During the week of November 9th -15th, 2008 , 15 people from the San Ramon Valley UMC Volunteer In Mission (VIM) team traveled to Biloxi Mississippi to rebuild homes for Hurricane Katrina victims. It is sad to say that there is still a big need for people to continue this work.
We divided into two groups, and worked on 3 different homes during the week.
One home in particular was the Mitchell family. Janet and Bryan with 3 children had been living in a tent for over a year after Katrina.
Bryan works at a local cabinet shop and Janet takes care of some special needs children in order to make a living. The children are 6, 8 and 11 and attend local schools.
They should be moving into their new house some time after January if help prevails. However, if they cannot, they have until March 1st to vacate their FEMA trailer. Time is growing short for some families in the area and the trailers they were furnished are be recalled by FEMA because of health hazards from the building material. Our team of 8 was able to finish most of the sheetrock and install siding on ¾'s of the house. The volunteers in the area can only do so much with unskilled labor and craftsmen are needed to do the final rebuilding on these homes. Perhaps you would like to sponsor a craftsperson to make a trip for these US citizens in dire need.