ST . PHILLIP’S DISASTER RECOVERY MISSION

Located in Fridley, MN, St. Phillip’s Disaster Recovery Team (SPDR) is a team that has relieved the burden of stress by helping victims of natural disasters across the nation, including a recent trip to assist the Galveston County Food Bank in its expansion in Texas City. The SPDR team spent the better part of two weeks helping the Food Bank transform what was once a grocery store 35 years ago and completely gutted it out in order to create offices, sort rooms and several thousand feet of pantry space that provided needed flexibility for the Food Bank and the challenges it faces in distributing over 7.3 million pounds of food a year. “A pantry space in a building to store food? Yes,” said Mike Anderson, who leads the group in its frequent trips. SPDR is not a stranger to the Galveston County area, having made its initial foray shortly after Hurricane Ike hit in September 2008. The origins of SPDR started out after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in August 2005. One of the team members had family in the area and once he decided to make the trip from Minnesota, Anderson formed a group that came along to provide assistance. Since then, SPDR has made several return trips to New Orleans along with trips to Iowa, Colorado and Oklahoma to offer a lending hand in the wake of natural disasters. SPDR was in Galveston County after Hurricane Harvey, assisting in the rebirth of several homes and buildings. “The smiles and tears on the survivor’s faces at the end of the week keeps us going,” said Anderson, whose team makes the four-day long drive from Minnesota to the Galveston County area. “It is so refreshing to still know we have loving people all over to care about people that they may not have ever heard of or spoken to before.” Youth is not on the side of SPDR. The team’s average age is 68 years old and most of them are retired. The majority of the team have, at one time or another, been business owners. Texas City marked the team’s 72nd trip in the past 13 years. It is also the last trip SPDR will make this year, as they will take time off during the fall and winter months before gathering together in the spring. The SPDR team was also able to put their new trailer to use in their trip to Texas City. It was an addition that gives them more space for more tools. Unlike previous trips, the team treated themselves to sleeping in hotels, which was off the usual path of using sleeping tents or simply hitting the floor at or near the site they were working at. “It’s a love of giving back that brings us back,” said Anderson.