Wisconsin town rebuilds Mississippi couple's destroyed home

Published: 2006-01-24

FREDERIC, Wis. (CNS) -- An unusual caravan of cars, trucks, trailers, motor homes and a bus headed out of Frederic Jan. 15 on a mercy mission to Biloxi, Miss., to rebuild a couple's home that was destroyed last August by Hurricane Katrina. Two days later more than 30 Wisconsinites -- joined by a Michigander and two South Dakotans -- had set up camp in Biloxi and started building the house, a project they figured would take three weeks. Frederic is a quiet town of 1,262 people in central Wisconsin, a little east of the Minnesota border. It had no real ties to Biloxi until two of its residents, Brian and Enid Johnson, traveled there last September to help with post-hurricane relief efforts. They talked to hundreds of hurricane victims, but a chance meeting with Kathy and Chuck Billeaud sparked a friendship that led to the entire Wisconsin town getting involved in rebuilding the Biloxi couple's home.

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