St. Louis Give Back, Build Back

Breezy warm air greeted 27 residential and long-term volunteers this AM. A reminder that hurricane season is in full swing and tapping at our doorstep was the unpredictable Tropical Storm Fay. That possibility helped to energize the crowd as building the short-term volunteer house, affectionately called “The Mirandy House”, had a wind of its own.

Young and young at heart worked side by side. Laughter rang through the empty shelled house, prophetic of what is to come. Workers and laborers to help the over 2,000 families still in temporary shelter are on their way to help us get the job done.

Working alongside these volunteers will be residential volunteers, some who are not yet in their own home. The gratitude extends past what each individual has received in a quest to see the Bay-Waveland area rebuild and community restored.

All enjoyed a refreshing lunch and when the day ended, sighs were heard. Some sighed with thanks the day was done, but most sighed - SO MUCH YET TO DO.

Birmingham Youth Group is Growing

A regular crowd of about 17 teens has been showing up every Friday. Last Friday numbered 24, as the group is reaching out and drawing other kids from the community to come and check out what Family Life Worship Center is talking about!

Discussions, chosen by the youth and directed by a few dedicated leaders, including Jaron Manyama, are being held every week. Last week’s discussion topic was drugs: the effects on the body, the mind and the spirit, and what the Bible has to say about it. “I’m not picking the topics” Jaron said, “they are! And they want to know about this stuff! And they are coming back the next week!”

Last Sunday was the beginning of a new, separate Sunday service for the Youth. The kids are excited to attend and participate! They are ready and willing to share their talents… some dance, some rap, some write skits! They are psyched to show what God has given them and what He is doing in their lives.

Weekly skits are being planned and a praise-dance team has been established. Every taste of the new and beautiful possibilities of God leaves them hungrier for more! Continue to keep them in your prayers as they continue to discover and learn about the love of God, our Father, the Creator of life!

Bay Bridge up for Peoples Choice Award

As you know the Bridge over the Bay Of Saint Louis was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.  We were isolated from the rest of the Coast for about 21 months.  A simple trip to Pass Christian which used to take about 10 minutes, after "the storm" took about an hour.
 
The new bridge was built with local input.  An art competition was held and their work was crafted into brass plaques made from plates salvaged from the destroyed bridge. 

These plaques are on the walking path every 1/10th of a mile.  At the entrance are pylons also adorned with art.  At night the bridge is a sight to behold with ambient lighting casting a glow into the water below (this is also very good for fishing).
 
The bridge is now a finanlist for the Peoples Choice award in a National Transportation contest.  Take a minute and vote for the Bay Bridge.

www.americastransportationaward.org/Voting.aspx

Two New Grants Awarded

PNEUMA is proud to announce that SOAR (St. Rose Outreach and Recovery), under the leadership of Di Fillhart, has been awarded a grant from the United Jewish Communities to begin training and implementing resiliency training in Hancock County, Mississippi.

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Additionally, the collaborative community efforts of SOAR, Habitat for Humanity and Lagniappe Presbyterian Church have been rewarded by receiving a grant from AmeriCorps for 20 full time position. The positions begin January 1, 2009 through December 31st 2009. The AmeriCorps positions include a monthly stipend, meals, lodging and a $4,700 educational stipend.

Anyone interested in serving in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, please contact Di at di@pneumawinds.com or call 228-382-6253.

School Bash

To help underprivileged kids in the community prepare for the new school year, SOAR (St. Rose Outreach and Recovery) organized a Back To School Bash this past Sunday. We had anticipated that 150-200 people would attend, our normal "Sunday Supper" attendance, the first annual event.

Our activities begin at 5PM, but by 4:30PM we realized that God had special plans for this event. A Church in Jackson, Mississippi had donated $1,000 for school supplies, but by 6:00PM we had distributed all that we had. An estimated 300 people attended the event and we had a strong turn out from the St. Rose Church youth, all of them in varying stages of recovery from Katrina, to help with the event. They served food, helped pass out school supplies and ice cream, and when we ran out of school supplies a couple of the youth came over and said "these people are really in need, so I gave them my school supplies."

The next God sighting for the evening was when we realized that our meager supply of food would not be enough. So we began praying BREAD AND FISHES and WOW God came through big time. It was so cool to watch how two cases of ribs, one small pan of potato salad and macaroni salad fed EVERYONE! People were amazed when we told them there was enough food for seconds and in the end still had leftovers - EVERYONE KNEW JESUS WAS IN THE HOUSE. God is so amazing and good all the time. May your storehouses be filled with the joy and love of Jesus!