A vast wasteland stretches along Highway 90 from Mobile , AL to Waveland, MS. A few casinos and fast food chains are clumped close to major towns . Many condos and motels stand lonely and empty with curtains waving out of broken windows. The most frequent sights are foundation slabs with steps leading to what was once a home.

 I call these The Steps to Nowhere.  

However, there is an unquenchable spirit of hope throughout the Gulf Coast. As you travel inland a few blocks the sounds of hammer, saws, and power tools can be heard. This is where the faith communities are restoring or totally rebuilding homes of the lower and moderate incomes.

On the Helping Hands Care Team trip to Long Beach, Mississippi in October, 2007:

·      Three roofs were built

·      A kitchen floorboards were removed and reframed

·      In a house that was finished, three rooms were gutted due to the return of mold,

·      A house with no windows , floorboards were torn out and reframed, electrical work done, totally reframed ready for windows and drywall,

·      A house nearing completion had window trim done, interior doors placed, laminate floors laid, plumbing done, and countertops installed in the kitchen. With a week or two of finishing work, this house will be ready for Joe and Nancy to move from their FEMA trailer.

·      The siding on one house was finished along with trim

·      A house in Biloxi which had been finished was repaired with proper window framing and soffit and fascia,

The March 2008 trip to Long Beach, Mississippi was equally rewarding. Four new houses started by the Amish were in the finishing stages. The Helping Hands Care Team:

·      Completed steps and decking on two houses

·      Laid laminate flooring in three houses

·      Laid ceramic tile in one house

·      Completed vinyl flooring in the bathrooms and kitchens of three houses

·      Installed kitchen cabinets in three houses

·      Installed toilets and sinks in three houses

·      Built an interior wall in one house

In addition those who worked on houses in October were able to tour  two of the houses that were completed.

What a sense of accomplishment was felt by the thirty five   people on the October trip and thirty seven people on the March trip from the Lehigh Presbytery. I have been on six trips to the Mississippi Gulf Coast and it never fails to amaze me what the love of God’s people can do. Yes, there is also frustration for there is so much more to be done. Yet every bit of work we do leads to “Steps to a Home” and the disappearance of “The Steps to Nowhere”.

Gwen Johnson

 

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