Arlington Hts. church gets Cajun-style thanks

Nothing says thank you like jambalaya.

When Grace Memorial Episcopal Church in Hammond, La., was hit by Hurricane Katrina, St. Simon's Episcopal Church in Arlington Heights extended a helping hand.

On Sunday, a small contingent from the Louisiana church, which is about 40 miles from New Orleans, returned the favor in a way that was "guarawnteed" to please.

A group of about 15 parishioners came by train from Louisiana to visit the church at 717 W. Kirchoff Road.

They brought Mardi Gras beads for everyone to wear. But more importantly, they brought big, black iron sugar kettles, from which they scooped the delectable mixture of meat, rice and spices called jambalaya. Salad was served on the side, and the meal was capped by a tasty helping of bread pudding.

The relationship between the two churches began last year.

"When Katrina hit Louisiana, 99 percent of the Episcopal churches in the diocese of New Orleans received significant damage," Grace church's Junior Warden Hank Ziller said.

The cost to repair Grace was $270,000. Ziller said insurance covered 90 percent of that.

"But that left us $27,000 short in the time when everybody was in crisis."

Normally, he said, the diocese would pick that up. "But since all the churches in the diocese were hurt, the diocese didn't have the money."

The diocese put out a call to all the Episcopal churches throughout the nation, asking them to send donations.

"St. Simon's sent us a considerable amount of money," Ziller said. "I don't know where the money would have come from. All of us were strapped financially because of our own personal damage and liabilities that we suffered through the storm. The whole diocese was crippled."

He came up with the idea of the Cajun lunch as a way of thanking St. Simon's. Given the long train ride to Chicago, jambalaya was the dish of choice, since gumbo spoils easily.

One of the problems faced by Grace in rebuilding was its position on the National Register of Historic Places.

That meant the church needed to be put back in its original state, including the replacement of old slate shingles. Wind had separated stained-glass windows from their casings. Rain caused huge amounts of water damage. Carpets were ruined, walls were streaked.

Church members were affected, too. Ziller said he suffered around $12,000 worth of damage to his house and lost 32 trees. "I literally had to cut my way out of my house" with a chain saw," he said.

"The best way I can describe (the hurricane), it's like listening to a freight train for 12 hours. I would never go through another one. I would evacuate in a heartbeat. It is one of those powerful, life-changing experiences."

Robert Dekker, rector of St. Simon's, said it was the Sunday school that made the first contact with the Louisiana church. It held fundraisers and sent a collage of children's pictures to Louisiana.

"Here we were, thinking we were going to help somebody," Dekker said. "But now they're coming back in response to us, and it has just been a wonderful blessing for them to be reaching out to us."

He said the food was incredible, with the jambalaya possessing a smoky bite.

One of St. Simon's parishioners, Janet Jensen, was born and raised in Louisiana, "so this food is very familiar to me. They didn't put all of the hot sauces in there, because some of the Midwesterners aren't used to that."

Hammond resident Anne Sharp lost her home when a big tree from her neighbor's yard fell across it. It took 16 months to rebuild, during which the family rented a house around the corner.

Her family was among those who brought lunch to the Arlington Heights church.

"Just to know that there was somebody so far away thinking about us was wonderful," she said.