Note #9249 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:
06216 April 13, 2006
It takes a village
Presbyterians to provide housing for young Hurricane Katrina volunteers
by Evan Silverstein
LOUISVILLE - The Presbytery of Mississippi is teaming up with other Presbyterians to provide housing for young adult volunteers helping with the Hurricane Katrina rebuilding effort.
Starting this fall, six to 10 young adults, aged 18 to 24, will live at the site for as long as a year, fanning out along the Mississippi Gulf Coast to assist victims with home reconstruction and new church development, said George Bates, disaster-recovery coordinator for Mississippi Presbytery.
Bates said volunteers also will help staff the presbytery's disaster-response office and help individual churches rebuild and transform their congregations.
"This will be a tremendous assistance to us," he said. "It will relieve us of a lot of the workload that we're having to do right now. In addition, we look at this as being a wonderful opportunity for the Presbytery of Mississippi to serve as a training ground for future leaders of our church."
He said the presbytery hopes to have the site operating by Sept. 1, probably at Handsboro Presbyterian Church in Gulfport, MS.
The venture is being sponsored by Mississippi Presbytery in partnership with local congregations, Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) and National Volunteer Office (NVO).
The young adult volunteers will also work in a variety of placements in Mississippi as part of the long-term hurricane-response efforts of the presbytery and PDA.
Nancy Cavalcante, associate for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)'s National Volunteers Office, said, "These young adults have the chance to be engaged in a ministry that will help shape the future of this region."
Interviews for those interested in volunteering will be held late next month. The deadline is May 5 through "One Door," the PC(USA)'s online search service for church professionals, at http://www.pcusa.org/nvo/youngadultvolunteers/biloxi.htm#2.
The young adults will also help staff PDA's volunteer villages.
The Young Adult Volunteer program will bring stability and consistency to the villages," said PDA Coordinator Susan Ryan. "At the current time, village managers are committing three months of their lives to a management position at one of our villages. The young adults that are placed in our villages will strengthen our ties with the congregations and community while they live in the village for a whole year."
Terry Newland, executive for the Synod of Living Waters, said the young adults are being called to a once-in-a-lifetime mission experience.
"This is a spiritual experience for the connectional church in the Gulf states, and the gathered church from all over the United States," he said. "These young adults will bring a much-needed spiritual energy and vitality to the recovery process."
PC(USA) General Assembly Moderator Rick Ufford-Chase agreed, saying: "The corporate energy of this rebuilding process is incredible. This mission of rebirth in the Gulf states has energized the whole body of Christ."
People can support the new venture by contributing to an extra commitment opportunity (ECO 048329) at www.pcusa.org/nvo/support.htm or through the PC(USA)'s Pentecost Offering, which will devote a percentage of contributions to the Young Adult Volunteer sites.
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