Recovery Project Helps Restore MS Katrina Victims' Homes and Hope
by Allie Martin
December 16, 2005
(AgapePress) - - Hundreds of volunteers from across the United States are in the Gulf Coast region working to bring hope to locals affected by the devastations of the recent hurricane season. The initiative, called "Eight Days of Hope," was organized in part by Northeast Mississippi resident Stephen Tybor III, as an effort to aid victims of Hurricane Katrina in the state's coastal region. He and other volunteers are helping residents in the area of Gulfport, Mississippi, as they rebuild homes that were flooded or destroyed by the hurricane. Meanwhile, some 600 volunteers from 37 states and three countries are busy in the state's Waveland, Bay St. Louis and Picayune areas, installing new electrical wiring, insulation and drywall in residents' homes.
Tybor notes that even nearly four months after Hurricane Katrina, the needs in the Mid-South's Gulf Coast region are still great. "As we go into this Christmas season," he says, "it's so easy to think about the wants and needs of our flesh and what we want during this holiday. I just want to encourage the people across America to not forget the people hurt by the hurricane. Their devastation is real. The pain is still there."
The Northeast Mississippian coordinated much of "Eight Days of Hope" with the help of his father, a building supply wholesaler in Niagara County, New York. The younger Mr. Tybor says he believes and prays that the project volunteers have brought "some joy to some of these people, some hope for the future." The effort wraps up this Sunday, at which time organizers expect the volunteers to have restored as many as 100 homes.
"We're working 18-19 hour days, some of us leaders," Tybor says, also noting that hours of sleep for the workers are often few and far between. "But people say, 'Is it adrenaline?' And I say, no it's not," he explains. "It's not caffeine. It's really God just using simple people to encourage people, to hug people."
Tybor adds, "I've prayed with many people, I've cried with some people, and it's just, again, about trying to bring hope to a person who might feel hopeless." And while he is satisfied to know that the hurricane victims are being encouraged, other people taking notice of the outreach effort lately are looking to encourage the volunteers.
According to one Buffalo News report, President George W. Bush has sent a letter of thanks to the project participants and Vice President Dick Cheney's office has called to offer appreciation and encouragement to the workers. Also, the Buffalo News article notes, Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour's office has described "Eight Days of Hope" as the biggest volunteer relief undertaking in his state since Hurricane Katrina struck.
Allie Martin, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
