Help for hurricane victims takes variety of forms

Published: 2006-08-15

JOLIET, Ill. (CNS) -- In the year since hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit the Gulf Coast, some parishes and individuals have taken creative approaches to assisting those in the devastated region. In Joliet, a group of leaders from various faith communities coordinated an effort with Habitat for Humanity International to launch Operation Home Delivery. "We showed we may be able to do together something that we can't do as individual parishes, congregations and synagogues," said Rob Hatfield, senior minister of First Church of Lombard United Church of Christ and member of a local clergy association. In one week's time this July, volunteers from more than a dozen churches, congregations and synagogues built a three-bedroom home on an open field, then it was disassembled into easy-to-transport sections to be delivered to Hattiesburg, Miss. Arrangements were made for a semitrailer about 48 feet long expected to carry the 13,000-pound load to Mississippi, where a group of volunteers would spend four days reassembling it. The Habitat for Humanity chapter working in the Gulf region planned to complete the rest of the home.

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