Media Contacts:
Jan Dragin, Church World Service, phone: (781) 925-1526 - 24/7, e-mail: jdragin@gis.net Duane Bates, Habitat for Humanity International, phone: (229) 924-6935, ext. 2541, e-mail: dbates@habitat.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FIRST STAGE OF $3 MILLION HABITAT FOR HUMANITY GRANT TO CHURCH WORLD SERVICE HELPING REBUILD 82 HOMES IN GULF COAST
NEW YORK/AMERICUS, GA - August 11, 2006-As part of a first-time partnership , Church World Service and Habitat for Humanity International announced today that $446,000 of a $3 million grant will be distributed to repair 82 homes on the Gulf Coast, helping low-income individuals and families return home who are still displaced following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
The funds and repair projects will be managed locally by nine long-term recovery organizations in the region.
The $446,000 project is the first stage of a house repair grant from Habitat for Humanity International to Church World Service (CWS) - the relief and development agency of 35 U.S. Protestant, Orthodox, and Anglican denominations. CWS will disburse the $3 million over two years to support residential reconstruction projects in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas.
Church World Service has awarded initial grants to the following local recovery organizations:
Boat People SOS, Biloxi, Mississippi: $60,000.00 Citizens Organized for Rita Restoration, Kirbyville, Texas: $80,000.00 CityTeam Ministries, Bay St. Louis, Mississippi: $32,500.00 Harrison County Coalition, Gulfport, Mississippi: $22,000.00 Northshore Disaster Recovery Inc., St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana: $97,800.00 Rebuilding Pearl River County Together, Picayune, Mississippi: $33,000.00 Sabine/San Augustine Emergency Long Term Program, Hemphill, Texas:$69,700.0 0 Southeast Texas Interfaith Organization for Disaster Recovery, Beaumont, Texas: $13,045.00 Terrebonne Readiness and Assistance Coalition, Houma, Louisiana: $37,983.00
Church World Service traditionally plays a key role after disasters by facilitating the development of long-term recovery groups, and Habitat for Humanity has a long history of building homes. The Church World Service and Habitat for Humanity International partnership draws on the organizations ¹ strengths to better address the extensive recovery needs facing communities throughout the Gulf Coast region.
Local long-term recovery efforts guided by Church World Service focus on vulnerable populations, are led by community leadership, and are often wholly dependent upon financial resources from outside the community -- especially when it comes to the overwhelming costs of rebuilding homes. The local groups use both volunteer laborers and paid contractors to complete the repair or building work on the homes.
In all, 500 homes will be repaired or rebuilt through the Church World Service and Habitat for Humanity International partnership. The two organizations intend to not just repair homes but also rebuild lives.
In the words of one survivor in Mississippi, ³when they started work on my home, it brought us hope, but the rebuilding has healed our hearts.²
Habitat for Humanity International¹s long-term hurricane recovery effort, Operation Home Delivery, is at work building a thousand new homes in the affected region by mid 2007.
Habitat for Humanity International is an ecumenical Christian ministry that welcomes to its work all people dedicated to the cause of eliminating poverty housing. Since its founding in Americus, Ga., in 1976, Habitat has built more than 200,000 houses in nearly 100 countries, providing simple, decent and affordable shelter for more than 1 million people. For more information, visit www.habitat.org <http://www.habitat.org/ <http://www.habitat.org/>
Church World Service is an international relief, sustainable development and refugee assistance agency working within the U.S. and 80 countries worldwide. Visit CWS on the web at www.churchworldservice.org
###