News from the Ground - March 27, 2006

I thought I would share the adjacent picture of a small business in Bay St. Louis. It speaks volumes, in my opinion.

The bunkhouses for volunteers, in the field adjacent to the Charles B. Murphy School, are coming along just fine. One is complete, one almost complete and a third is partially finished. There is a large food tent coming apparently and in the meantime, the volunteers are being fed regardless. Kudos once again to Larry Randall, the SeeBees and all others who have facilitated this outcome.

Last week, I posted some news concerning the Reynolds Center in Pearlington. Here is some additional information, particularly as it concerns the Community Garden being built there:

"The contact person for the Community Garden is Laurie Spaschak. Laurie is also the Volunteer Shelter Coordinator. Laurie can be reached at 518-598-3033. She's asking for donations of garden seeds (flowers & vegetables) as well as other gardening supplies (i.e. garden tools, garden furniture, flower pots, gift certificates to Lowe's garden center or WalMart's garden center, etc). She's got a number of elderly residents who've already signed up for the community garden. The community garden received some donations of seeds and some top soil to create the beds and, with the help of Americorps volunteers, Laurie is currently preparing the site for the raised beds at the Reynolds Center. Anyone interested in helping in this project can contact Laurie directly. Donations are tax-deductible, as the Reynolds Center has a ‘big brother agency’ (i.e. physical agent) that is a 501(c)3 recognized non-profit: Compassion in Action Network - Direct Outcome (CAN-DO. Org) out of California."

Everyone have a great week! I'm looking forward to my own return to Pearlington on April 7th, for 11 days.

"Canada" Jon