Alternative Break Program >> WLOX Article -- 3/9/2006

Moss Point Church Still Housing Volunteers

Please note: This article was originally published on the WLOX TV13 websit e on 3/9/2006 and was reproduced by JMU CS-L with permission from WLOX TV13.

"I think doing something out of my comfort zone for someone else who is definitely out of her comfort zone living in a FEMA trailer, that feels good," Erin Herring says.

So for that last few days, this volunteer group from James Madison University in Virginia has been repairing the inside of this home on West Bayou in Moss Point.

"When we got here all it was was studs. It feels really good to see what we've done in four days," Stanley Michael says.

"You could see the water line. The water was five feet tall. You could see from here to the back room," Sean Calihan says.

But these volunteers couldn't have made such progress had it not been for Danztler Memorial United Methodist Church.

"We've been able to stay there for free.We brought our mattresses," Cabell Fields says.

"The funds we raised, we were able to give it here, to do this type of stuff, rather than pay our room and board here," Michael says.

They are just a few of the 1,000 volunteers that have gone through this church for work assignments and a place to sleep.

"Since that time, with the exception of the first week in December, we've had people here almost constantly," Pastor David Greer says.

Greer says church members don't mind the makeshift showers in the restrooms, constant flow of strangers, and lots of palettes on the floor.

"We've become accustomed to stepping over mattresses and sleeping bodies if they are there," Greer says. "It does get crowded when you have 50 or 60 people here."

But Greer says opening the doors of the church is one way the church members are helping build South Mississippi.

"As long as they want to come and as long as we can, we'll continue to house them," Greer adds.

Pastor Greer says the church has housed volunteers from more than 28 states. So far they have groups booked to stay there until July.

By Jaimee Goad