“I lost everything in Hurricane Katrina: my house, my husband, everything. Before Katrina, we were doing great; we had a house and two businesses in Gautier, MS. The hurricane wiped us totally out. We didn’t have a car or anywhere to live; my husband didn’t recoup and started drinking. My youngest sister lived in Mobile, so I went over to stay in her camper. I told my husband I had to find a job; he could do this with me or without me. He told me, ‘Do what you’ve got to do. See ya.’ That was it.

I look at it this way: God opens doors for people who want to walk through them. Around the corner from my sister’s house was a sign that said help wanted. I went in and asked the man for the job. He asked if I knew anything about sheet metal. I said no sir. I was applying to be a secretary. He already had a secretary and said he couldn’t help me. I said, ‘What about your yard? It’s a mess out there.’ I told him I did yard work–at that point, I would do anything for a job. He told me to start Monday morning.

I worked for him for about three months. Then he told me his secretary gave him her two-weeks’ notice. I said I’ll take the job under one condition: I would keep doing his yard. I didn’t want anybody messing up what I’d been working so hard on.

He and his wife bought me a brand-new car. I told them I couldn’t accept that; I had a car. He said, ‘No, that’s your daughter’s car. I know all about it.’ He also helped me buy a travel trailer to live in. I saved every paycheck and paid him back in one lump sum, like he gave the money to me.

I divorced in 2009 and was diagnosed with breast cancer. In 2011, I was diagnosed with kidney cancer; they took out my tumor with a robot, and I still have my kidney. Life was hard, and I was now going through it by myself. I lost my oldest son in 2020. My only daughter, Robin, got lung disease working at Chevron and was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis. We had cancer together. I taught her how to bake cakes–that’s how we paid our bills. We called it Just Cakes and had a lot of fun baking together.

Robin, passed away January 13, 2023. Losing my children is the worst thing I’ve been through. It’s losing part of myself.

After Robin died, I couldn’t look at a cake because I could only see her. But two or three years ago, I made a cake for the volunteer dinner for A Servant’s Love. I cried the whole time I was baking and decorating; I wanted Robin there to help. I just started baking cakes again. Look at this beach one–all that is edible chocolate.

Everybody asks how I got through all of this. If it hadn’t been for God, I’d done been gone. I started coming to A Servant’s Love about ten years ago because I needed the food, then I started volunteering. I wanted a hand up, not a hand out. They put me on the board because they needed somebody who actually received the food. A Servant’s Love has helped me more than groceries; it became the family that I needed. Helping other people lifts me up, too.”

Carol