May 17, 2007

Groups struggle to find funding, volunteers in deep east Texas

Hi-res photos to accompany this story are available at: www.churchworldservice.org/media/hires.html

Livingston, TX -- Instead of spending his retirement perfecting a lifelong hobby or fishing for large-mouth bass in Lake Livingston, Willard Moody is content behind the wheel of his black pickup, bouncing between homes in dire need of repair.

"As Christians, we're called to go off and do mission work," Moody said. "But my mission field is right here. There's enough work here to last me the rest of my life."

Blue-tarp emergency roofs still cover dozens of homes damaged by Hurricane Rita, Sept. 24, 2005. A dam at Lake Livingston measured sustained, 116-mph winds during the hurricane, and damage was severe enough in the Livingston area that Polk County is included in Texas' federal disaster declaration.

There are thousands in southeast Texas whose homes were damaged far beyond what insurance and assistance could repair. Long-term recovery groups have helped identify and assist those with needs. Some communities with heavy damage, closer to the coast, have gained enough financial and volunteer support to be able to actively process cases. Yet further inland, rain pours through leaky roofs in Livingston just as easily as it does in Port Arthur or Beaumont.

Yet few, if any, volunteers ever seek out places like Polk County.

"It's hard to attract volunteers in our own community because they don't consider it mission work," Moody said. "And it's hard to find volunteers anywhere else. We just don't know where to look."

A $5,000 Church World Service seed grant helped create the Polk County Disaster Recovery Team (PCDRT). The group uses little operating funds and relies on donated materials, making the prospect of recruiting volunteers even more critical.

Take the case of Mavis Webb, a 76 year-old retiree on limited income who relies on a three-burner cook top to heat her home on chilly days. Rita blew a tree down, wrecking about a third of her house.

A sheet of plastic stapled to the wall forms a makeshift trough to catch rainwater from Webb's leaky roof, while a pallet of new shingles waits at the end of the driveway for a volunteer crew.

"Just any improvement will help," Webb said.

"We've been at this over a year now and it's frustrating," Moody said. "You just get tired."

A group of volunteers took in cases just after the storm, filling out paperwork to document cases of need. Ever since, the PCDRT has tried to handle cases piecemeal, as resources become available. Moody said there are even more undocumented cases of need in his community but he's reluctant to seek them out without a promise of help.

"If we could just get people to come here, it'd make a difference," Moody said. "Even a single volunteer team could help us a lot."

If you know of a group interested in helping the Polk County Disaster Recovery Team, contact Willard Moody at wmoody@shawus.com.

Related story: Rita, 'The forgotten disaster'

Media Contacts: Lesley Crosson, CWS/New York, 212-870-2676; lcrosson@churchworldservice.org Jan Dragin (24/7), 781-925-1526; jdragin@gis.net