For Hurricane Recovery Workers in MS, Rebuilding Is Child's Play
by Allie Martin
February 2, 2006
(AgapePress) - - Children in one Mississippi coastal town that was devastated by Hurricane Katrina are finding hope months after the tragedy, thanks to numerous volunteers.The Gulf Coastal community of Waveland, Mississippi, suffered a direct hit when Katrina struck last August. Rebuilding efforts continue in the town where nearly every building was destroyed or damaged, and several public play areas suffered damage as well.
Recently, volunteers with Illinois-based "Kids Around the World" spent a few days in Waveland, working to build two of the playgrounds for the local children. Project leader Jerry Flaming says a playground can make a big difference for kids whose lives have been disrupted by a disaster like the devastating 2005 hurricane.
Kids Around the World is a Christian organization that provides training and material to help churches around the globe embrace the children of their communities with the love of God. Founded in 1994, the group helps churches accomplish this by assisting them in efforts to provide safe play equipment for children that find themselves in circumstances under which it is difficult to "just be a kid.'
There is tremendous joy in reaching out to "a little guy or a little girl that has been through some real turmoil in their life in the last year with all the devastation they've had," Flaming says. And in the case of the children of Waveland, he says, "this is probably the very first time that they're going to get to be happy and smiling, and they're going to kind of forget what they went through."
It is also gratifying, the Illinois volunteer notes, to see the area parents experience some of "the same satisfaction" along with their children. Now, he says, the parents know where they can go to watch their children play and can "just maybe for a moment or two forget what they're really in for here and just have a great time and see the emotions of the kids when they're playing."
Churches from Alabama as well as Illinois were involved with the building project, Flaming points out. He says more than 30 individuals traveled from Illinois to lend a hand, and numerous locals have helped out as well.
"We're not requiring that you be a mechanic or a machinist or a carpenter," the project leader says. "I have a job for anybody that wants to come. I'm looking for a willing heart and somebody that can have a great time," he explains.
"We have fun doing this," Flaming adds. "When we do this, maybe some of the 'kid-ness' of our past comes out; but we have a great time and a lot of fun doing this for the kids."
Allie Martin, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
