Local teen drives donated van, filled with supplies, to Gulf Coast

while many high school seniors will be having fun with friends and enjoying their last few months at home before heading off to college, 17-year-old Betsy Serral of Hilton Head Island would rather spend her spare time rebuilding a Gulf Coast town devastated by Hurricane Katrina.

More than four years after the monster hurricane destroyed the town of Lakeshore, Miss., the people of the town still are struggling to put the pieces of their community back together.

Lakeshore Baptist Church is doing much of the work with its "Rebuild Lakeshore" ministry. The Mississippi church has worked diligently for the past four years to rebuild and repair the homes hit by the hurricane.

With the help of churches across the country, they have rehabbed more than 100 houses and built 37 new ones so far.

Back in the summer of 2006, Betsy went with her youth group on a mission trip to Lakeshore. The group from Providence Presbyterian Church on Hilton Head has been involved in the "Rebuild Lakeshore" project ever since. Betsy said visiting Lakeshore that first time really put things in perspective for her.

"It made me appreciate where I live and how much I have," Betsy said.

Betsy continues to help the people of Lakeshore. She just made her ninth trip there in October. She has spent almost a month each summer for the past two years working in Lakeshore.

"I've just grown really close to them and seen their needs," Betsy said.

When she was visiting Lakeshore this past summer, she spent a lot of time driving around in the church's old, beat-up van, which she said required frequent jump-starts, often several times in one day. When she came home from that trip, Betsy began a new mission -- getting the church a decent van.

She talked to the people of her church, and word quickly spread. Providence members weren't going to let down Betsy or the people of Lakeshore Baptist. A family in the church donated money for a van, and others donated supplies.

Providence church member Bob Shirley had been to several car auctions before in Savannah, and he offered to look for a used van for the Lakeshore church. When he found the right one, he had it fixed up and cleaned out.

Just last month, Betsy and her mother, Beverly Serral, took the van to Mississippi to its new owners. The van was filled to the brim with supplies, such as food and clothing, for the people of Lakeshore.

"I want to help them because ... I just feel like God's really put that on my heart to ... help this group of people," Betsy said. "They're kind of like family now, so it's just something that I feel led to do."