NEW ORLEANS — Lisa Easterling's New Orleans home was untouched by the catastrophic flood waters that poured into the city after Hurricane Katrina's storm surge breached several levees.

She was one of the lucky ones, as 80 percent of the city was flooded in what was considered the worst natural disaster in modern American history. Of the more than 1,700 who perished in the storm across the Gulf South and beyond, more than 700 in Orleans Parish lost their lives. Thousands were left homeless; their possessions washed away or destroyed.

Not content to count her blessings, Easterling, a University of Southern Mississippi alumna and practicing attorney, wanted to help those in the city suffering in the wake of Katrina's wrath. She volunteered with Mobile Loaves and Fishes, a disaster relief ministry operated by her church, Trinity Episcopal.

Mobile Loaves and Fishes provides meals both for residents in areas affected by the disaster and for relief workers who continue coming to New Orleans to assist with rebuilding and humanitarian efforts. The initiative is based in Austin, Texas where it provides food and other necessities for the homeless.

Because of her busy work schedule, Easterling could only volunteer on weekends. But she felt moved to do more.

"There's still such a great need here in New Orleans, even two years after what happened," said Easterlng, a Laurel, Miss. native who graduated with a degree in journalism from Southern Miss in 1988. "I was so fortunate that my home wasn't flooded. For me, volunteering on the weekend just wasn't enough."

The opportunity to do just that presented itself in May when Easterling was granted an unpaid leave of absence from her law firm, Baton Rouge-based Kean Miller, to serve as interim director of the ministry through the summer. She will return to the firm in September.

"Although the firm is based in Baton Rouge, they know New Orleans has a great need and wanted to give me this time off to help contribute to the city's rebuilding efforts," she said.

The gratification she receives from helping with the city's recovery more than makes up for her loss in salary. "This type of work is so rewarding. I feel like I'm getting back more than I give," she said.

All in a day's work
Easterling arrives at Trinity Episcopal Monday through Saturday at 8 a.m. , goes to her office to assess the day's schedule; and then meets with volunteers outside the church's kitchen who come to assist with preparation of the lunches and delivery.

On average, she supervises about 200 volunteers each month, who range in age from 12 to 80-plus, many of them members of the church or who attend Trinity Episcopal School, although others not affiliated with the church come to help.

Easterling not only provides organization and direction for the ministry, but also happily joins in the preparation of the sandwiches for the day's delivery, and helps her volunteers load the delivery van with the sandwiches, bags of chips and cookies, fruit, bottled water, and other beverages.

The Mobile Loaves and Fishes team then travels to various areas of the city between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. wherever volunteers are working to rebuild homes, cleaning debris or involved in some other type of relief effort, and hand out the food and cold drinks. Conversations between the groups usually include a heartfelt exchange of thanks.

Easterling estimates that 2,000 people are fed monthly through the program.

"The volunteers that come to New Orleans from all over the country and the world are committed," Easterling said. "They're doing this because their hearts are in the right place. They want to help not only the individuals affected by the disaster, but also help the city come back strong."

Alice Wright, a member of Trinity Episcopal, served as the first director of disaster relief for Trinity Episcopal, before retiring from the church after serving in that role and as director of development for the church's school.

Wright said the idea of linking with Mobile Loaves and Fishes came after New Orleans Episcopal Bishop Charles Jenkins met with a Mobile Loaves and Fishes team that came through New Orleans on their way back from delivering food and supplies to Katrina victims on the Mississippi Gulf Coast .

In Austin, Mobile Loaves and Fishes sends five trucks out each night to deliver food and other supplies to the homeless. The organization includes disaster relief outreach, in addition to its work serving the homeless; and responded to the needs of those affected by the hurricane.

"Bishop Jenkins thought Mobile Loaves and Fishes would be a good ministry for Trinity," said Wright, who traveled to Austin in November 2005 to meet with representatives of the group to learn how the operation worked.

After completing negotiations, Mobile Loaves and Fishes loaned Trinity Episcopal a truck to use for delivery of meals, and the program kicked off in the Crescent City in January 2006.

Since then, Wright said the church has been delivering not only food and drinks to residents and volunteers through the ministry, but has also provided clothing, toiletries and even Christmas presents for children, among other items. "We're coming at this (ministry) with a theme of abundance," she said. "We feed everyone, electrical workers, roofers, residents and volunteers and we thank them for what they are doing, spend time talking to them and wish them luck."

"We're a large church and have a great number of volunteers who love doing this. They love the interaction with the other volunteers, and we've also been blessed to be able to work with other organizations and churches across the city."

Wright said having Lisa step in to serve as interim director is a blessing. "She started coming on Saturdays and was very involved," Wright said. "We needed someone who could take over the program, at least temporarily, and she was just the right fit."

"She has done an absolutely wonderful job organizing the ministry and has really worked hard because she loves it so. She has been a tremendous asset."

A tale of two jobs
In her life as an attorney, Easterling's day often includes a lot of substantive legal work, including case work, legal research, taking witness depositions, preparing for court or having contentious exchanges with opposing attorneys, among other issues.

As interim director of Mobile Loaves and Fishes, Easterling describes her role as "part 'Julie McCoy cruise director' (of television's Love Boat) and part task master."

"Everyone I deal with (in the ministry) is a volunteer, so I want them to have a rewarding experience, because they've taken the time out of their busy lives to do volunteer work," she said.

"Also, time on task is important. Getting the meals to the people who need them in a timely manner is crucial because they are often out in the hot sun, and often they are in areas of the city that are still devastated, where there are no places to purchase food - kind of like being in the middle of nowhere."

Feeding body and soul
As much as those who receive the lunches through Mobile Loaves and Fishes are grateful for the nourishment, Easterling says the ministry's volunteers are equally gratified by the impact of their work.

"It's been great," Easterling said. "Feeding people sounds so simple, but we all have a need for food, so it meets a basic need and it makes people feel good when you take time to feed them."

"And for our ministry's volunteers, it's an immediate reward when they are thanked and then get to see people enjoy the food we bring to them."

Lessons for life from Southern Miss
Easterling worked as a reporter and copy editor for Southern Miss' school newspaper, The Student Printz, while majoring in journalism. She continues to be involved with her alma mater, serving on the Southern Miss School of Mass Communication and Journalism's advisory council.

After graduation, she worked as a reporter for the Huntington, W.Va. Herald-Dispatch, before deciding to attend law school. After graduating from law school, she worked two years as a law clerk for a federal judge in New Orleans before joining a law firm in Minneapolis, where worked for two and a half years before returning to New Orleans in 1997.

Easterling said she continues to be inspired by the words and deeds of her Southern Miss professors, including Dr. Art Kaul and Dr. Gene Wiggins, even though she no longer works as a journalist.

"Dr. Kaul used to always talk about how reporters needed to have a fire, a passion for their work, which I definitely have for this ministry," she said. "And Dr. Wiggins' work as a volunteer fireman showed me the value of public service."  

Kaul described Easterling as "one of the brightest students I have ever encountered, very focused and centered."

"For Lisa to take an unpaid leave of absence from her job to focus on volunteer community development, that doesn't surprise me at all," he said. "It fits her sense of proportion, her sense of commitment to a larger world view than just self-interest."

David Tisdale is a senor reporter in Marketing and Public Relations at the University of Southern Mississippi and a master's student in mass communication in the School of Mass Communication and Journalism. The After Katrina Newswire is a project of the School of Mass Communication and Journalism at USM (www.usm.edu/afterkatrina). This story can be reprinted with this credit included.