Brethren Disaster Response clean-up project expands its work.

A Brethren Disaster Response clean-up project in Citronelle, Ala., in partnership with Southeastern District and Cedar Creek Church of the Brethren, has begun adding home repairs to its clean-up work.

Work has been coming from two sources, reported disaster project director Mike Walker of Glenville, Pa. “The Cedar Creek church has created an active committee which works with us and provides a listing of both members and non-members who need help, and the Mobile VOAD (Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster) is providing the balance of our clients,” he said.

“We are a long way from finished with the debris problems,” Walker said of the project that covers a broad area of service across Mobile County and southern Washington County. “Presently, we are still working in the early stages of recovery, which is basically debris removal, tarps, roof repair, and more extensive repairs due to fallen trees on homes.” For example, in Chatom, a tree fell destroying a bedroom that an elderly woman had just left to be with her husband in the living room. No one was injured, but the house is having extensive repair work done.

The volunteers commuting the greatest distance begin their day by leaving at 5 a.m. in order to be on roofs before the heat of the day turns them into slippery slopes of hot tar and shingles, Walker reported. “We start early, we go strong, we are exhausted. But we are happily doing God’s work,” he said. Full volunteer crews will be needed for many months to successfully complete the work at hand, he added.

For more about Brethren Disaster Response see www.brethrendisasterresponse.org.

Source: 9/28/2005 Newsline
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