Voluntaryism v. FEMA

[KBCraig]

Note the bold text. 'Nuff said. 

http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=Teens+use+faith%2c+muscle+to+repair+damaged+homes&articleId=327eba65-9b80-4dda-a784-8291e1974735

Teens use faith, muscle to repair damaged homes

By TOBY HENRY
Union Leader Correspondent

RAYMOND ? Some residents are giving thanks this week to a volunteer Christian youth group which has taken on their home-repair work as a bona-fide ?labor of love.?

?I?m disabled ... and this is stuff my wife and I just can?t do by ourselves,? Lisa Avenue resident Keith Roberts said Thursday as he watched a work crew of about 10 middle-school- and high-school-aged teens perform much-needed repairs to his deck and exterior stairway.

?This has been a total blessing for us,? he added. ?Our house was damaged in the flood (in May), and we?re still waiting for (the Federal Emergency Management Association) ? but to have these kids give up their summer vacations to do this for us ? is a true blessing from God.?

This week, teens from Maryland, Michigan and the local area took up their duties as ?World Changers? by performing significant repairs to about 10 homes in Raymond, Derry, Londonderry, Manchester and Haverhill, Mass. Many of these homes, like that of the Roberts, were damaged in the ?Mothers? Day Flood? earlier this year.

?World Changers? is part of the Georgia-based North American Mission Board, and this summer marks the second year that the group has come to Raymond. Typically, parishes and local non-profit agencies help the group to identify the homeowners that are most in need of the help.

?I did this year, and it?s a real blast,? said 16-year-old Michele Dare as she painted the Roberts? porch. ?It?s great to share God?s love by helping others.?

?If I wasn?t here, I?d probably be playing video games or something like that,? said 14-year-old Kevin Kurtz, who helped reduce a large concrete retaining wall to pebbles during the peak of Thursday?s heat. ?But I honestly like doing this a lot better. I like helping people who couldn?t do all this work themselves.?

George Thirsk, executive director of Rockingham Community Action, was also at the scene of the Roberts? home Thursday. He said the teens? ?free labor? has been of immeasurable benefit in helping his non-profit group repair more flood-damaged homes than they otherwise would have.

?Normally, we?d have to do this with contractors, and it would cost a lot more,? he said. ?By combining our efforts, they?re helping us to stretch our funding dollars much further. Right now, we?re looking at some efforts in the future , too ? but hopefully, those won?t revolve around disasters.?

[Kat Kanning]

Wow, that is so cool!

[Lloyd Danforth]

I've been going to SHTF Daily a few times a day.  I found this there.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/4967735.html