Southern Mutual Help Association (SMHA)

202 HURRICANE ISAAC -
8/29/12, 7 yrs after

Dear Friends,

We need your help. Southern Mutual Help Association, Inc.' s (SMHA's) ability to respond to Isaac-damaged communities depends on the resources made available to us to help in their recovery.

Plaquemines Parish, split in two by the Mississippi River and jutting 50 miles out into the Gulf, is essential to our nation’s oil, gas and seafood production. It is ancestral home to a diverse population of Native Americans, Creole families, African Americans, and Cajuns. Homes and livelihoods are in peril again.
SEE WEBSITE FOR FULL details!

===========
Southern Mutual Help, a nonprofit that's been supporting
rural development in Louisiana for over 30 years, is
recruiting individual & group volunteers to help rebuild
Jean Lafitte, a small town situated along Bayou Barataria,
20 minutes from the French Quarter. The area is quiet, the
people friendly, fishing & seafood a big part of life.
There is even a beautiful boardwalk to stroll through the
bayou nature after a hard day's work!

Currently, volunteers are needed to rebuild homes (gutting,
hang drywall & insulation, install flooring) in this town
that got hit by both hurricanes Rita and Katrina. Working in
teams, volunteers help individual families rebuild their homes.
With your help, every house we rebuild brings us one step
closer to rebuilding the community.

SMHA and the town of Jean Lafitte provide lodging, cooking
facilities and showers for volunteers. Volunteers are responsible
for their own meals and transportation to the site.

Since last year, SMHA has coordinated 1,000 volunteers from
35 states to facilitate rebuilding & redevelopment in 450 homes
throughout 17 parishes. We hope that you will join us to be a
part of this exciting and important endeavor.

We partner with families to help them rebuild their homes –
and their lives. You will be another partner in the process.
Your presence and assistance are invaluable in helping people
mobilize their strengths and look to the future with hope.
Every house we rebuild helps to rebuild the community.

Unskilled and skilled physical labor in the field as well as
people with nonphysical skills. Volunteers under 18 must be
accompanied by parents or by other adults responsible for
supervising them. All volunteers must be willing to take safety
seriously and must understand that they can't expect "all the
comforts of home" while they are here. Coming as part of a
group makes a lot of sense, although we are often able to connect
individual volunteers to a group that will be here at the same time.

TO BECOME A VOLUNTEER
Contact Kate at (504) 202-6257 or smhaeastvolunteers@gmail.com

Michelle left a message on answering service, will try again