In January of 2006 on our sixth trip we went to Pass Christian MS. The people of that community had just been allowed back to see what was left of their homes the week before. About ninety percent of the homes and businesses in Pass Christian has suffered severe damage.

 

This trip was comprised of primarily of State Representatives from the Michigan House of Representatives, and their staff people. We stayed at one of the AmeriCorps tent cities, where both volunteers and hurricane victims stay. In addition to what AmeriCorps had for us to do, I met some of the local people in the lunch tent and scheduled times for us to go and help them repair their homes.

 

We met a precious elderly women named Gloria Harshbugar who was a school bus driver.  She showed me to all the very elderly and disabled who could not rebuild on their own so we could help them. We also met Craig Campbell who we helped fix his roof and clean up his home.

 

We had brought our own tools and experienced volunteers on this trip and made quite an impression on the Americorps group, who wanted to know how we had identified those in the most need and accomplished so much so quickly.  We told them we just talked to the people at lunch and they told us where to go... it was the beginning of an excellent relationship with AmeriCorps and the Pass Christian Community.

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