My dear Boston friend Jennifer, a darling Southern Belle from the Carolinas, has been organizing relief worker trips to D'Iberville, Mississippi ever since Hurricane Katrina. D'Iberville is near Gulfport, MS and was wiped out by Katrina, just like many other towns in Louisiana and Mississippi. Unfortunately, there has been very little attention paid to D'Iberville and a lot of other towns away from New Orleans and there is a lot of rebuilding that needs to be done.
After putting off Jennifer's repeated requests for me to go there with her on one of her 4-day trips, I finally agreed to go on her October November Trip and help out rebuilding houses and other work. I leave Oct 31st and return Nov. 4th.
I'll put in 8 hour work-days and serveral of my closest Boston Friends are going to be there, too. We'll go out at night & have fun in the Deep South.
405 houses completed out of 1240 damaged and 370 destroyed. 410 in progress.
The following is from another person involved:
The team will be helping with the Blitz Build program - "Get 'em home for Christmas". Residents have been displaced for more than two years and we are working to get as many as possible out of the FEMA trailers as quickly as possible...hopefully, before they have to celebrate their third Christmas in a tin box.
www.reelrelief.com is my blog about the people of the
To give you a glimpse of the people in the community, here is a link to a video I created.
http://www.youtube.co...
Abby Young, D'Iberville resident and Katrina survivor, shares her story.
It paints a picture of the difference our attention as volunteers has made in her life.
It is the latest in a series of short stories that will ultimately be a documentary.
Please watch, rate the video (to support my chances of winning a distribution deal), and consider supporting the volunteer team heading to
Money to support those individuals volunteering (each trip costs about $525) and/or cash donations to the D'Iberville Volunteer Foundation will all be well appreciated and utliized. See a list below for the names of our crew!
Chet McNeil,
Chris Martens,
Ren Johns,
Dean Volungis,
Lisa Last,
Sue Sheehan Flanagan, Bar Harbor ME
Andy Flanagan, Bar Harbor ME
Jen Denley,
Charlie Roffe,
Tom Hamel,
Jane Hamel,
John Goodin, Auburn
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Damaged D'Iberville home. |
Our mission is to provide for the redevelopment and rebuilding of D'Iberville, Mississippi, and to assist in the provision for future growth and cultural enhancement of the citizens of D'Iberville, Mississippi, by providing for the education of the citizens in the history and culture of D'Iberville. In addition, the foundation seeks to assist in provision for the health and welfare of the citizens of D'Iberville.
---The City is composed primarily of middle to lower income households. It is a diversified community with a Euro-American, African-American, Vietnamese and Hispanic population. There are no similar programs in the area. The only barriers to service are monetary. The devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina created a financial need of exorbitant proportions that have been exacerbated by the lack of insurance responsibility.
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Presbyterian Disaster Assistance banner |
---The primary goal is to establish a program to provide rebuilding assistance to the City's 8,000 residents devastated by Hurricane Katrina. A secondary goal is to establish fundraising projects to assist the Foundation in offsetting its non-profit endeavors. This effort was begun in September immediately following Hurricane Katrina with the establishment of emergency services. Over the next 6 months the process moved forward with the assessment of damages, repair and rebuilding and the establishment and running of a Volunteer Village to house and feed volunteers from outside the Gulf Coast area. Daily reports are generated of work completed and in progress. Every 90 days an assessment is taken of the reconstruction needs and reconstruction progress of the entire City.
---Of the 1906 homes that have been assessed or are being reassessed in D'berville, approximately 1250 have been damaged and more than 370 have been totally destroyed. As of May 1, 2006, 410 D'berville homes are in the process of being repaired or rebuilt and 405 have been completed. It is anticipated that this reconstruction project will require a 3 to 5 year time frame. Our objectives are measured by the number of homes worked and repaired and the number of families assisted and returned to their homes.
