Katrina House Project Videos

Once again volunteers from the Grace Community Church family partnered with the Orland Park CRC and Christian Reformed World Relief-Disaster Response Services to provide a new home for a family still suffering from the effects of Hurricane Katrina.

After being displaced by the hurricane, Mrs. Georgia Roberts, a 50 year old single parent, with 10 children and 4 grandchildren has been living in 3 FEMA trailers, for a total of 3 years and 3 mos. One daughter has a bullet lodged in her spine.

Today, Mrs. Roberts and her family are living in a handicap accessible home with 6 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms and additional living space to accomodate her family.

Only through the grace of our Lord and the servant hearts of the many volunteers and coordinators from CRWRC-DRS was this home made possible. Watch the videos below to see a week-by-week completion of this home and hear the volunteers express their feelings about living a life of servanthood.

The following article was published on the CRWRC website: www.crwrc.org

Orland Park CRC Volunteers Build Home in Louisiana

February 25, 2009

Georgia Roberts had been living with ten of her children and four of her grandchildren in trailers and mobile homes since Hurricane Katrina destroyed her house in August 2005. Today she has moved into a brand new house thanks to God, CRWRC's Disaster Response Services, and the hard work of the people of Orland Park CRC (Chicago, IL).

Like many other families, Ms Roberts had been living in "temporary" housing since Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast three and a half years ago. After her home was destroyed, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) gave Georgia three adjacent trailers to house her family. Later they were given a couple of mobile homes. These were intended to be a temporary fix until more permanent arrangements could be made, but three and a half years later the family still lived there.

CRWRC has been working in the Gulf Coast during those three and a half years to help families like the Roberts. While the Red Cross met emergency needs following Hurricane Katrina, and FEMA provided temporary shelter to those in need, thousands of families are still living in transition as they wait for assistance to repair and rebuild their homes. With the help of trained construction supervisors and various work teams, CRWRC-DRS has been meeting this need one house at a time.

Orland Park CRC is one of the churches providing volunteer work teams to CRWRC-DRS. They sent crews of volunteers to Franklinton, LA to work on Georgia's house for one-week intervals. In total, 59 people from Orland Park CRC participated in the project.

"This is the third year in a row that Orland Park CRC has come down and built homes," said Arnie Gustafson, CRWRC DRS Construction Coordinator in the Gulf Coast. "They come as real servants, are willing to do anything they are asked, and always provide a knowledgeable, professional crew. They come to do God's work."

According to Don Waterlander of the Orland Park Adult Serve Committee, their church is blessed with an abundance of skilled construction professionals. During the winter when work is slow in the Chicago area, they find joy in putting their talents to work for those who are less fortunate.

"We are very fortunate to have a lot of gifted people who love to serve," he says. "We looked at a lot of opportunities to help and decided to concentrate on CRWRC's DRS."

Their contribution has made a lasting impact on Ms. Roberts' life. Along with help from Grace Community CRC, First Oak Lawn CRC, Palos Heights CRC, and Faith CRC, the volunteers from Orland Park completed Georgia's 2,700 square foot, 6-bedroom, 3-bathroom house in early March.