Photo: Habitat for Humanity

CWS Supports Rebuilding Lives, Homes

Story by Matt Hackworth/CWS

He struggles with dialysis, a heart condition, and disability from a crippling accident, but Bryant Simpson has been rebuilding his rural home near Merryville, Louisiana, nearly all on his own.

"When I met this man, he was standing on a tractor, reframing his house," Church World Service recovery grant administrator Bonnie Vollmering says. "He can't move his arms above his shoulders, so a friend lifts him with the tractor's loading bucket."

But Simpson is finally seeing some help. The Beauregard Area Ministerial Alliance is one of 21 long-term recovery organizations awarded money by Church World Service, made possible through a grant from Habitat for Humanity. The Alliance is helping to install air conditioning and cabinets in Simpson's home.

Bryant Simpson represents countless marginalized persons who face added hardship in trying to rebuild. Through the Alliance, volunteer labor is now helping to rebuild Simpson's home.

Thousands of families are still trying to regain normalcy in lives forever changed by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Federal agencies estimate recovery could take as long as 25 years, so the need for continued support is as critical now as when CWS first responded on the Gulf Coast.

The first round of rebuilding awards rebuilt 91 homes and some 135 homes are currently under construction in this, the second phase of the $3 million Habitat grant. The ultimate goal is to repair and rebuild at least 500 homes.

Vollmering says the funds for rebuilding empower local communities to help themselves. "It allows us to go back and assist the organizations we helped create," she adds. "For them the continued help is a ray of sunshine. It fills in the gaps."

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