Mt. Zion United Methodist Church, Indiana

We want to welcome these volunteers from Indiana who worked with us this week on the two homes we are continuing in Waveland and Hancock County. This is the third trip they have made to help in the rebuilding efforts here on the Gulf Coast. The first two trips were to Harrison County. They have now felt led to begin working in Hancock County, ground zero of Katrina.

This week they got a lot accomplished on both of the homes. For the Waveland home, they installed beautiful hard wood floors. They did an awesome job and the owner, who is a local pastor, is excited about having his floors put down. Not an easy job, but what a blessing this has been.

On the other home in the county, they performed many various tasks. One of them was the rough in plumbing. A volunteer who has worked in plumbing for 50 years did this job! Another job was installing hardi plank siding on the front of the home. This was the first time this group worked with hardi plank, but did an outstanding job and they were happy to have learned a new craft. The rest of the hurricane clips were installed by an energetic young man on a ladder. He completed the task and we can now close in the porch ceiling.

Electrical was also installed and roughed in by another volunteer from this group. He also helped with the air and heat system installation. This was completed this week and the owner can now call for inspection. The group also finished installing shingles on the roof and installed vented ridge caps. They braced the rest of the roofing as well. Another group of young people helped with the cleanup of the home. The owner is so pleased and delighted with all of the work that was done this week and has been done for him since the beginning. Another awesome blessing showing God's love for another victim of Katrina.

Although this group did not stay at the P.O.P. camp, we hope to work with them again in the future and we want to thank them so much for their contribution to God's work here in Hancock county.

Poplar Springs Baptist Church, Georgia

This was the 4th trip of Poplar Springs Baptist Church volunteers from Ringgold, GA. This group performed many different tasks for a lot of people. They were also able to fellowship with many of the friends they have made during the previous volunteer trips and made new friends as well.


Some of the projects they worked on was yard work which included cutting grass and weed eating, debris removal, and spreading dirt. For one neighbor around the corner from the camp they leveled the foundation soil under his home so that he could make a level path to an elevator that he will install. Because the soil had hardened this was a very tough job and a huge blessing to the family.


This group also worked on many homes in the area. They painted a neighbor's house and by the looks of it had fun while doing it! They began installing hardi-plank siding on the house we are building from ground up. For our neighbors on the lake they installed some insulation and spread waterproofing on their deck. And for still another family they performed plumbing work on a bathroom.


Other projects this week included organizing a tool closet and removing trash for another volunteer organization. They also emptied a concession stand at St. Rose Church and school.


Thanks to those of you who worked hard on landscaping for the ministry grounds! Landscaping timbers were laid and leveled. It is beautiful. Also to those of you who cut and cleared around our pond and cut our entire grounds. We also appreciate those of you who cleaned our cars, and our neighbor's truck.


Some of the fun activities while ministering included space walk jumping, watching and feeding "Allie", singing and listening to a neighbor play and sing Christian music on his guitar, basketball, and fun at the beach.


You ministered in so many ways. One special time we had this week was when we visited a very special lady in our neighborhood, Ms. Betty Smith. She was very ill, but welcomed everyone from the group inside where we talked and prayed with her. The group also cut some bushes off of her fence and out of Betty's way so she could see down the street from the porch she loves so very much. They also installed some vinyl siding on her home. One young girl from the group was very touched with Betty and went back on several occasions to help with Betty's therapy and hand fed her. We are sad to say that Betty passed away on Friday, April 4th at 7:13 p.m. She will be sadly missed by those of us who loved her here at P.O.P.