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The Giving Circle Helps 2007 & 2008 Saratoga Springs Great shots here of BEFORE - AFTER - TWO YEARS LATER. The 2nd set of pictures is a church next-door to Al's house
____________________________________________________________ Oct 2007
We are just back from a tiring, but wonderful, trip to Waveland. This visit was to help our good friend, Al Showers, get closer to being in his home. We were able to get a great deal done thanks to the many donations and on-the-ground help from Mark Bertrand, Mike Butterfield, Ronald Deutsch, Sr. and Jr., Sarah Chertok and her mom, Lynn Chertok, Chris Dunn, and Rich Cunningham from Bucks County, PA. A special thanks to Walls of Hope based in Fort Dodge, IA, whose helpers also pitched in. More needs to be done to get Al in. We are already planning a trip for March, 2008 , to complete Al’s home. In addition, a major goal will be to frame and roof a home for a young Waveland couple. Nothing can compare to the gift we receive by helping our friends there, and the great appreciation everyone you meet there shows you. They are all so kind and thankful for our coming to help. ____________________________________________________________
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May, 2007 When Saratoga Springs Mardi Gras King, WLOX reporter Al Showers, lost his home to Hurricane Katrina, he had made plans to rebuild. Unfortunately, his out-of-state contractor walked out on Al on the day the contractor was supposed to begin framing the house, taking money Al had set aside for rebuilding, and left Mississippi. Al was left with no resources to re-build the home destroyed by Katrina. When The Giving Circle heard of his plight, we assembled a team of experienced home-builders and traveled to Mississippi to help Al get his home. Teaming with a group of men from Louisiana who laid the logs of Al's log home-to-be, the house was closed in with walls completed and roofed within a week of the arrival of The Giving Circle. This was a challenge on many aspects: it is a log home, not the usual "stick built" and required a fork-lift crane to bring the log wall elements into place; the entire house is fourteen feet up on a pier-supported platform to help avoid flooding; and the house itself is two stories high. At its peak it sits approximately thirty-five feet above the ground!
Unfortunately, Al's story is not unique with many in the Gulf region, who were victims of the Hurricanes, now becoming victims again, this time of unscrupulous business practices.