Volunteers who worked on the house alongside Ken and his wife Cathi inscribed their names and good wishes on the boards.

"May the Lord bless those whose names are recorded here upon this wall. For it is thru their deeds that I have been lifted from the darkness of despair and into the light of hope."

This prayer of thanksgiving was written in February by Pearlington, Miss. resident Ken Short on the side of his new home in an area hard-hit by Hurricane Katrina. Volunteers who worked on the house alongside Ken and his wife Cathi inscribed their names and good wishes on the boards. National Ministries coordinated volunteers who worked on this and other homes in Pearlington, and contributed funds that were donated on behalf of hurricane recovery efforts.

Nearly 1,000 American Baptist volunteers have participated in ongoing relief and rebuilding projects in communities like Pearlington—all along the hurricane-devastated Gulf Coast. Interfaith partnerships, as well as a partnership between National Ministries and Habitat for Humanity's Operation Home Delivery project, have benefited scores of people left homeless after this destructive hurricane. A number of families have now moved into their new homes, and building projects will continue through the spring. Both skilled laborers and those with no construction experience are urgently needed for these building projects and for over 100 other mission settings where volunteers can serve. Contact Victoria Goff at vgoff@abc-usa.org or call (800) ABC-3USA, ext. 2449, for information.

"The volunteers gave us hope and something to look forward to in our time of need," wrote another Pearlington resident, a single mother of two young children. "We lost everything, and lived in a tent for weeks," she wrote. "Not a day goes by that I don't think of everyone who has helped us, and we thank God for them."

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