Before 2005, Jeneane Ryan said she always thought she was a good person and did things to help others. But it took a natural disaster unlike any other in the United States' history for her to realize her life’s work was only beginning.
Ryan started attending Knox Presbyterian Church in 2005 because it was mission-minded. Then, in August of that year, Hurricane Katrina hit.
“It was a Sunday morning and one of the pastors said, ‘I think we are going to take a mission trip at spring break to New Orleans,’” she said. “There wasn’t a question, it was something I wanted to do—I felt I was called.”
Ryan, 62, has lived in Naperville for 15 years. A native of Joplin, MO, she volunteers for a number of organizations in town including Naperville CARES, where she has helped out for more than 10 years. She also has recently begun volunteering at the WAR Chest boutique in downtown Naperville, which sells products made by women at risk of human trafficking and sexual slavery.
Responding with faith
After Katrina hit, Ryan began working with her pastor on a disaster assistance response team for the Chicago Presbytery, coordinating mission trips for Chicago-area churches seeking to help in New Orleans.
“Disaster response became my mission, something I know nothing about,” she said.
Since Katrina she has visited New Orleans about eight times, seeking to assist those in need.
“I guess this is all about my faith walk,” Ryan said. “It is very close to my heart. I have been very privileged that I can be the hands and feet of Christ.”
Ryan began making trips to New Orleans where she saw the destruction and how it affected so many people. She said it was important to help lift the residents up and listen to their stories.
Every time she made a trip to New Orleans, she said: “I came back full.”
The experience of seeing such destruction, faith and resilience gave her a new perspective on her life and what was important. She said she began to re-evaluate the need to have her nails or hair done.
“I realize that is so ridiculous,” she said. She began looking closer at how she spent her time and money. “I would rather take that money and help someone else.”
The experience helping in New Orleans prepared her for other adventures in giving.
Giving from the heart
A friend who was also a Naperville resident had been visiting Haiti for years and was planning another trip when the earthquake hit in 2010. Five weeks after the earthquake, Ryan and her friend Patty Meyer were in Haiti.
“It took disaster response to a new level,” Ryan said.
Her most recent trip to Haiti was in January.
“Something about Haiti—I say every time I go I leave a little bit of my heart there,” Ryan said. “It is an area of the world that is really close to my heart.”
Her next trip back to Haiti will be in May and she tries to visit two or three times a year, she said.
Last May, as she was preparing to leave Haiti, Ryan told friends there she would be back in September. But, she said God had different plans.
Her last night in Port Au Prince she went online and learned about the devastating tornado in Joplin, MO. Immediately, she began trying to connect with her friends in Joplin.
Destruction hits home
The tornado presented her with another opportunity to help in a place where she had a direct connection. Two weeks after the tornado, Ryan was in Joplin.
“I felt like everything I had done six years prior had prepared me to go home and help,” she said. “I felt I had been given the skills and everything I needed to help the community.”
She was born in Joplin and she learned her grade school, high school and church were gone. A few friends lost everything. The experience was difficult and as happens wherever she responds, she had periodic meltdowns, she said.
Ryan said Joplin is a town of about 50,000 middle class “God-loving people who would do anything for you.” Growing up there, she didn’t have much, but she never knew it. And, the people are strong and weren’t about to wait around to rebuild.
“People rolled up their sleeves. People said this happened to us and how can we go forward,” Ryan said.
Before her trip to Haiti in May, Ryan will be in Joplin over spring break in March with a church group there to help in the recovery efforts.
Her husband of 30 years, Tom, has been supportive of her work, though at times he has been hesitant if only because he is worried for her safety, Ryan said. Ryan said she surrounds herself with people who have a similar desire to give back, and her friends understand her passion for helping.
Walking with God
She knows that God is behind all that she does and the connections she has made, whether it be a person being put in her path who needed her help or an organization, such as WAR Chest, that does work directly connected to those she tries to help.
Ryan was hesitant to talk about her volunteer work because she said it is not about her. Her reason for sharing is to help shed light on the plight of those in need, she said.
The work is not easy, she said, and it’s not for the faint of heart. During her time in Haiti, she has seen unimaginable things, but doing the work has brought her a sense of peace she has never before known in her life, she said.
“It’s really been a faith walk for me,” she said. “I guess part of me realized my life before 2005—I thought I was a good person and I tried to do good things. All of these events have given me a different perspective on my life and brought me closer to my God. Every trip touches me beyond words.
“… I have a love of people I never would have imagined and compassion,” she said. “I like me better. I’m not the same person and my life has been enriched.”
To learn more about ways to help in Haiti, visit newlife4kids.org. Learn how to help those in need in Joplin, MO at rebuildjoplin.org.