pass Christian First United Methodist Church in Mississippi when Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast in 2005. Hilliard and her husband had two small children at the time and their parsonage was destroyed.

Despite these challenges, Hilliard stepped up to become the United Methodist disaster response coordinator for the Mississippi Gulf Coast area. She also directed the construction of the volunteer center at Gulfside Assembly, which was vital to recovery efforts following Hurricane Katrina. She reflects on how the storm touched the hearts of survivors and volunteers.

Marigza is a multimedia producer for UM News. Contact her at (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umnews.org. To read more United Methodist news, subscribe to the free UM News Digest.

Related Tags

Sign up for our newsletter!

Subscribe Now
General Church
The skyline of Calgary in Alberta, Canada. United Methodists from around the globe are coming to the Canadian city for the denomination’s first-of-its-kind Leadership Gathering, scheduled for Oct. 20-24, intended to help the denomination discern its next steps. Photo by Tamsintj, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Countdown begins to Leadership Gathering
Organizers are providing resources to help all United Methodists engage with the gathering intended to help faithfully reimagine the denomination’s future.
Disaster Relief
Moïse Mwango Numbalanga (center in white shirt), coordinator for the United Methodist Committee on Relief’s Disaster Management Office in the Bukavu District, walks through the field of ruins in the Irambo neighborhood in Bukavu, Congo, to speak with United Methodist disaster survivors. More than 70 households from Ibanda United Methodist Church lost everything in the overnight fire. Photo courtesy of the Disaster Management Office of the East Congo Episcopal Area.

United Methodists lose homes in Congo fire
In a region already hit by insecurity and an Ebola outbreak, The United Methodist Church is scrambling to shelter those left homeless and assessing other needs.
Annual Conferences
Asbury United Methodist Church’s Wheelchair Ramp Ministry assists community members in need in Bossier City, La. Asbury is one of the churches benefiting from the Louisiana Conference’s new Jubilee Initiative, which will invest $15 million into local churches to help erase debt and support mission and ministry. Photo courtesy of Bryleigh Smith Photography.

Louisiana Conference invests $15M in churches
As part of its new Jubilee Initiative, the Louisiana Conference is helping local churches to pay off debt, fund ministries, expand staffing and more.

United Methodist Communications is an agency of The United Methodist Church

©2026 United Methodist Communications. All Rights Reserved