Original article date October 2006.

Members of SWOOP have just returned from their first work project outside North Carolina - appropriately, to help survivors of another hurricane.

An 10-member SWOOP team joined the Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) program to bring help and hope to Hurricane Katrina survivors who are still trying to rebuild their lives. SWOOP's Katrina Project Team traveled to Pearlington, Miss., where they spent Oct. 20-28 rebuilding homes damaged in last year's devastating storm.

Moved by the despair of hurricane survivors on the Gulf Coast last year, SWOOP began looking for ways to help in Katrina recovery efforts. An advance team traveled to Pearlington in March and learned that the small but vibrant town of about 4,000 had not received help from any relief organization until PDA established its camp in January. To date, all recovery work there has been done by volunteer organizations, and only about 800 residents have been able to return home.

SWOOP's Katrina Project Team was led by on-site coordinator Adrienne Moos of Greensboro, with Beth Colwell of Harrisonburg, Va; Bev Branaman, Apex; Cindy Kimbrell, Liberty; Deb Storey, Henderson; Dee Stribing, Hillsborough; Erin Robinson, Garner; Kim Clayton, Durham; Laurie Stevens, Chapel Hill, and Lixia Xiao, Durham & China.

SWOOP's team stayed at the Presbyterian Volunteer Village in Pearlington, one of six PDA-operated volunteer villages along the coast that provide hospitality to work teams and connect them to families in need. PDA is the national and international disaster response program of the 2.4 million-member Presbyterian Church (USA). The Katrina team returns in time to join SWOOP's next local work day, on Nov. 11, when we'll perform repairs, yard work and other clean-up at two homes in north Durham.

We welcome you to join us at any upcoming work day to meet our enthusiastic SWOOPers and talk to our Katrina Project Team about their work and the work of the Presbyterian Disaster Assistance program.