Same Landscape....Different Eyes

George and Margaret lived in their home in Pearlington for over 50 years. Did you know that Margaret’s father was Charles B. Murphy, for whom the little elementary school was named? The elementary school that no longer houses children, but volunteers and supplies. George and Margaret’s home was paid for. Walking around their property with canes, they had reached their retirement years. A time to sit back and relax and watch the birds as they visit the birdfeeders.

On August 29, the storm surge that swept through Pearlington took the birds with it. It took the birdfeeders. It took the houses. George and Margaret lost EVERYTHING. On the lot behind them, their son lost everything as a tree fell across his home. Across the street, their daughter lost everything. When you look across the street, where the large oak trees once provided a canopy over the street and Spanish moss dangled from the branches, what you see now are those trees lying on their sides, their tremendous root systems vertical to the ground.

When you tell Margaret how sorry you are that the beautiful trees are gone, her reply will be, "Well, we have something now that we didn’t have before." What? What could they possibly have that they didn’t have before?

"We can see the sunset."

Many of our friends are getting back into their houses. Slowly, but surely, putting the pieces of their lives back together. For George and Margaret, their son Eddie, their daughter Andrea, the healing has just begun. With their homes just recently bulldozed, they are literally starting from the ground up. With the pittance the insurance company gave them, they worry how they will afford each step.
We need to build Margaret and George a house. We have a plan. We have group of men in Pennsylvania who have never met George and Margaret and they have agreed to frame a house for them in June. We can do the rest - if we can gather the resources and money. We can help wire it. We can insulate it. We can sheetrock it and paint it.

And then George and Margaret can sit on the porch of their home once again, watch the birds as they come to the bird feeders, and look at the sunset.

If you will help, please contact me.
jbjohnsonhome@comcast.net

REBUILD PEARLINGTON....one brick at a time.