First Congo On The Road

Today’s blog is a compilation of stories from various members or our work group with liberal editorial license taken by the Blogger-in-Chief.

After Hurricane Katrina, FEMA had agreed to provide trailers to the people of Biloxi.  After  4 years, FEMA and the city of Biloxi determined it was time to remove the remaining trailers without regard for whether the residents had another place to live.  Unbelievably, they began removing the trailers without notice taking personal property with it.  The story that we heard this morning was one of great courage and support. 

Recently, as a group of high school girls and their fathers were volunteering for the Back Bay Mission, they saw a FEMA vehicle driving up to a trailer that belonged to a single woman.  Without hesitation, one of the fathers parked his car between the trailer and the FEMA vehicle.  He was able to cause enough commotion to give the girls time to go into the trailer and remove all of the woman’s personal belongings.  They were able to remove everything before the trailer was taken off of the property.  The unsuspecting woman arrived home to find the trailer gone but all of her personal property saved.   An estimated 18,000 gulf coast residents remain without permanent housing.  THE WORK IS NOT DONE IN THE GULF!  PLEASE HELP!

Back Bay completed 26 projects in 2007 including 3 new construction and increased this to 50 in 2008.  10 of the 2008 projects were new construction.  This is accomplished with a volunteer work force.  Of the volunteers, typically 1% will be professionals in the building trades, 10% are accomplished do it yourselfers, etc and the remainder are unskilled often never having held a hammer until Back Bay.  This is a testament to the talent of the Back Bay Housing Recovery staff.

In Biloxi, most of the other volunteer organizations have left for lack of volunteers.  Some still have a presence and are able to identify projects and secure funding, but then rely on Back Bay Mission for the actual construction.

As for our work this week, we have a great project.  We are completing the demo and framing a house that was moved from another site.  This house had significant damage and decay some of which resulted from the still leaky roof.  Pictures will be posted soon.

Thank you for your support and prayers as we continue our mission trip.