June 9-10, 2008
Biloxi, Mississippi — Seventeen staff members from NeighborWorks district offices and headquarters in Washington, D.C., learned some of what it really takes to build a home. During NeighborWorks Week, NeighborWorks America
partnered with the East Biloxi Coordination and Redevelopment Agency on a volunteer project to landscape and paint a home in East Biloxi, Mississippi. This effort is just one small part of NeighborWorks America's overall Gulf Coast Recovery Effort, which provides technical assistance and grants to nonprofits in the region that are building and rehabilitating homes.
"It's rewarding to come down and participate in the work they're doing. Feel their energy, feel their enthusiasm for it," Tom Deyo, senior advisor for gulf rebuilding and green strategies, told local ABC affiliate WLOX TV. "[We will] pick up some of that energy and take it back with us, so we remember the cause down here and keep our focus on it."
For two days the volunteers
perfomed hands-on labor — weeding and trimming the overgrown property; moving monds of clay and dirt for landscaping; creating flower beds in the front and back yards; painting both inside and outside the house; and caulking windows and doors.
"We selected Biloxi because we've been very impressed with the work that's been done here," said Southern District Director Don Phoenix told the Sun Herald newspaper. "We feel we can demonstrate that we not only provide grants and technical assistance, but we're willing to get our hands dirty and pitch in."
See the pictures:
