FEMA Absent, Pastor Offers Katrina's Neediest Refuge With Red Beans and Rice

NEW ORLEANS, Sept. 13, 2005 — -- Even before Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, parts of the Algiers neighborhood of New Orleans had already been devastated by man-made disasters -- poverty, crime and indifference.

Though Algiers managed to avoid flooding, the mass destruction and power outages left in Katrina's wake made some already trying conditions in the neighborhood much worse.

But on Sunday, amid the ruins, we heard gospel -- and not just any gospel -- the music of gratitude.

"Count your many blessings," they sang at the Greater St. Mary Missionary Baptist Church, the only house of worship open for business in the area.

Sunday marked the Rev. J. Nelson Brown's 22nd anniversary as the shepherd of this flock. He sent his family out of town before the storm. "I believe the captain stays on the ship," he told ABC News.

"Our loved ones, our relatives … and we're wondering, when they coming back? But God left you and I here for a divine purpose," Brown told his congregation. "God left you here that you might appreciate when the lights do come back on."

Two dozen or so came to worship Sunday morning, including soldiers from the 1st Calvary Division out of Fort Hood, Texas, and even a minister from a rival church.

"You can feed the physical man with substance, like red beans and rice and stuff like that," said the Rev. Mike Marshall, assistant minister at Philadelphia Baptist Church.

"But there's a part of us in humans that needs, the spirit must be feed, you must feed that part of you."

But actually, it's the red beans and rice that has this neighborhood singing Brown's praises.

Algiers is isolated, cut off from the rest of the city by the Mississippi River. Brown was already providing three meals a week to locals in need, but since the storm, operations have continued every day from morning until curfew.

"I was eating here before the storm," said Algiers resident Anishka Degruy, "but I mean, since the storm, he's the only, the only reverend around that's, you know, providing meals … hot meals, ice water, canned goods. I come every day."