Eight days ago, Michele Burnside and her family were living in a shelter in Louisiana. Their house and belongings had been destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.

“The house was a mess,” Burnside said. “The windows were blown out and my kitchen and living room ceiling fell in. There was mold and mildew everywhere on the walls, doors and cabinets.”

Burnside said that when she went to visit her house after the hurricane, the smell of the mildew was so strong that she couldn’t breathe while she was in the house.

Burnside had been at the shelter, which was located in the Nicholls State University gymnasium in Thibodaux, La., about a month before she met Matt Pardi the pastor of h2o Church in Bowling Green.

Pardi, along with two other members of h2o, Matt Hilderbran and Matt Olszweski, traveled to Louisiana on Sept. 26.

“We had raised $1000 through our church and sent it down there,” Pardi said. “We were also going to do a spring break trip, but as we were praying we were feeling like God wanted us to do something more.”

Two days after they arrived, they met a nurse who introduced them to Burnside, her daughter Tiffany Burnside, her three grandchildren and a man named Don Williams.

Pardi made the group an offer: Relocate to Ohio, and the church will help you get on your feet for the next six months. Burnside said she didn’t hesitate at all when making the decision on whether to come to Ohio.

“Pardi said he was willing to relocate two or three families if they were willing to relocate,” said Burnside. “After running from hurricane after hurricane for 20 years, you get tired of it. So, I was like, ‘okay, here I am.'”

Pardi said that after Burnside agreed, she asked if her distant cousin, his friend and his two daughters could come too. This presented a new obstacle for the group from h2o. They didn’t have enough room for the 10 people they wanted to bring back.

“We were only planning on bringing one family back in my minivan, but we were really excited about bringing all of them back,” Pardi said. “After exhausting a lot of other possibilities, we ended up buying a van for $2,000 and we drove both vans back with them and all their stuff.”

Now, Burnside and the others have been in BG for a week. So far h2o has provided them three apartments. One for Burnside, her daughter and her three grandsons, another for Burnside’s cousin’s group and the third for Don Williams.

They have also been provided with food, clothing, furniture and school supplies for the children.

” We’ve had a lot of people in our church and in our community just coming out of the woodwork to help with donations,” Pardi said.

All of the children have started school and seem to be adjusting well, Pardi said. He added that the adults are in the process of filling out applications for employment. The plan is to have them work over the next six months and save all the money they make for when they are on their own.

Burnside said that after the six months are up, she still plans on staying in BG.

“The people in Bowling Green have been so nice,” she said. “I would probably be a year just sending out thank you notes.”

She added that she’s thankful for the people at h2o who brought her back to BG.

“Our hope is that BG works out for them and gives them an opportunity that they wouldn’t have had before,” Hilderbran said. For information or to give, please visit: h2ochurch.com, or:

h2o Church, 1134 Sandpiper Lane, Bowling Green, Ohio 43402