Mid-County residents loving their neighbors

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September 25, 2008

By David Ball The Port Arthur News Thu Sep 25, 2008, 05:54 PM CDT

GROVES — GROVES — Even Indians and Bulldogs can get together to help a worthy cause.

Leaders from the communities of Port Neches, Groves and Nederland met Thursday morning at The First Baptist Church of Groves to raise and encourage 10,000 workers to help their neighbors to the east — Hurricane Ike stricken Bridge City.

The event is called Mid-County Kindness — Show Your True Colors for Bridge City and will serve as a volunteer clean-up day Sunday, Oct. 5, a day after the Mid-County football game Saturday, Oct. 4.

The game begins at 7:30 p.m. at Nederland Bulldog Stadium and volunteers will assemble Sunday morning at 9 a.m. at a location yet to be determined.

“This is quickly developing. This is an extremely important 10 days,” Joe Worley, pastor of FBC Groves said. “We can get the word out through the media and stage teams to help Bridge City and give hope and life in the city.”

Volunteers are encouraged to work for five hours in Bridge City on Oct. 5. All willing citizens of Groves, Port Neches and Nederland are encouraged to help, but anyone may volunteer.

Bridge City Mayor Kirk Roccaforte said Southeast Texans come together when someone in the area needs help.

“Our sister cities and Jefferson and Orange Counties were out helping us the first day after the storm hit,” he said. “We’ll be out there until it’s all done. You see peoples’ lives on the streets from one end to the other.”

Once a work team is assembled, they are to choose a captain and send the captain only to one of the many assignment locations throughout the Mid-County area to be announced in the near future. Individuals desiring to serve will go to one of the assignment locations and be placed on a team and given their assignment.

Volunteers are encouraged to work a five hour shift sometime between the hours of 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Teams ready to commit now may call 962-4461 or e-mail office@fbcgroves.org and leave their team name and a contact phone number. Individuals do not need to call, just show up at the assignment location nearby. Those interested in volunteering are highly encouraged to update their immunizations prior to going to work. Immunizations sites will be publicized in the near future.

“We hope this will be a catalyst for many for more things. Asking for volunteers from around the country would take a long time and we have good people here in Mid-County. Will you commit?” Worley asked. “We hope this will spill out to other areas and we pray a precedent will be set.”

Volunteers will be asking homeowners what their needs are and seeing if their group can meet those needs. Some of the work involved may be removing wet furniture and household items, pulling up flooring, tearing out sheet rock or cleaning up the yard. Volunteers should wear work boots or sturdy shoes, long pants and long sleeve shirts, work and rubber gloves, hat, safety glasses/goggles, clothes to get dirty in and a mask. They should also bring lunch, snacks and water for themselves or their team for the day. Hand tools such as a hammer, flat or pry bar, shovel, wheel barrow, and dolly may be used, but no power tools.

David Deslatte is a member of FBC Groves. He, Worley, along with Les Hayhurst and Pat Cammarata came up with the idea of Mid-County Kindness.

“We’ve been to Bridge City to help and we continued to get calls and e-mails from people who still need help. We wish we had more time and energy to help. God gave me this idea and why not send a ton of people in one day. It’s the perfect time at Mid-County Madness,” Deslatte said.

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